The Republican., 1961-01-26


personal life of the men," This is
not supported by the facts. If a
ship is grounded or wrecked care
lessly at sea. it is the Commanding
Officer who receives the blame and
not the sailor who fell asleep on
the job It is the responsibility of
every ship and station Command
ing Officer to see that Divine SerV-
ices are held every Sunday and
that programs and facilities for
recreation are provided
The Navy also offers an excellent
Leadership Training Course"
which is prepared and presented
by line officers (laymenl and not
Chaplains. During the Korean War
$50 of the American prisoners of
war co-operated with the enemy
in one way or another. while not
one of the terrible pagan" Turks
who were captured did so. The
Communists soon found out that
in a group of so American prisoners
there would be only 8 or leaders.
Thus they would remove the lead
ers and then easily manipulate the
remaining "leaderless'' men. In
the case of the Turks, however,
the Communists found that at least
half or them had leadership quail
ties, and thus it was almost inn
possible to separate the leaders
from the followers" Also, the
physically stronger Turks would
share their rations with their
weaker Turkish brothers, whereas
with the Americans it was every
man for himself or dog eat dog.
Thus the Turks lost only one man
by death in the concentration
camps. while the Americans lost
many. Our youth should be trained
to be leaders in our homes. just
as the Navy tries to train them
after they leave home. The better
advantages of our industrial and
democratic society need better
men to appreciate them. The
better weapons of an Atomic
Hydrogen age need better men to
use them. During the tense cold
war, our men not only need TO
know when to fire, they also need
to know when not to fire. The
Navy Course for Leadership Of
fers three qualities for Leadership;
Personal example, Correct Man
agement of mechanical and techni-
cal methods, and Moral RESPONSE
bility. All of these can be used in
our homesi
The third type of letter to Con-
gressmen which is disappointing
is one which claims that "ChaDlains
are just part of the military ma
chine and therefore are not really
ministers" This is completely false.
Every Chaplain i'll the Armed
Forces of our country was called
by God to become Minister, Pas
tor. Priest or Rabbi before he ever
thought about serving as a Mill
tary Chaplain. Every Chaplain in
the Armed Forces was educated
and ordained by his church be-
fore he ever received Commits
sion as a Chaplain. Many denomi-
nations require that newly or
dained seminary graduates must
serve a civilian parish from l to
8 years before they are allowed
to become military Chaplains. A
Navy Chaplain is not referred to
as Commander or 1t. regardless
of his rank, rather he is always re-
ferred to as Chaplain or Padre
A Christian Navy Chaplain wears
the C,"oss of Jesus Christ on his
s,r4ao1 20 fhn limo "a
ficers star, and the Jewish Chap
lain wears the Tablets of the Ten
Commandments on his uniform A
Navy Chaplain performs the same
ministerial acts in the Navy as he
would i'll a civilian parish. The
Chaplain breaches. administers the
SacramentS of his church, cOunSelS
in great quantity, performs mar
riages and burials. visits the sick
regularly and visits the brig reg
ularly, teaches, and performs adj
ministratiVe and organizational re-
sponsibilities. AS collateral duties
the Chaplain often is in charge
of the ships library and some
times assists with the recreational
program. In short, the Navy Chap
lain is a clergyman first and a
Naval officer second The Chap
lain primarily represents the
Church.
In summary, the facts show that
the Navy is doing many helpful
things to promote the spiritual and
moral welfare Of its men. The real
job to be done remains in the
civilian homes, when the men are
still boys. Then it is up to the