Future Issues

Mortuary Affairs

The Army neither has the manpower nor the doctrine to handle the death toll experienced in WW2 (2.9%).  Letting alone the Memorial Ceremonies/Services, until this gap is filled someone must stand ready to fill the role.  Chaplains, with our inherent role of honoring the fallen, are the initial and obvious go to, as long as we do not utterly trade the role of chaplain for that of mortician.

Chaplains being refused the right to bear arms for defensive purposes is actually historically new, novel in the world community, and contentious.  See an article in support of changing the status quo (here).  This is an issue highlighted in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it may remain quiet rumblings, or someday it may get properly addressed.  

I for the record agree in general with giving chaplains self-defense weapons while maintaining the non-combatant status of the Geneva Convention.  But at the end of the day, I serve my God either way.

From C2 to Mission Command

When I first got in (2012) the buzz was all about Mission Command (see FM 6-0).  Basically, this is just the idea that commanders must take some risk by enabling first line leaders to make decisions on their own.  

Application: Spiritually this applies to DRGLs or other similes.  One chaplain cannot actually minister to thousands of people (ask Richard Baxter).  You need to think bigger.  Develop and mentor trusted religious leaders in a religious network.  They may not have confidentiality, but they can lead services, mentor and counsel Soldiers, and otherwise be in places at times you cannot.  Learn to accept the risk, and the reward will be great.     

From COIN to LSCO

Since about 2014 when the ARFORGEN cycle was replaced (my hot take: in doctrine but not reality), a new focus on "Near-Peer" adversaries began.  All doctrine at this point, across the board, reflects the change to Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO).  LSCO is almost as popular a buzz word as "lethality."  

Application: In short, the impact on Chaplains are that we wont be operating out of FOBs anymore.  Even as a BN staff officer, expect constant mobility as a requirement.  Be able to run your operation out of no more than an assault pack.  No connex containers full of supplies, no elaborate TOC office spaces with extended screens.  If you sit for long you are vulnerable to missile strikes etc. so be capable of moving fast, and know your WTBDs.  

From Centralization to Redundancy and Nodes

In 1994 TRADOC PAM 525-5 was written.  It was not until 2023 that I heard about the concepts therein, however.  The newest concept from this old idea is Internetted C2/MC Node Structures.  Basically, busting up your HQ into cells and separating them across the battlefield.  

Application: This presents a huge problem for chaplains in my estimation.  How will a Chaplain singularly stay informed of CUOPs, give planning input in FUOPs, ensure the logistics chain from the rear node, and minister to the forward node all at the same time (internet enabled or not) when each is in widely disparate locations.  My current answer is that it cannot be done.  A chaplain must instead lean in on mission command.  RS is ultimately the commander's responsibility, chaplains are merely planers and enablers.  The down trace commanders must be given the levity of coordinating RS support without direct intervention.  Chaplains must write TAB Ds such that enable commanders, not restricting them and requiring constant FRAGOs to maintain proper authorities.

This means accepting that you as a chaplain are not the only person capable of discipling.  You are a pastor, a shepherd, and the church's deacons and lay leaders are going to do most the work which you are orchestrating.  Think officer to enlisted relations, you plan and resource, they execute; let them do their job!  

AI is Transformative

I believe AI is not just a gimmick but society altering in the way that internet, television, and radio each were.  It is a means of managing information, a means that utterly revolutionizes our previous methods.  Like all technology this is a neutral thing in and of itself, but a neutral tool is not used by neutral people.

Application: The church can use this tool for bible study purposes.  You are no longer constrained to key word searches, but thought and pattern searches.  Transversely, we are not prepared for the deluge of sinful applications.  AI content on the internet is being digested at a far faster rate than heretics and schismatics of the past.  The porn industry is morphing, and our conventional arguments against it challenged.  Non-prophetic expectation, look for robotic brothels in the USA soon.  I am perfectly serious when I say this.  

Sexual Revolution

Queer people in all their shapes and sizes are no longer the statistical anomaly.  20%+ of upcoming generations are sexual deviants.  Many of these people are doing things, or having things done to their bodies with life long consequences.  

Application: The church must be prepared to first evangelize these outwardly and visibly hostile people, and second, when they repent, to bring them into the church and love them.  This means not demonstrating disgust at a Christian brother or sister whose gender cannot be rightly discerned by looking at them.  This issue is a new manifestation of an old problem, as with our parents facing the same social stigmas for people coming to Christ with piercings and tattoos.