Chaplain's role, purpose in military Published April 25, 2006 By Chaplain (Capt.) James Hendrick 436th Maintenance Group DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- What is the chaplain's role and purpose in the military? Now that is a good question! You may have asked it yourself. If not, it may come up in the future. I offer the following words in order to clarify the chaplain's role in the military community. Every Air Force Specialty Code has a specific purpose that contributes to the Air Force's mission to fly, fight and win. Each AFSC has been wisely designed and developed to support this military objective so that Americans can enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which is afforded by our Constitution. Many times I think the specific purpose of the Chaplain Corps is unclear to the overall military team. I experienced this recently while attending Contingency Skills Training at Fort Dix, N.J. In this combat training environment, the question was frequently asked, "What do we do with the chaplain?" or "What is his or her role here?" This was especially true when the simulated bullets started flying, and I stood there unarmed as a non-combatant. I would like to briefly clarify the purpose of the Chaplain Corps so that we can better support you and our collective effort in upholding the noble Air Force mission. The purpose of the Chaplain Corps, in short, is to provide heart-care or spiritual-care for military members and their families so that the Air Force mission can go forward. Disabled hearts can disable our mission. Therefore, the Air Force Chaplain Corps focuses on heart-care in four specific ways. We refer to these as our core-competencies. They include: Advocating and defending the free exercise of religion: I take great delight that our Constitution has secured religious freedom for every American as long as it does not violate civil law. Can you imagine receiving a ticket in the mail or a more severe penalty for not attending a weekly religious service that our government had selected for you? Without America's constitutional separation of church and state, that could easily happen. The free exercise of religion is a precious liberty designed for heart-care and national unity. The Chaplain Corps serves as advocates and defenders of this freedom for those that practice religion and those that do not. For those that do, we ensure access to religious services, weddings, funerals, sacraments and rites. Providing pastoral care: For me, the picture here is of a shepherd and his sheep. The shepherd cares deeply for the well-being of his flock. As a result, he expends his energy and resources for it; in provision and protection. The same is true for the chaplain corps except military members and their families constitute our flock. Likewise, we expend our energy and resources for their heart-provision and heart-protection. We do this through visitation, counseling with absolute confidentiality, Critical Incident Stress Management, "thoughts for the day" briefings, relational seminars, religious education and various other services. Modeling ethical leadership: Stress and guilt work against heart-life or inner-love, joy and peace. Heart-life can be reduced by making decisions that do not accord with what is best for you and your fellowman. Some decisions can be legally right while violating this ethical design. Therefore, the Chaplain Corps - although not perfect - is committed to modeling ethical decision making that accords with heart-life - that which is best for you and your fellowman. Advising leadership: It goes without saying that leadership decisions are made at numerous levels in the Air Force. It also goes without saying that they impact others. Given the shepherding care of chaplains, leadership at all levels have access to wonderful insight and information that can enhance their ability to make decisions that will positively impact the hearts of others. The specific insight and information we offer focus on morale, relational and religious accommodation issues. My prayer is that this information will help you understand the specific role of the chaplain in your neck of the woods. In doing so, we will enlarge our efforts in supporting our mission to fly, fight and win! Blessings upon you!