Military Chaplaincy

[Held Fast]

I attempted to reply to a thread from July on this subject, but found the thread locked, which may be a function of my relatively new membership. A couple of things I wanted to mention:

- The US government DOES NOT pay for seminary to become a Chaplain - it was interpreted as a violation of the establishment clause. There are also no signing bonuses, or loan forgiveness for the Chaplain Corps. The Chaplain Corps is the only staff officer corps that requires graduate education that does not pay for said education, or offer bonuses. The government is not in the business of paying our way to ordination.
- The US government MAY pay for additional study beyond the minimum requirements to be endorsed and commissioned as a Chaplain. I was selected for a 1 year tour to Princeton Seminary in order to complete a ThM in Philosophy; I was still active duty, receiving all pay and allowances and accountable to all standards. I had to pay that year back at a following tour, teaching Ethics at the Naval Postgraduate School, and supervising their Chapel and its programs.
- To become a US Military Chaplain, the standard is 2 years post Seminary/Ordination minimum service as a Pastor. Youth pastors are increasingly turned away at the initial interview; we want Senior Pastors or Associate Pastor/Elders who have led, preached, wed, baptized, administered sacraments, etc.
- That is in addition to whatever your endorsing body (i.e. denomination) requires of those whom it will send to serve. My own endorsing body considers military Chaplains commissioned missionaries; while I was ordained and pastored prior to Chaplaincy, my formal status is that of missionary, aligned to the national denominational office tasked with missions to the military.

If there are any interested in knowing more, I'd be happy to make this my first and meager contribution to a rich forum.

 

[Edward]

I attempted to reply to a thread from July on this subject, but found the thread locked, which may be a function of my relatively new membership.

All threads automatically lock after a period of inactivity - the thread in question is locked for me as well. It's a matter of policy, although I think admins can unlock a thread when appropriate, and, of course, threads can be locked if things start getting out of hand to allow for cooling off.

 

[Held Fast]

It has been my pleasure to serve with a variety of Confessing Presbyterian and Confessing Baptist Military Chaplains; indeed I think the greatest collegiality observable is amongst them. Often you will hear horror stories of dysfunctional relationships in Military Chaplaincy, and many of them are both true and far more horrifying in truth than even the stories convey, but not so amongst the confessional traditions. What I have witnessed though, particularly at Princeton, was an almost ubiquitous concern: can a confessing Christian even serve in that capacity? How does that reconcile with the offices of the church, the expectations of an elder, etc.? If anyone is interested in that conversation, I'd be happy to engage that reasonably, biblically, and in accordance with our respective confessions.