Thoughts about the State of the Garrison Chapel

One of the few references to Army chaplains in public law is found in 10 USC 3547.
(a) Each chaplain shall, when practicable, hold appropriate religious services at least once on each Sunday for the command to which he is assigned . . .
Compared to the size of the military population, relatively few soldiers and family members attend chaplain-led worship services on post in garrison chapels. It appears to me that the preference for off-post religious activities has grown over the past several decades. I think that there are probably several reasons for this.

<!--more-->Soldiers and their families have a wide range of off-post religious activities from which to choose, and people have greater expectations of their church than they did in the past. Until recently, most garrison chapel services looked very similar to their off-post counterparts. Now, many off-post churches offer giant video screens, multimedia experiences and exciting musical productions, all backed up by a large full-time professional staff. In our consumer-oriented culture, many church-goers have grown to want this kind of experience that only large, well-funded churches can provide, and they want a religious community that offers a wide range of programs for the entire family. Most chapel congregations cannot “compete” (if this is the right word) in this new environment and won’t meet the expectations of those who are looking for this type of religious community. Understandably, installation chapel programs are not resourced for this, nor are they resourced to meet the needs of all the smaller faith traditions that are present in the Army.

Furthermore, almost every married soldier now has the option of living off post with his or her family. Military housing has been privatized, and fewer soldiers see themselves as having an obligation to live in government quarters. Whether to live on- or off-post is simply a matter of personal preference and economic calculation. As smaller bases have closed and larger bases have grown, soldiers no longer live in the shadow of the flagpole. Many commute for quite some distance to and from work every day. Few want to drive back to post on the weekend.

Overall, on-post social and community activities are less important than they used to be Officer and NCO clubs have closed, and many of the traditions associated with on-post life have gone by the wayside. Friday afternoon “O calls,” the New Years call on the commander, dining-ins and dining-outs, Army balls and Thanksgiving dinner in the chow hall: all of these important traditions are fading in significance.

Soldiers and their leaders are not immune to the atomistic individualism that permeates our culture. For members of the “millennial generation,” personal identity is less connected with institutional affiliation, and the power of institutional loyalty has diminished. Increasingly, soldiers want to get away from the military environment during their off-duty time. The paternalistic relationship of the Army to its members has largely disappeared, as has the feeling of community that transcends the workplace. The Army has become “suburbanized.”

And, of course, members of the millenial generation generally participate in instittuional religious communities and traditional relgious practices at a lower rate than did their forebears.

Garrison chapel worship remains extremely important in two venues: training environments (where new soldiers live in training barracks and don’t have the means or the freedom to go off-post) and overseas locations (where English language off-post opportunities cannot meet the need).

Additionally, there will always be a significant number of people who value worship in a military chapel because of its one unique characteristic: military people understand military life. The person in the pew next to you knows what you are going through because they’ve gone through it too.

And while garrison chapel activities are an important part of a chaplain’s responsibilities, Army religious services don’t take place exclusively within chapel facilities. The Army chaplaincy is focused on units, not buildings. Army chaplains conduct worship both in chapels and “in the field.” During my more than two decades of miltiary service, chapains have repeatedly packed their bags, deployed with their units and conducted religious services in places that no civilian church will ever serve, and under conditions that no civilian clergy will ever experience.

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