Posted on 12/18/2025 4:42:50 PM PST by Red6
Secretary of Wars statements on reforms regards the chaplaincy in the DOW.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/921466543875201/?mibextid=ZZyLBr
(Excerpt) Read more at facebook.com ...
Functional and rational reforms.
Unlike Obozo, who said “corpse-men”.
Years ago i read stuff that basically said that the born again chaplins were being purged from the services. My uncle was a navy chaplin and a highlight of mine at around 8 years old was when he came to philly aboard the carrier Boxer that was actually alongside the carrier enterprise in philly. We had dinner in the officers mess and walked the flight deck..
Those sort of things have a recruiting, morale and PR value beyond all belief.
I don’t think the leadership in the military realize just what sort of an impact this has!
Like air shows, I think that this sort of stuff let’s the tax payer see where his money goes and builds civil-military connections.
More importantly, it’s extremely important for morale for the troops.
We visited our son on the New York in Norfolk a few years back. It was an incredible experience for his mother and for him.
She isn’t militarily well versed and seeing things for real is very different than the junk she hears on social media or from her friends. You could literally see the difference pre vs. post visit.
In fact, mom ended up trying hard to convince the boy to stay Navy (seeing what it really is), but he regrettably chose to leave.
I attended a Catholic wedding about a month ago. The priest was a young guy. I was very impressed with his handling of the ceremony, and had a short chat with him in the narthex afterwards and told him so. I found out he was in training to enter the chaplain corp. I came away further impressed after our chat.
He may be an early example of this effort.
Already posted
Beat me to it.
Did see it because of the title.
I can’t say that I disagree with anything Trump does.
Trump IMHO, will have a profound and long lasting positive impact on our national security (for real, not where politicians abuse that topic), economy, even socially.
He is the next Ronald Reagan. Hated by some in his time, but then remembered and used as a measuring stick once gone.
People who affect change make folks feel uncomfortable and even piss some folks off.
Obama affected change, but he was a far left ideologist who affected change in ALL the wrong directions with stupid environmental, security, immigration policies, destroying the US health care system (it’s just an over priced socialist health care system today), pushing immoral and frankly weird LGBTQIA a globalist agenda.
The status quo and managerial type who is devoid of any true vision or innovation, is guided by self and special interests such as a Biden, does nothing for this nation. They create malaise while their family and those backing them walk off with millions or even billions.
Trump on the other hand is pragmatic. It’s about what works, what brings results. What creates wealth. What actually creates security in a tangible way. He is running this nation like it were a business, and while our commie and homo Hollywood and MSM will claim that’s bad and wrong (the heartless and mean spirited crap) it will bring the best long lasting results for the greatest number of Americans.
Now, that said, I met some truly wonderful, and great, chaplains along the way. There was one I served with at Brooks AFB, TX, a United Methodist, Ch Piene, who was one of the most godly men I ever met. He was a former pilot who had to crosstrain because of his eye sight. He now pastors a church in Ohio last I knew. I also met a Pentecostal Holiness chaplain, Ch Sessions, there as well that was great. Then there was a Catholic chaplain, Fr Sheerin, who was one of the best all around chaplains I served under. He truly cared for his chaplains and managers. Gosh I miss him. There were others that I met overseas on Guam as well that were truly great chaplains. But it wasn't until I got to my last duty station that the wheels fell off and I left the AF.
So I hope Hegseth follows thru on this promise. But I guarantee he'll have to start at the top because the corruption and woke leaders are all there and they have to be dealt with before he can make changes further down the line.
IMHO, the military chaplain was reduced to no more than the spiritual stamp of approval for what the senior leaders wanted.
The successful careerist chaplain had a “systems sense” and more or less understood what his true purpose was: tell the troops that God wants them to do or support whatever the leadership wants of them to do or support.
Truly serving God and attending to the souls of service members, was an after thought.
I do not blame the chaplain.
I do not expect everyone be a hero and fall on their sword.
Many have wives and children and want to survive.
The human mind has infinite abilities when it comes to rationalizing.
The Germans have a good word for this phenomenon where people play along to survive: “Mitläufer.”
Most people, even if college educated, an officer, or chaplain, are followers and sheep.
Blaming them for the evils of a system where self preservation, bandwagon (majority), appeal to authority (science, law, policies), all nudge someone in a certain direction is unrealistic.
During Covid the FBI experienced nearly 18% of its employees that didn’t really want to be vaccinated: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/thousands-of-federal-intelligence-officers-refusing-to-get-vaccine-at-risk-of-dismissal
By the time they twisted everyone’s arm (coercion), the FBI had over 99% compliance. Are they all bad people? No.
Most people simply aren’t really willing to put their ass on the line for their beliefs. Most act like they do, and even convince themselves they would (that they would stand strong), but there is really only a very small percentage of people who have that sort of character.
In the end, no different than in the Nazi era, MOST people will play along, they are “Mitläufer.”
PS, thank you for sharing your story and views.
I can tell it was from the heart (means something) and impacted you.
I posted this because my best friend is an Army chaplain and we occasionally talk. We both served in war together.
My story about an Army O-3 chaplain (today slightly higher rank) that thought it was his duty to be where guys need him. He would come along for larger cordon and searches where we had numerous flat out gun fights (contact) with the enemy. I remember him escorting WIA back to the CASH that didn’t make it on some occasions, and how that affected him. He would stay on our Forward Operating Base (FOB) and while talking on the roof we had incoming mortar fire... He didn’t need to do these things.
I’m not sure if he really knew what danger he was exposing himself to, or if he knew and thought it was his duty to be there? I did on more than one occasion advise him that if caught (say during movement), there is a good chance that the cross on his collar won’t help him.
He’s my best friend to this day.
Pretty much. Almost everyone in high levels of command in the chaplain field were in it for the money and prestige. But, the ones in the trenches, who honestly cared about the ones they felt called to "serve," those were the good ones, and those were the ones who made my ten years tolerable until I had to separate.
I could always share more details of my experiences working in the Air Force chapel management field, but boy, I could probably write a book. It would take that much space.
I got to talk to someone who wanted to crosstrain into the chapel management. He had the misconception, as I did, that every chapel manager was a godly person and it was all sunshine and roses. We talked for over two hours, and we also sat down with that chaplain as well. Needless to say, he went in a different direction and he was better off for it.
These was another chaplain, one I served under at Brooks AFB, TX, who took the lead with two suicides happened, one week apart. One was a young man who attended chapel services there, and the other was an officer who was suicidal. The youth took his life first, then the officer after he heard what happened. That chaplain, well, I'd never seen a Lt Col cry until the day the officer took his life. I was the one who got the call, and I ran outside as he was just pulling up into the parking lot. The look of shock on his face, him pounding his fists on the roof of his car, yelling "not again," you could tell his heart was broken. He genuinely cared for people.
Those are examples of some of the good ones. I will remember all them fondly.
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