CHAPLAINS: Can you compare and contrast military vs. civilian ministry?

When you become a United States Army Chaplain you take a sacred Oath to honor all faiths. This means you cooperate with other Chaplains in order for all to be able to practice their faith. IAW AR-165-1 to perform or to provide.

The recent changes in our Army due to the vast diversity it is vital for Chaplains to have deep reflective listening and a genuine desire to respect to the diversity in our ranks. The un-ethical circumstance of alleged communicated religious disrespect creates an environment of escalation of conflict impacting broken relationships and creating a toxic environment due to different lenses and incapable of process multiple worldviews. The mission and vision for the Chaplain Corps are to make deep and meaningful relationships and promote understanding and mediate conflicts and reconcile broken relationships and advise leadership by using self-restraint and compassion for all.

The history of the traditional Army Chaplain Corps can be traced back to July 29, 1775 serving more than 25 million soldiers and their families. The sacred oath and humble calling of the chaplains who have served in regiments providing ministry of presence and brining hope to where the soldiers fought for the freedom to their country go back to the Revolutionary War battles at Lexington and Bunker Hill. Historically, Chaplains have represented and walked in faith, in more than 270 major combat battles serving where 400 chaplains have died in combat. Our fore father like General George Washington was an advocate for chaplains serving as spiritual support assigned to regiments and implementing religious services every Sunday at 11 a.m. (http://www.army.mil/article/25173/army-chaplain-corps-celebrates-234th-birthday-at-arlington-national-cemetery/?ref=home-headline-title4).

The military is in need of chaplains who have an in-depth approach in dealing with the perspectives of the soldiers and having a high regard of cultural diversity. The ongoing struggle for the Chaplain Corp is to shift their perspective to take over a pluralist role in protecting the religious freedom of all soldier's and their families ensuring that the command organization that they provide guidance to create an accepting environment regarding spiritual unit in a diverse work force (Lim, 2008). The Chaplain's goal is to understand the fundamentals of human culture, diversity of religion, and integrating cultural competencies critical to understanding the behavior of the soldiers. The paradigm shift in the military continues to progress towards diversity. The new awakening to social change has evolved from traditional values to a new tolerance of diversity and inclusion. It was not until recently that the restriction on women serving in the front lines has been lifted changing the military culture by adopting more inclusionary practices (http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/maxwell/mp10.pdf).

Army Chaplains- are on call 24/7, they need to be with the soldiers everyday- wherever they are and in the fox hole when on a mission. We go to our soldiers- we don't wait for them to come to us, we need to be seen more often than just at chapel. Everyone has a right to have a chaplain in their fox hole and to share any problems-without being judged, or confronted -until you have earned their trust and they want our counsel. When I was in Viet Nam, as a 11B-our chaplain was always in the field-where we could see him- should be the same today- fox hole- to fox hole. care for everyone, without any personal exam of who they are or what they believe- we still share our faith -without judging and help them with whatever spiritual need they might have. CH(Col) John South ret.

I had great respect for military chaplains, Not everyone gets their call to the lords service at a young age, some of us get the calling later in life. I have made it a point to continue the focus on chaplains training, this is very important I believe as a civilian clergymen .
Even as a civilian minister their is a difference to a chaplain, their is more in depth training , some will understand some wont. Let's say bed side manner in crises for example, a trained chaplain will handle it much different than a minister of any sort will.
Military clergy have a lot of challenges that make them better civilian clergy , I hope having served on the military it helps my structure and assertion as a minister .