Father Joseph T. O'Callahan, A Claustrophobi Priest awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on the USS Franklin, 1945
Posted on 12/17/2025 8:51:09 AM PST by ducttape45
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has pledged to toss “New Age notions” in America’s Chaplain Corps and make the military body “great again.”
“In recent decades, its role has been degraded in an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism,” Hegseth said of the Chaplain Corps in video message released Tuesday night.
“Chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” Hegseth said, adding “faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care.”
Across all branches of the U.S. military, there are estimated to be 3,000 to 4,000 military chaplains.
The Chaplain Corps was established in 1775 at the request of George Washington, who at the time was serving as general of the Continental Army. Washington established the corps to meet the spiritual needs of the men.
“For about 200 years, the chaplain corps continued its role as the spiritual leader of our service members, serving our men and women in times of hardship and ministering to their souls, but sadly, as part of the ongoing war on warriors, in recent decades, its role has been degraded,” Hegseth said.
The Secretary of War points to the U.S. Army Spiritual Fitness Guide as a critical example of the ways secularism has influenced the Chaplain Corps.
The 112-page document mentions “God” only once, does not mention “Jesus” or “virtue,” but does mention “feelings” 11 times and “spiritual” over 350 times.
“The guide relies on New Age notions, saying that the soldier’s spirit consists of consciousness, creativity and connection,” Hegseth said.
“The guide itself reports that around 82% of the military are religious, yet ironically, it alienates our war fighters of faith by pushing secular humanism. In short, it’s unacceptable and unserious, so we’re tossing it,” he continued.
Hegseth has signed a directive to eliminate the use of the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide. The secretary also announced that military is simplifying the U.S. Military’s Faith and Belief Coding System, which is used to track religions and spiritual preferences within the military.
The system currently has over 200 faith and belief codes, according to Hegseth, who added that the majority of the military uses only six of the codes, and 11 are not used at all.
A new system will be streamlined, Hegseth said, and moved “to a new list of religious affiliation codes so that our chaplains can actually use it to minister better to the flock.”
Tuesday announcement is the first of similar reforms to come, according to the secretary.
“There will be a top-down cultural shift putting spiritual well-being on the same footing as mental and physical health,” Hegseth said.
Being a chaplain in the U.S. military is a “high and sacred calling, but this only works if our shepherds are actually given the freedom to boldly guide and care for their flock,” he said.
“We are going to make the Chaplain Corps great again,” Hegseth pledged, adding, “Merry Christmas.”
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To me, I'll be the first to say that it'll never happen. I was a chapel manager from 1982 to 1992, and while I did serve with some good chaplains, the majority couldn't cut it in a real church setting.
I also suffered harassment and threats from a chaplain who thought I was scum of the earth because I was (at the time) a "Free" Methodist while they were "United" Methodist. I was one of those renegades from the 1860's and because of it I was almost discharged because that chaplain wouldn't let me re-enlist. If it wasn't for a shake up in the command structure on the base, and a new squadron commander who told me that chaplain had nothing on me to prevent me from re-enlisting, I would have been forced out onto the streets with no path forward.
But let's see what the rest of ya'all think of this news.
My old company published a book about someone who did cut it in all ways:
The Grunt Padre: Father Vincent Robert Capodanno, Vietnam, 1966-1967 Paperback – June 1, 2000
by Father Daniel L. Mode (Author), Gerald H. Turley (Foreword)
Navy Chaplain killed in vietnam l967 with Marine search unit in operation swift, outnumbered 2500 to 500 marines, killed protecting a corpsman who was administering first aid to soldier. Receive Congressional medal of honor, Bronze star and 3 purple hearts. Even though wounded refused to leave battle area to assist his grunts. Most recognized and respected chaplain in that war, memorials and buildings thoughout the world named after him. This is a hero
https://www.amazon.com/Grunt-Padre-Vincent-Capodanno-1966-1967/dp/1891280082
I wonder if anyone is still staring at goats...
Now the goats are staring back!
Sorry for your poor experience, but don’t let that deter your excitement for what Hegseth is doing now.
