Changing Roles of the Chaplains - Thesis Example

Vietnam Chaplains During wars, it is not just the military who risk their lives in the battlefields. There are also medical personnel who are present in the combat zone to ensure the health conditions of the military men fighting for their government and country. Chaplains are said to perform religious functions and are more inclined in promoting peace and religious doctrines and teachings. However, in these wars, chaplains are also being sent out to the battlefields together with the military men and medical personnel. How can a person who is teaching and preaching religious doctrines survive in a place filled with violence and murder? Wars bring trauma to military men who are trained to fight in such events. Could this bring more than trauma to those people who are sent to wars who were not trained and not meant to be there in the first place? According to Cook (2): Chaplains are normally ordained and are officially endorsed clergy of some recognized religious body; however, some people do function as volunteer chaplains without ordination and/or endorsement. The chaplain ministry has grown rapidly over the last fifty years as both the Church and institutional settings have recognized the great need for such a ministry model and have worked to develop a mutually acceptable relationship between the institution and religious ministry.” James Johnson was a chaplain in the Vietnam War. He was sent there in 1967. In his book, Combat Chaplain: A Thirty-year Vietnam Battle, he wrote that he was only 26 years old then when he was sent to Vietnam. There he had 350 young soldier/parishioners. Johnson further stated what he felt as he and other GI soldiers went back to the United States in 1968. The author said, “So many of them have gone home in body bags. My feelings are a mixture of gladness, sadness, and grief tinged with guilt. I’m making it out and they didn’t (1-2).” Instead of giving focus to the enemies, military men are also given additional task to look after these personnel who were not trained for combat. It is not an easy task for chaplains to perform the things that they were trained to do in a place being where people are killing each other, man against man, brothers against brothers. In every religion, it is being taught that every human being should learn to love his or her man as they may not be brothers by the flesh but they are brothers by blood. In Gun Totin Chaplain, author Jerry Autry was also sent to the Vietnam War as a chaplain. There he made a realization and conclusion that war chaplains are not just tasked to perform religious acts but also to execute responsibilities of a social worker, psychiatrist and other actions that military men need in the line of duty. Unlike Johnson, Autry wanted to go to Vietnam and perform duties that will be put in his tasks besides being a chaplain. Other people do want to leave in Vietnam everything that has happened in Vietnam. The author had a different opinion (Autry 1-5, 110). Events in the Vietnam War should be remembered as there are stories of inspiration and courage that lies within all the violence and horror stories. It is not all nightmares that envelopes the Vietnam War or any war in the sense. Some people will consider joining the military and being deployed as a dream come true to fight for their country while others look at being part of the war as being part of history. Just like Autry, there are people who have that urge to be part of something not to be part of all the violence but be part of helping those people who are putting their lives on the line for the honor of their homeland. It was quite an unexpected thing for chaplains who would want to participate in such experience where the environment is going against what they are preaching. The author then further stated: I settled into the bus and thought again to myself, What have I gotten myself into? … The fear of the unknown is probably the same with every soldier going to war. Would I be a good chaplain? What sort of unit would I get into? What am I doing? (5) Autry and Johnson had different outlooks towards their own experiences in Vietnam. Contradicting emotions and memories can be felt throughout their stories. Yet their experiences will not change the fact that there were thousands of people who lost their lives in the war. Both chaplains however also realized the same thing, maybe there are a number of soldiers who also can relate this that the war made people have a stronger faith and made them better citizens not just towards their countrymen but to the whole mankind (Autry 127-30; Johnson 3-5). As how Cook defined what seems to be the role of a chaplain, it sort of justified the reason as to why there are chaplains who are being sent to the battlefield. It is not to fire high caliber guns and refill ammunitions but to guide the military men towards peace within their mind and soul. Not just because military men have held guns for the greater part of their lives, it does not mean that they do not have any mind and/or soul that needs to be guided and sins that need to be confessed. All humans have a religious faith were they seek enlightenment and salvation from all the chaos and temptations that are present in this physical world. Though the chaplain’s main role is to perform religious functions, it does not restrict doing such acts within the 4 walls of the room. These acts are also being performed even in open spaces where there might be too many distractions going around them. Religion is also present in places being enclosed by fear and violence. Prayers are not just done or spoken at near death events, yet these should be done every single time, not just for guidance but also for expressing gratitude not just for the self but also for those people who needs prayer the most. The Vietnam War became the turning point of so many lives. Even if it brought too many traumas and sad memories, the war also brought the better side of people not just towards their countrymen but to mankind as a whole. People can credit chaplains in aiding them in keeping their faith and having even the slightest ease in their soul during this very agonizing event. There are wars that occurred and still occurring after the Vietnam War. Military chaplains are continuously being deployed in these events. Nothing changed. A war is still a war. If there would be one thing that these chaplains could be praying repeatedly it could be that let there be no more wars where men are killing their own brothers. Works Cited Autry, Jerry. Gun Totin’ Chaplain. San Francisco, CA: Airborne Press. 2006. Cook, E. Dean. Chaplaincy: Being Gods Presence in Closed Communities. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. 2010. Johnson, James D. Combat Chaplain: A Thirty-year Vietnam Battle. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press. 2001. O’Connor, John J. A Chaplain Looks at Vietnam. New York: The World Publishing Company. 1968. Read More