You’ve decided you’re interested in the challenges and opportunities of ministry as an Army chaplain. How do you learn more about it?
The first thing I recommend you do when considering the Army chaplaincy is to read a little about the requirements for appointment as a chaplain and about the ministry of the chaplaincy. You can read this on the Army recruiting website, in the chaplain recruiting area. From this section, you can request a packet of information to be mailed to you, locate the nearest chaplain recruiter, or chat with an Army recruiter (who will probably not be able to answer questions specifically related to the Chaplain Corps).
Go ahead and request an information packet. When you receive this, included will probably be a business card for your nearest chaplain recruiter. The country is divided into six recruiting brigades, with chaplain recruiters in Maryland, Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Nevada, and Kentucky. If you didn’t receive contact information for your regional chaplain recruiter, call 866-684-1571 and follow the prompts to be connected.
Chaplain recruiters are chaplains. They have all been through the accessions process and probably even served as chaplain candidates. They are familiar with the special requirements for military ministry. I don’t recommend contacting a local Army recruiter (i.e., one who is not a chaplain recruiter) for information on the chaplaincy. If you do speak to a general recruiter, do NOT take his advice if he suggests that you become a chaplain assistant to “get your foot in the door”. If you meet the requirements for chaplaincy (now or in the future), you will already have your foot in the door; if you do not meet the requirements for chaplaincy, you will never be a chaplain, no matter what else you have been. Chaplain assistants are enlisted personnel; chaplains are officers. I’ll write more about chaplain assistants later.
Chaplain recruiters are different from general recruiters in other ways, too. For example, they probably won’t come to your home for a recruiting presentation or call you every other day for six months. If you’re in seminary, a chaplain recruiter may visit your school once or twice a year to meet students, set up a display, or visit with chaplain candidates. If you speak to a chaplain recruiter at one of these visits, he will not pressure you to join but he will provide helpful information and may schedule individual time to talk with you, if you request. He may give you a brochure or recommend that you speak with a fellow student who is already in the chaplain candidate program.
In my experience, dealing with three chaplain recruiters myself and hearing the experiences of others, chaplain recruiters will not hound you to do anything. In fact, if you are interested in becoming a chaplain candidate, they will expect you to take the initiative and get things done (such as completing paperwork). They will provide you with the information and forms you need–and will even give you guidance in filling out forms–but they will not call you every day just to make sure you haven’t changed your mind. Nor will they check up on you every week to make sure you are staying on track toward fulfilling the requirements for acceptance into the chaplain candidate program or for accessions.
I’ll continue this subject in Part 2.
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