The United States Army Chaplain Corps (USACC) consists of ordained clergy of multiple faiths who are commissioned Army officers serving as military chaplains as well as enlisted soldiers who serve as assistants. Their purpose is to offer religious church services, counseling, and moral support to the armed forces, whether in peacetime or at war.
See footnotes[1][2]
The U.S. Army Institute for Religious Leadership (USAIRL) is part of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Center (AFCC), which also includes the Air Force Chaplain Service Institute (AFCSI) and the U.S. Naval Chaplaincy School and Center (NCSC). The three schools are co-located at Fort Jackson, in Columbia, S.C.[3]
In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decided to put all military ministry training at the same location. While it was authorized, funding was not part of the BRAC, and the Air Force departed Ft Jackson in 2012, currently leaving only the Army and Navy at the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Center.[3]
The purpose of the AFCC was to have closer cooperation among the three chaplain corps and to share instruction and training. While that was the goal, the core curricula were maintained by the three service schools and a joint program of instruction (POI) was never created.[3]
The U.S. Army Chaplain School was approved on 9 February 1918. Its first session began on 3 March 1918, at Fort Monroe, Virginia.[4] Chaplain (MAJ) Aldred A. Pruden, who developed the plan for the school, was named the first commandant of the school.[4] It subsequently moved to Camp Zachary Taylor (Kentucky), Camp Grant (Illinois), Fort Leavenworth (Kansas), Fort Benjamin Harrison (Indiana), Harvard University (Massachusetts), Fort Devens (Mass.), Fort Oglethorpe (Georgia), Carlisle Barracks (Pennsylvania), Fort Slocum (New York) (1951–62), Fort Hamilton (N.Y.) (1962–74), Fort Wadsworth (N.Y.) (1974–79), and Fort Monmouth (New Jersey) (1979–95).[4]
Due to a revision of DA PAM 611-21 (Military Occupational Classification and Structure) Effective 1 October 2013, Chaplain Candidates, previously belonging to the Staff Specialist Branch until ordination have worn the Staff Specialist insignia in lieu of religious denomination insignia. The transition from the Staff Specialist Branch to the Chaplain Branch left the candidates without an authorized branch insignia. Responding to the need, Chief of Chaplains Chaplain (Major General) Donald L. Rutherford submitted a request for collar insignia which was approved by HQDA, G-1 on 23 February 2012. The design for the collar insignia was authorized on 18 June 2012.[5]
For FAQs regarding uniforms and insignia, see footnote[6]
The Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army is the head of the Army Chaplaincy. The position was created to better organize the corps. The current Chief of Chaplains is Chaplain (Major General) William Green, Jr., who became the United States Army's 26th Chief of Chaplains on 5 December 2023.[7]
See footnotes[8][9] For a link to the chaplaincy at each of the bases listed below, see general footnote[10] and the footnote following each base
For all six USMA chapels, see footnote[25]
See footnote[26]
See footnote[27][clarification needed]
For USA Civil War chaplains, see footnote[28] For historic photographs of Army chaplains in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, see footnote[29]
The U.S. Army Chaplain Museum is located at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.[30] It was established on 14 August 1957, at the then–United States Army Chaplain School at Fort Slocum, New York. It was dedicated on 10 February 1958, by Chaplain (MG) Patrick J. Ryan, Chief of Chaplains.[31]
When the troop-transport ship Dorchester was torpedoed during World War II, four Army chaplains ministered to the soldiers and sailors on the sinking ship, gave up their life jackets, and sacrificed their lives when the ship sank.[32] Those chaplains – known as "The Four Chaplains" – were Lt. George L. Fox, Methodist; Lt. Alexander D. Goode, Jewish; Lt. John P. Washington, Roman Catholic; and Lt. Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed.
A Catholic priest from Washington state, Chaplain Herman Felhoelter had been assigned to the U.S. Army's 19th Infantry Regiment. ... Four days before his death, he had written his mother: 'Don't worry, Mother. God's will be done. I feel so good to know the power of your prayers accompanying me. ... I am happy in the thought that I can help some souls who need help. ...'
With the outbreak of World War II, Wood entered the chaplain school at Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis. He later volunteered for parachute duty and was attached initially to the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, by-passing the usual school for parachutists, and then was sent to Fort Bragg to join the 82nd Airborne Division. An elite military unit, the 82nd was deployed to North Africa and then became part of the invasion of Sicily in 1943. He later dropped behind enemy lines in Salerno and participated in the allied march to Naples. He was then sent to England for additional training and took part in the D-Day invasion in 1944, parachuting into Ste. Mere Eglise in Normandy. He took part in a fourth combat jump in Holland and was the only chaplain to make four jumps in the war.