Secretary of War Hegseth shows me once again why I placed such great faith in him as a nominee.
Military.com, 2020: Here's the Marine Corps' Plan to End Gender Segregation at Boot Camp. The Marine Corps was tasked with explaining its short- and long-term plans for integrating recruit training, which was mandated by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Signed into law in December, 2020. “Gender integration at Marine Corps Recruit Training remains a top priority." “The outcome the Marine Corps desires for gender integration is for every male recruit to train alongside a female recruit within the same company.”” All-male recruit companies trained solely by men will be made “obsolete,”
Top Marine stresses need for more female infantry officers, research on 1-year paid maternity leave 2/25/2020, 5:18:38 PM · by jazusamo · 87 replies The Washington Times ^ | February 25, 2020 | Douglas Ernst The nation’s top Marine, Commandant Gen. David Berger, took to social media Tuesday morning to stress the service’s “most important matters.” Yet to get an abortion=murder their child, Navy service members are to be reimbursed for travel expenses and if they need to go to a different state they can be provided with up to three weeks off, with pay.
The Blaze, December 22, 2022: Marines told to stop using ‘sir,’ ‘ma’am/mater’ to avoid ‘misgendering’ superiors The University of Pittsburgh received $2 million to conduct the study, which examined gender-integrated recruit training in military settings. "The Army, Navy, and Coast Guard effectively de-emphasize gender in an integrated environment," the report claimed. Marine Corps leaders are reportedly not convinced that transitioning to gender-neutral salutations would be as simple as the 739-page report suggests.
Biden Pentagon Orders Military Chaplains To Bless Putting Male Soldiers In Female Showers And Bedrooms, The Federalist : if a person “self-identifies” as a person of the opposite sex, and if the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) changes a person’s bureaucratic “gender marker,” a man claiming to be a woman must be treated as a woman, and vice versa... Revised rules also permit cross-dressing and other “transitioning” behaviors while in “on-duty status.”... regulations do not protect or even mention rights of religious liberty for chaplains and people of faith. Nor do they provide options for doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel who object to transgender ideology on moral or ethical grounds.<
Moreover, based on Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED) diagnosis codes related to transgenderism, tthe number of occurrences in active-duty military is on the rise—and it’s an exponential rise.
Along with this, Pentagon study finds rising suicide rates in military 9/27/2019, 12:49:01 AM · by fwdude · 26 replies The Hill ^ | 09/26/19 | Ellen Mitchell Suicide rates in the military were higher in 2018 compared to the previous five years despite efforts to prevent such deaths, according to an annual Pentagon report released Thursday. A total of 541 active duty, National Guard and Reserve troops committed suicide last year, the Department of Defense Annual Suicide Report found.
Heritage Index Rates Navy, Marines ‘Marginal’ In Ability to Counter Current Threats 11/4/2019, 11:30:14 AM · by robowombat · 25 replies USNI News ^ | October 30, 2019 8:01 PM | John Grady Heritage Index Rates Navy, Marines ‘Marginal’ In Ability to Counter Current Threats By: John Grady October 30, 2019 8:01 PM The Navy and the Marine Corps have been assessed as “marginal” in their ability to meet the challenges from rival powers in Beijing and Moscow, as well as regional threats coming from Tehran and Pyongyang, according to annual report on U.S. military strength from The Heritage Foundation
Pentagon Report: China Now Has World’s Largest Navy as Beijing Expands Military Influence 9/2/2020, 7:28:08 PM · by Retain Mike · 8 replies US Naval Institute ^ | September 1, 2020 5:31 PM | John Grady
Countering this is the news of, The Pentagon Forming a Diversity and Inclusion Office, and allowing transgenders to serve in the military,
and with the Pentagon even ensuring free gender reassignment surgery for active military personnel,
while the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at the Department of Defense's education wing, a self-described "woke administrator," attacked a person for having the ""CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too,"
