Since the earliest days of our history, military chaplains have served to assure the free exercise of religious rights for men and women in uniform.  In addition to ministering directly to adherents of their particular faith groups, chaplains are also tasked to help personnel of other faith groups find the spiritual support they require.  Serving alongside our Armed Forces in the battle space imparts a unique perspective to chaplains as they provide spiritual guidance.  Their shared understanding of the situation helps service members deal with issues both in battle and at home.

With the growing stresses on our military forces, however, chaplains are increasingly hard pressed to meet the burgeoning ministry needs of military families while they struggle to preserve their own spiritual resiliency.  One of the primary issues they have to deal with while deployed is counseling their troops on relationships and problems at home.  A Navy Chaplain deployed with the Marines in Afghanistan described his role as follows: "Sometimes life can be like an ugly piece of a jigsaw puzzle. When we place our lives into the hands of God, however, He can put them into a bigger picture to make something beautiful. We don't always see where those ugly pieces go, but God can make them fit."  Providing spiritual perspective on the casualties of war after a unit has suffered losses in battle is often left to the chaplains by their commanders, and can help to begin healing the souls of those wounded by combat trauma.

Military chaplaincy is very much a ministry of presence for deployed forces, but is becoming increasingly difficult as resources dwindle. The Navy Chaplain Corps is currently manned at about 67% of requirements, and the Air Force recently cut 50 Chaplain billets to meet their budget.  With shrinking numbers and a growing workload, some chaplains have suffered the effects of combat trauma as the result of repeated deployments with their troops, performing multiple memorial services for our fallen heroes, and long hours when back home to provide spiritual support for those to whom they minister. A few chaplains have even committed suicide in response to these stress levels.

Even though Chaplains don't carry weapons and have armed Chaplain Assistants to protect them, they're not immune to enemy attacks in the present combat environment.  Army Chaplain Dale Goetz recently died while serving in Afghanistan when his vehicle struck a buried bomb as he was en-route to minister at a remote outpost.  

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