What are you opinions on Chaplain Assistants getting "Special Treatment" from their units?

Chaplain’s assistants are usually always working. Some of them work on Sunday’s when the rest of us are off. When we were in combat, many times our chaplain and his assistant were right there with us. Our chaplain assistant even got a Purple Heart.

I would like to hear the complete story.

For extremely obvious reasons, the chaplain and their assistants should be civilians.

First off, while in Garrison, I would assume your normal duty week consists of 5 days. So if you worked every Sunday, you would most likely have some other day off. Secondly, the CA is the assistant to the Chaplain (I know, duh). By their nature, Chaplains are basically on call 24/7, therefore the CA often has a number of extra duties outside the normal workday and must be available to the Chaplain and higher staff. While deployed (unless things have changed in this regard since I retired), the Chaplains are not (due to their religious and humanitarian position) authorized to bear arms and the CA is tasked as the armed guard to protect the Chaplain and therefore must be available.

Suck it up buttercups!!! Alot of different jobs are exempt from CQ/SDNCO. I was my MP unit NCOIC and myself and my armorers were exempt, cooks were exempt and certain jobs in unit like MPI were exempt. Every job in the military has certain benefits and certain parts that suck ,but you picked the job when that recruiter set you down, nobody twisted your arm and said "NO, you cant be a chaplains assistant you must be infantry because I said so." So quit complaining because someone else has it better than you.

You should spend the time you spend bitching about others insuring your conduct is exemplary, you might find that you don't have the time to waste bitching about what others are doing.

This statement says more about your own maturity (or lack thereof) than anything else.

Do YOUR job, instead of worrying about how others do theirs.

Never had any use for Chaplains assistants. Usually washout from other units.

What is the difference between them working weekends or everyone else that pulls weekend duties (CQ, staff duties, funeral honors, DFAC duties, MP/CID duties, etc.)? Using just a little common sense prior to enlisting as a Chaplain Assistant can go a long way. After all, chaplains work Sundays and various evenings throughout the week, visit troops in the field and hospitals, etc. Therefore, I believe they should not br compensated any more or any less than other hard-working soldiers.

If that's what the CO wants to do there isn't much you can do