Before December 1909, volunteers served as chaplain assistants. The Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was established on December 28, 2009 by general orders no. 253, paragraph 1, which read “One enlisted man will be detailed on special duty, by the commanding officer of any organization to which a chaplain is assigned for duty, for the purpose of assisting the chaplain in the performance of his official duties.”
In August 1965, chaplain assistants were designated 71M and in 1974 they doctrinally joined the Chaplain at Battalions and Brigades as the Unit Ministry Team (UMT).
In 2001, the MOS changed to 56M and became a “stand alone” career management field.
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