The Army mission provides trained and ready units for combat. They trained regularly under strict guidance to know their role in the unit. Each soldier receives a specialized Military Occupation Specialty (MOS). A soldier is assigned to a branch to train in their MOS requirements. The Army has extensive jobs requiring intense training, from infantry and airborne to human resources positions. Each branch receives intensive trading in their branch and the application of how their branch integrates with other branches in the unit preparing for war. It requires at least eight support personnel for one infantry soldier. A trained and ready unit prepares to unify each branch to help one another during combat operations as a cohesive unit. These units often stay away from their families for weeks/months to maintain a trained and ready status. The unit must also keep all their equipment to the highest standards to fight in battle. Using all equipment effectively and safely is critical for each soldier. Broken equipment severely hampers the unit’s readiness for war and morale. Many soldiers and family members are under stress due to the absence of their spouses for enduring military training and war.
Lawyers, physicians, and chaplains are a few special branches of the Army. Each of these listed has years of academic training before entering the military. The Chaplain Corps requires a Master of Divinity degree to provide or perform extensive religious support across various operations. The Chaplain Basic Officer Course provided training about the culture and basic chaplain skills. A chaplain will first experience an assignment at the battalion level, with up to 1000 troops as parishioners. Each of these special branches provide support and family members during war and peace. Generally, as a caption (03), a chaplain will learn about advising the commander concerning the morale of the soldiers, families and the host nation’s religious beliefs in combat operations. Chaplains are required to provide and perform religious support. If a chaplain cannot perform a sacrament, they must refer the soldier to another individual whose faith and religion allow one to provide the soldier’s religious requirements.
Absolute confidentiality and ensuring each soldier can express their “Freedom of Religion” is the bread and butter of a solid chaplain. Chaplains academically learn to care for the dying, nurture the living, and honor the dead. As a Division Level chaplain in combat, I learned the weaknesses among many chaplains I will discuss later as a division-level chaplain for Task Force Olympia (TFO) in Mosul, Iraq. But for now, every chaplain needs at least two units of Clinical Pastoral Education for hands-on experience with death, dying, and nurturing the living to execute their basic training requirements with confidence. Chaplains provides hope to family member and soldiers under extreme stress to build morale.
The 450th Chemical Battalion, Houston, Texas, was the first unit I served in the reserves in 1991. As an additional duty, the command asked if I would start building the unit’s Family Readiness Group (FRG) program. I accepted the FRG mission as a command sponsor program without reservation. The organization of soldiers, family members, civilian employees, and volunteers formed the FRG. Each member belongs to a unit and works to support one another. Our communication network with the command reveals areas to build strong resiliency with the soldiers and family members. We teach soldiers and family members the knowledge of fortitude to solve problems at the lowest level. We promote the commander’s mission of the unit, and together with the command, we build strong family members with community resources and resilient soldiers’ readiness as a force to endure the operations of command during war and peace. Besides CPE training, leading the FRG prepared me with hands-on experience to understand the importance of being ready daily for combat operations.
