The role of the Army chaplain has changed over time.

Where Army chaplains had in the past focused primarily on the soldier, they now also provide added support to soldiers’ families. Today, their presence is recognized as invaluable.

Chaplains help ensure success for military missions by strengthening military families and improving morale among individual soldiers.

Father James Sheil, a Vietnam veteran and Catholic priest who was recently reactivated, has witnessed changes to the chaplaincy over the past 40 years.

He recalled how he and other individual chaplains were often flown into “the rice paddies” by helicopter.

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NEW PORT RICHEY — The Rev. Morson Livingston was stopped at a red light at State Road 54 and Little Road last year when he saw a couple of homeless men standing on the side of the road, wearing parts of their military uniforms. Livingston, who served as a U.S. Army chaplain in Bosnia before leaving the priesthood a few years ago, stopped and asked where they had served.

Vietnam, the men responded.

“I just imagined them in their uniforms, how strong and macho they were, and how desperate they are now in contrast,” Livingston recalled.

He felt the need to help.

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Capt. Kari Maschhoff is a facilitator.

“If someone has a faith that is not my own, what can I do to support their faith?” said Capt. Maschhoff, the chaplain for Fort Gordon’s 442nd Signal Battalion.

Fort Gordon is home to a range of faiths, and that leads to an array of duties for its chaplains.

Chaplains say they tend to all aspects of a soldier’s life.

“My day-to-day is taking care of my group of soldiers and attending to their spiritual health, mental health, building relationships with family members,” Capt. Maschhoff said.

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By Bob Smietana, The (Nashville) Tennessean

When Thomas Dyer heads to Afghanistan in December, the former Marine and one-time Southern Baptist pastor won’t take a rifle with him. He won’t take a Bible, either.

Instead, Dyer, a Tennessean National Guardsman from Memphis and the first Buddhist chaplain in the history of the U.S. Army, hopes to bring serenity and calm, honed by months of intensive meditation.

That preparation, he says, will help him bring spiritual care in the midst of a war zone. “We’re going to put it to the test,” Dyer said.

Dyer’s deployment is another step in the U.S. military’s attempt to meet the diverse spiritual needs of America’s fighting forces. It’s no easy task.

For one thing, the military chaplaincy is facing all the complications that have affected American religion over the past 40 years. The decline of mainline Protestants and their aging clergy. The ongoing Catholic priest shortage. The explosion of religious diversity. The emergence of people with no faith. The ease with which people move from one faith to another.

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Some 15,000 audio Bibles have been shipped to American chaplains and troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, a ministry reported Thursday.

The audio Bibles come in the form of the BibleStick – a digital audio player of the dramatized New Testament that is the size of a pack of gum. The military version retains the slim figure of the original BibleStick while taking on modifications to accommodate the needs of the troops.

In order to not stand out at night, the military version of the BibleStick is black in color (instead of white) and has a red light (instead of green).

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