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

Most every chaplains assistants I ever ran into while in the Army were soldiers that had washed out of their primary jobs. never had any respect for them.

If folks spent as much time working as they do worrying about other folks, nobody would need to stay late. The people who need to know what that Chaplain Asst. is doing, know.

Life isn't fair. Deal with it. Depending on the command & the circumstances, somebody always seems to be shamming while others seem to be getting screwed. I dated a 71L who never did CQ or went to the field. a straight 0800-1700 hour job. In a matter of 18 months, she was able to take 2 years worth of college courses. My unit spent every other month in the field, were always going on alert, did CQ, got sent out with other units at all hours of the day & night, & so. I was jealous of my GF but at the same time happy that things went so well for her.

I can tell you being on the Emergency Room Staff of several Army Hospitals we were exempt from CQ and Staff Duty. Except for Fort Benning the Hospital had it's own Staff Duty and the NCO IC of each Department Pulled Staff Duty. As for Chaplain Assistants, I worked with several in the Hospital and in the Field. When you have situations that occur in the Emergency Room Environment a good Chaplain's Assistant is worth their weight in Gold. You probably didn't know that Jewish Rabbi's do circumcisions. The Chaplain's Assistant made sure everything was ready as a Medic I ensured all the medical instruments were there.
A Chaplain and a Chaplains assistant are on duty 24-7. They are there in the event of a major catastrophe even a minor one.

The Chaplin's assistance can be called at any time to assist in Death Notifications, assisting in grief counseling and dealing with bereaved service members or their families.
Would you like to have to deal with that?

These Soldiers perform special duties that most don't want to perform. They are also there for those who are in need. Not everyone is capable of that.

I agree with the CW2. If you don't like what you do, reclassify to a job that you are willing to do without BITCHING about. You are in the military, and everyone has their job to do.

They need to be treated differently because our mission was different than any other specialization. The chaplain and assistant are a Unit Ministry Team that should never be messed with by senior personnel that can't understand the role of a unique MOS like that

Definitely exempt from Staff Duty/CQ and basically all other last we need a body “hey you!” detail bullshit.

Yes and no, it depends. 1st if they work a full duty day on Sundays, which they typically do depending on when the earliest service starts, then they should be given a comp day. In regards to training they should be cross training and out working with the other Soldiers in the unit at least half day once or twice a week; depending on what their Unit Ministry Team or assigned Chaplian has going on.

They should be training with funeral details and should become D&C Experts.*Most of the ceremonies they will be facilitating are Memorial Ceremonies and Funerals so rendering honors and maintaining the dignity of deceased Service Members and their families is priority number one.

They are also the Chaplain’s Driver, Admistrative Assistant, Body Guard, RTO, and Enlisted Advisor. So they should be getting trained and developed as such; that is why the half days once or twice a week is so important to give the Chaplain Assistant the development required to attain mastery of those duties.

They need to be at training events actually getting trained and not just walking around with the Chaplian handing out prayers and snacks. Chaplain Assistant better be doing things like PT with squads in the Battalion, going to ranges, filling in and working with other MOS’s ie if it is an Infantry Battalion doing STX, the Chaplian Assistant hops in as an extra Rifleman.

That is where they can learn necessary skills and build relationships in the Battalion to better fulfill their duties as Chaplain Assistant.

The Chaplain has an ear with the Senior Leaders within the Brigade and maybe Division so if the Chaplain and Chaplian Assistant are working well together they can help communicate and resolve a lot of Soldier issues.

I was on a special duty assignment as a SGT as a Chaplain Assistant 2004-05. 28 Trans Bn EN TEMPS! I had an incredible Chaplain and Battalion command team.