questions about the chaplain corps

L

letifer

New Member
I'm rather new to this site so i apologize if this is not the right place to put this.

I have been hoping to become part of the chaplain corps for a while, however I have some questions that are holding me up. Any insight or advice would be appreciated. my main concerns are:

What are the requirements?

What faiths/religions are in the chaplain corps?

Is there a specific age you need to be?(I am 22)

What branches of the military have chaplains?

Who chooses what branch the chaplain gets sent to?

Who do i contact in order to join?


I'm aware that these questions should be rather obvious, but for some reason i can't seem to find the answers. As i said before, any advice, and information is appreciated.
 
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Well i'm pretty sure a recuriter can answer these for you, i can answer a couple of those for you. The only branch that doesn't have a chaplain corps is the Marines. You can find almost any faith as far as chaplains go, I've personally met many different Christian denominations, as well as, muslims, buddhists, hindus, jews, etc. So if you have a faith of some sort it will probably apply to the chaplain.You will choose what branch that you want to join. And as far as the pre-requisites, I know you need at least a bachelors and I'm 90% sure i should be in theology of some sort, not sure if you have to do your graduate work before you go in or after as i know there are programs available for lawyers and physicians to finish their graduate work on the governments dime while doing military work. I hope this helps, and like i said the best source of information would be your local recruiter.
 
The Navy covers both the Corps and the Navy the Army and Air Force have their own Chaplins. Chaplins generally fall into these catogories Catholic, Protosent , Jewish and Islamic but that sometimes only means thats the symbol you wear as you are responsible for the spirtitual well being of the entire unit not just your own faith. All of the Departments have offices specfically for recruiting and retaining chaplins and Chaplin training is different from OCS. Some faiths also have an office within the church that actively seeks seminarians for military chaplin commitments.
 
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You have to have higher education from a seminary school to be a chaplain. So if that is road you want to take, you need to get a degree.

Traditionally, that has been a major barrier to any one of another faith besides Judaism and Christianity being Chaplains.

We probably have less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the services in the U.S. military.

the one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a Buddhist, then became a Chaplain.
 
Lavite said:
You have to have higher education from a seminary school to be a chaplain. So if that is road you want to take, you need to get a degree.

Traditionally, that has been a major barrier to any one of another faith besides Judaism and Christianity being Chaplains.

We probably have less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the services in the U.S. military.

the one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a Buddhist, then became a Chaplain.
Click to expand...

The guidelines for answering questions regarding Training or Military service require us to answer from experience or refer the questioner to a source that can answer the question. Not supply b******t.

To show your post is not b******t, requires sources for your off the wall statements.

Statements like: "traditional barriers", "four Muslim Chaplains", "one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a Buddhist."

The person asking the question did not come here to become ignorant.

Letifer: The real people to ask are your own clergy, as most of the services require your denomination to submit you for military service.

A quick search of wikipedia will explain some of the basics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_chaplain
 
Dearest cukpike, If you'd like to point out any of my comments about Chaplains which is inaccurate then please do so.

You can't obviously. Now stop yapping like a little lap fed Chihuahua. If ignorance is bliss, you must be exceptionally happy.
 
Lavite said:
You have to have higher education from a seminary school to be a chaplain. So if that is road you want to take, you need to get a degree.

Traditionally, that has been a major barrier to any one of another faith besides Judaism and Christianity being Chaplains.

We probably have less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the services in the U.S. military.

the one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a Buddhist, then became a Chaplain.
Click to expand...

Chukpike said:
The guidelines for answering questions regarding Training or Military service require us to answer from experience or refer the questioner to a source that can answer the question. Not supply b******t.

To show your post is not b******t, requires sources for your off the wall statements.

Statements like: "traditional barriers", "four Muslim Chaplains", "one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a Buddhist."

The person asking the question did not come here to become ignorant.

Letifer: The real people to ask are your own clergy, as most of the services require your denomination to submit you for military service.

A quick search of wikipedia will explain some of the basics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_chaplain
Click to expand...

Lavite said:
Dearest cukpike, If you'd like to point out any of my comments about Chaplains which is inaccurate then please do so.

You can't obviously. Now stop yapping like a little lap fed Chihuahua. If ignorance is bliss, you must be exceptionally happy.
Click to expand...

You need to supply sources for the three statements in you original post I asked you to supply. How hard can that be for a retired Major to understand.

