Military chaplain
A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases, they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations.
Although the term chaplain originally had Christian roots, it is generally used today in military organizations to describe all professionals specially trained to serve any spiritual need, regardless of religious, world philosophy or status. In addition to offering pastoral care to individuals and supporting their religious rights and needs, military chaplains may also advise their chain of command on issues of religion, ethics, morale, and morals as affected by religion, world philosophy, or status. They may also liaise with local religious leaders in an effort to understand the role of religion as a factor both in hostility and war and in reconciliation and peace.
Military chaplains normally represent a specific religion or faith group but work with military personnel of all faiths. Some countries, like Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom
also employ humanist or non-faith-based chaplains who offer a non-religious approach to chaplain support. From 1918 to 1942, political commissars in the Soviet Red Army monitored and shaped the beliefs, loyalties, and enthusiasms of Soviet soldiers and officers in a context of official state atheism.
Nomination, selection, and commissioning
In the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Defence employs chaplains, but their authority comes from their sending church or endorsing authorities. At the present time there are no non-religious chaplains. Royal Navy chaplains undertake a 16-week bespoke induction and training course, including a short course at Britannia Royal Naval College, and specialist fleet time at sea alongside a more experienced chaplain. Naval chaplains called to service with the Royal Marines undertake a commando course at Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, Lympstone and if successful serve with a front-line Royal Marines unit. British Army chaplains undertake seven-weeks training at The Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre Amport House and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Royal Air Force chaplains must complete 12 weeks Specialist Entrant course at the RAF College Cranwell followed by a Chaplains' Induction Course at Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre Amport House of a further 2 weeks. Amport House was sold by the MOD in 2020.In the United States, the term, nomination, is not generally applied to the process of becoming a military chaplain. Individuals volunteer, and if they are accepted, they are commissioned as military staff officers in the Chaplain Corps. Members of the clergy who meet the qualifications for service as an officer in the military are free to apply for service with any of the three United States Chaplain Corps: the Army, Navy, and Air Force each has a Chaplain Corps, with Navy chaplains also assigned to serve with Marine Corps units, Coast Guard units, and the Merchant Marine Academy. Some clergy, like rabbis, can apply without permission from any individual or organization within their faith group; others, in faith groups that have a hierarchy established to make decisions on the postings or positions of their members, must be granted permission from the appropriate official, such as the appropriate Bishop. As the application process proceeds, and the military determines whether the applicant will meet standards in areas such as health, physical fitness, age, education, citizenship, past criminal history, and suitability for service, which includes supporting the free exercise of religion for men and women of all faiths, an endorsement from an endorsing agency that is recognized by the Department of Defense, representing one or more faith groups in the United States, will be required, in part to ensure that the separation of church and state is honored. Neither the government as a whole nor the military in particular will be put into the position of determining whether an individual is a bona fide priest, minister, rabbi, imam, etc. Although ordination is usually required for chaplain service, some "equivalent" status is accepted for individuals from religious groups which do not have ordination, such as the Church of Christ. Additionally, in cases where an endorsing agency is not yet established for an individual's religion, it is possible for him or her to be endorsed by the endorsing agency of another group, a process which was followed for the first Muslim chaplains in the military. In any event, this endorsement is recognized as necessary, but not sufficient for acceptance as a chaplain: in other words, the military will not accept an individual for service as a chaplain, nor allow him or her to continue to serve, without such an endorsement remaining in force; however, the decision as to whether to accept that individual remains with the military service, and the individual can be rejected for a number of reasons, including the needs of the military, even with the endorsement of an endorsing agency.
Non-combatant status
The Geneva Conventions are silent on whether chaplains may bear arms. However, the Conventions do state that chaplains are non-combatants: they do not have the right to participate directly in hostilities.It is generally assumed that during World War II, chaplains were unarmed. Crosby describes an incident where a US chaplain became a trained tank gunner and was removed from the military for this "entirely illegal, not to mention imprudent" action. At least some British chaplains serving in the Far East, however, were armed: George MacDonald Fraser recalls "the tall figure of the battalion chaplain, swinging along good style with his.38 on his hip" immediately behind the lead platoon during a battalion attack. Fraser asks, "if the padre shot , what would the harvest be... apart from three ringing cheers from the whole battalion?"
The Reverend Leslie Hardman, the British Second Army's senior Jewish chaplain, who became well known for his work amongst the liberated prisoners after the capture of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, was another who insisted on being armed while on active service.
In recent years, both the UK and US have required chaplains, but not medical personnel, to be unarmed in combat, although the US does not prohibit chaplains from earning marksmanship awards or participating in marksmanship competitions. Other nations, notably Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and also Australia, make it an issue of individual conscience. There are anecdotal accounts that even US and UK chaplains have at least occasionally unofficially borne weapons: Chaplain James D. Johnson, of the 9th Infantry Division, Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam describes carrying the M-16 rifle while embedded with a combat patrol. Since 1909 US chaplains on operations have been accompanied by an armed chaplain assistant. However, perhaps on this occasion it was felt that an unarmed uniformed man would draw unwelcome attention.
Captured chaplains are not considered prisoners of war and must be returned to their home nation unless retained to minister to prisoners of war.
Inevitably, serving chaplains have died in action. The US Army and Marines lost 100 chaplains killed in action during World War II: the third highest casualty rate behind the infantry and the Army Air Forces. Many have been decorated for bravery in action. The Chaplain's Medal for Heroism is a special US military decoration given to military chaplains who have been killed in the line of duty, although it has to date only been awarded to the famous Four Chaplains, all of whom died in the sinking in 1943 after giving up their lifejackets to others.
In 2006, training materials obtained by US intelligence showed that insurgent snipers fighting in Iraq were urged to single out and attack engineers, medics, and chaplains on the theory that those casualties would demoralize entire enemy units. Among the training materials, there included an insurgent sniper training manual that was posted on the Internet. Among its tips for shooting US troops, there read: "Killing doctors and chaplains is suggested as a means of psychological warfare."