Onward, Christian Soldiers (Military chaplains)

Brendan Miniter

The contributions of military chaplains in Afghanistan.

American servicemen fight for their country-- and most also answer to a higher Power.

Monday, April 1, 2002

"We should be dead," one soldier told Maj. Mike Dugal as Operation Anaconda wound down last month. "Our equipment is riddled with bullets. I know someone is praying for me."

Very often that someone is just a few feet away. Army chaplains like Maj. Dugal--he's an evangelical minister, ordained by the Open Bible Standard Churches--are frontline troops. In Operation Anaconda military chaplains, including Maj. Dugal and the three chaplains who report to him--a Catholic priest, a Southern Baptist minister and a Mormon clergyman--were on the ridge with the troops as they took mortar fire.

Today just over 1,300 chaplains minister to the slightly fewer than 500,000 active-duty Army troops. The vast majority of chaplains are Christians--1,183 are Protestant, 95 Catholic and eight Orthodox.

For the complete article go to the Opinion Journal website.