while Army mandatory training now including training Army personnel to know what to do in such scenarios as when a soldier who was "assigned" a biological gender at birth says he/she identifies as another gender, and lives as such in off-duty hours, but is not requesting to be treated as such while on duty, versus if such later requests to be identified as according to their chosen gender during duty hours, and/or experiences increased distress relating to his/her gender identity;
while apparently as part of the Naval Sea Systems Command Inclusion & Engagement Council’s Diversity Team's video series called “NAVSpEAks,” the Navy posts video on "the importance of using correct pronouns as well as polite etiquette when you may not be sure of someone's pronouns"
as 'Keep Trying' — Naval Sea Systems Command Tells Americans to Advance Transgenderism,
consistent with "Navy Says Sailors Can Use Whichever Locker Room Suits Their Gender Identity,"
as well as the Air Force being with WOKEism in creating 'LGBTQ' and 'Indigenous Nations Equality' Focus Groups,
and also authorizing the use of gender pronouns in signature blocks,
and hosting a drag show at festival at Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) on July, 2022, which also includes a poem on “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” and also posted a tweet celebrating Pride Month that depicted a U.S. soldier saluting not the American flag, but a Pride flag,
and the CIA funds a 'cisgender millennial with anxiety disorder' campaign, and with the
with the former posting rainbow bullets, and the latter a rainbow colored arm and hand in salute (essentially to the flag of Sodom)
along with the Navy's first all gay U.S. Navy helicopter crew,
Which was followed by "Navy launches USS New Jersey, first gender-neutral submarine in US fleet ," designed to fully integrate male and female sailors. New Jersey’s commanding officer Cmdr. Steve Halle addressed the submarine’s crew during the ceremony, "Our superior professionalism is enhanced by our crew integration and our diversity."
In the same demonic spirit, U.S. Army Announces the Allowance of Lipstick, Nail Polish, and Better Breastfeeding
In the Battle for Inclusion, U.S. Navy Employs the Weapon of Interior Decorating
Navy Says Sailors Can Use Whichever Locker Room Suits Their Gender Identity
U.S. Army Revolutionizes Its Fitness Standards so Girls Can Pass
Army Secretary Champions What’s ‘Important’: Making ‘Marginalized Communities’ ‘Feel Included’
The Army Will Force Female Soldiers to Shower With Biological Males,
and with military generals calling for Increased Diversity and More Women in Combat,
and changing its song to be gender-neutral,
and Forcing Marines to Make Boot Camp Coed,
and feeding cadets cultural Marxist propaganda about gender and masculinity therein,
to its new diversity and inclusion operation from West Point
and for its Special Operations Command ,
while showing a rapid response readiness to engage in online combat with the likes of Tucker Carson and other such enemies
thus nuking Jesus-themed candies on an Air Force bases
(although turbans and hijabs are allowed,) stop making faith-based Dog Tags,
and prohibiting service members from “liking” or reposting "extremist" views on social media (depending on all the circumstances involved) as part of its prohibition against actively engaging in extremist activities,
Which behavior is consistent with working to rid the military itself of “extremism”
while the US Army is teaching officers at the Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth that white people can’t experience racism. The definition of racism is taught in an elective course called “Race and Gender in U.S. Military History” which is available for up to 32 students each year. The course also defines gender as “a set of socially constructed characteristics, such as norms and behaviors, typically associated with being masculine, feminine, androgynous, or other.” “The Command and General Staff College is at the forefront of building Army leaders ready to fight and win our nation’s wars,” Camara told American Military News.
Then though in a somewhat personal civilian incident, a New Jersey mother was reported to local police by a U.S. Army Lt. Col because she criticized her child's elementary school for displaying posters in the hallway about sexual preferences. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Christopher Schilling also used his military title to engage in an email thread with U.S. Air Force Major Nathanial Lesher, who assured Schilling that he would forward his concern to North Hanover Township Police Chief Robert Duff "for awareness." Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst confirmed that it notified law enforcement about the exchange as part of "common information-sharing practice among law enforcement entities."
