Padre ping!
To be a military chaplain takes a lot of intestinal fortitude. A lot of chaplains are broken every year because of the stress, but if they last, they are hard to beat for spiritual strength. A senior military chaplain can be the closest thing to an irresistible force, or an unmovable object.
If a unit has bad morale problems, a good chaplain can be cathartic.
I heard of one horrible situation, where a young chaplain had a nervous breakdown because rotten circumstances and lethargy had devastated a unit’s morale, and soldiers would pour out their problems to him 18 hours a day. His replacement was an old chaplain who took one look at the situation and started barking out orders like a very irate Sergeant Major.
Soldiers were running around like an enemy army was going to come over the hill in the next hour. By the end of that day, the unit was exhausted, and after a good night’s sleep and a heavy duty roster was written, unit morale had been restored.
My heart goes out to those, like Chaplain Schulman, who support our troops’ spirit and morale, and help them to know God’s strength and comfort. We pray for the safety of our troops and for strength in their mission, whatever that mission may be.