1. "Traditionally, that has been a major barrier to any one of another faith besides Judaism and Christianity being Chaplains."

2. "We probably have less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the
services in the U.S. military."

3. "the one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern
Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a
Buddhist, then became a Chaplain"

So put up or shut up.
 
As far as I know we have no US chaplains on this here board, so this is the wrong place to get first hand experience advice on the subject.
You´d probably be better off talking to a recruiter about what is demanded of you education wise.

As for advice on the job (the spiritual and humanitarian side) of the job of a chaplain I would ask Padre about his experiences.
He is the only chaplain on here that posts on a regular basis.

DO NOT make a lifealtering decision based on an article in a magazine.

//KJ.
 
Chukpike said:
1. "Traditionally, that has been a major barrier to any one of another faith besides Judaism and Christianity being Chaplains."
2. "We probably have less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the
services in the U.S. military."
3. "the one Buddhist Chaplain had gone to seminary as a Southern
Baptist, became a minister, had a change of faith and became a
Buddhist, then became a Chaplain"
Click to expand...
Lavite said:
This article from USA Today covers all three of the statements.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-09-08-buddhist-chaplain_N.htm

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance, Chukpike.
Click to expand...

No, it does not.

It does not say, "We probably have less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the services in the U.S. military."

In fact what it does say is, "By contrast, there's one imam per 353.5 Muslims, and one priest for every 1,086 Catholics."

Does not sound like, "less than four Muslim Chaplains across all the services in the U.S. military."
Since the article only addresses the Army and does not cover the military as a whole.

The point is and as KJ is also saying, this forum is to answer with facts or directions in giving help. Not opinions on what might be wrong with a system.

The one useful thing in your article refers to this:
"Chaplain Steve Blackwell, a Tennessee native who now serves as an Army chaplain recruiter in Los Angeles, said a chaplain's job is not to evangelize."

This does show that the military has recruiters specifically for Chaplains that can answer all of letifer's questions.
 
Chukpike, the article clearly covers point 1 and 3 directly. If you want to quibble about the number of Muslim Chaplains, on point 2 where I said "probably" then by all means knock you socks off. The number is low regardless and the article explains why that is the case.

And my initial comment that if he wanted to be a Chaplain he'd need a higher Seminary Education was absolutely correct and that if he really want to do that then he'd need to meet that requirement. The rest was just general conversation.

And there about 3,400 Muslims on active duty. With one imam per 353.5 Muslims, that would be about 9.6 Muslim Chaplains. Wow, that is a really significant number, Chukpike. Leaps and bounds better than my guess of 4.

http://www.muslimmilitarymembers.org/article.php?story=20080324111257995
 
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Lavite said:
Chukpike, the article clearly covers point 1 and 3 directly. If you want to quibble about the number of Muslim Chaplains, on point 2 where I said "probably" then by all means knock you socks off. The number is low regardless and the article explains why that is the case.

And my initial comment that if he wanted to be a Chaplain he'd need a higher Seminary Education was absolutely correct and that if he really want to do that then he'd need to meet that requirement. The rest was just general conversation.

And there about 3,400 Muslims on active duty. With one imam per 353.5 Muslims, that would be about 9.6 Muslim Chaplains. Wow, that is a really significant number, Chukpike. Leaps and bounds better than my guess of 4.

http://www.muslimmilitarymembers.org/article.php?story=20080324111257995
Click to expand...

It is data from your article and is a ratio. one imam per 353.5 Muslims
Since you claim to have been an officer it would seem you should have been able to divide 3,400 muslim by 353.5 an come up with a more accurate figure for the number of Muslim Chaplains like 9 or 10 in the Army.

You, having been an Officer in the Armored Calvery. Just a question for you.
With your math skills did you ever hit anything? (I mean that you were aiming at):smile:
 
Nothing wrong with my math. 3,400 Muslims in service divided by a ratio of 353.5 would give you a total of 9.6 Muslim Chaplains.

That's not real complicated, Chukpike.

And thank you for the ridiculous Private Message, Chukpike. I'll save it. It will come in handy in your insanity defense some day.
 
Chaplaincy endorsements

It's been 20 years since I retired...last assignment: Army Chaplain Center and School. Then, you needed an endorsement from your Denomination, and applicants were selected based on faith percentages and needs of the Army.
 
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