O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. (Ezra 9:6)
Which shame has as its capstone of damnation not only paying for troops and their family members to travel for abortions but the promotion of the abomination of homosexual unions and its relations, which are overall deleterious to individuals and the nation, thereby essentially saluting the flag of Sodom, as of United States of Sodom:
March 30, 2023: (Navy) 'International Transgender Day of Visibility' offers a chance to support freedom of expression, association 
(https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Media/News/SavedNewsModule/Article/3343199/international-transgender-day-of-visibility-offers-a-chance-to-support-freedom/)
(Air Force proudly recognizes and celebrates generations of LGBTQI+ service)
Also, last I saw, More Than 75% Of Americans Aged 17-24 Aren’t Fit For Military Service: (DOD) 77% of Americans in the above age group could not physically qualify to enter the armed forces – a 6% increase from 2017..CDC statistics also show that 19 percent of active-duty service members suffered from obesity in 2020, which is up from 16 percent in 2015. A U.S. Army general bluntly said that young Americans are either too obese, too sick, or too criminal to serve in the military. we have are obesity, we have pre-existing medical conditions, we have behavioral health problems, we have criminality, people with felonies, and we have drug use,” Lt. Gen. Xavier Brunson told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington.
And the Army dropped grenade throwing as a requirement to graduate because new recruits could not throw far enough. “We are finding that there are a large number of trainees that come in that quite frankly just physically don’t have the capacity to throw a hand grenade 20 to 25 [82 feet] to 30 meters."
Consistent with such, physical fitness assessment failures being now scrubbed from sailors’ records, a clean slate that will allow them to remain in the service,
and with lower fitness standards for women in the Army,
while nearly half of female soldiers are still failing the new Army Fitness Test,
Also, there is the Intellectual Decline of the Army Officer Corps. The size of the U.S. military in 2017 was half of what it was in 1990, and in general I think many signed up for the benefits rather than patriotism. 16% were women and racial and ethnic minorities made up 43%, and a poll from the Military Times and Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families conducted in July 2020, 49.9 percent of 1,018 active-duty military respondents had an unfavorable view of the president, compared to about 38 percent who had a favorable view. That poll showed Biden with a 4-percentage-point lead over Trump
Fewer Americans want to serve in the military. Cue Pentagon panic 4/10/2019, 6:55:46 PM · by GuavaCheesePuff · 70 replies The Guardian ^ | April 10, 2019 | William M. Arkin.official military polling shows that fewer and fewer young Americans consider the military as a career or as a transitional step – only some 12.5% – the lowest number in a decade.
Yet despite conservatives being the most patriotic, the Army’s top civilian leader pushed back amid Republican criticisms that the military is going too "woke," arguing such critiques are deepening an already troubling recruiting crisis.
heli146 posted on 9/15/2024,
Father O’Callahan taught at Holy Cross College while my Dad was in the V-12 Officer program there.
I had a worse story than yours, but am not free to tell it in this forum. But I tried not to let it color my perception of all Chaplains.
They are subject to the temptations of sin and flawed as we all are.
But I am glad to hear you didn’t get forced out. That would have been an injustice at the very least.
9 military chaplains have received the MOH.
4 Civil War
1 WW2
1 Korea
3 Vietnam
https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/lists/chaplain-recipients
I attended a Catholic wedding about a month ago. The priest was a young guy in training to enter the chaplain corp. I was very impressed with his handling of the ceremony, had a short chat with him in the narthex afterwards and told him so, came away further impressed after our chat.
He may have been an early example of this effort.
My view is, the Left spent decades forcing this crap upon the service, subverting it at every level in a full-court press.
Relentless.
It will take years, perhaps decades to undo. But we have to start sometime. and 2025 is as good a time as any to undo what can be undone.
Big time.
A good chaplain is critical to mental health and morale and along with our stellar navy corpsmen/medics, are the unsung heroes of combat.
It didn't matter much about which denomination you got: we had a Catholic priest give an excellent Protestant service and one time a Jewish rabbi gave an outstanding Easter service.
I hope we get back to getting to really good chaplains back.
Purging Democrats. Sweet.
“...we have behavioral health problems, we have criminality...”
And as long as the military treats obesity as a criminal act and not a psychological or illness add on it will continue to fail in it’s efforts to retain good members and solve a problem. Their answer is punishment and general, at best, discharge.
wy69
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