Along with our peers in the other military services, our Army Chaplain Corps’ religious affairs specialists have vitally important contributions to make to the military chaplaincy’s ongoing professional conversation. The newly renamed Military Chaplaincy Review recognizes that fact. It calls us back to the joint days of the Military Chaplains’ Review (1972-1992), with the important recognition that military chaplaincy is a team effort.
In the May 2024 issue of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Journal, I challenged our Army’s religious affairs specialists to consider how they could contribute to our Corps’ ongoing developmental conversation, in the Journal and otherwise. In this first issue of the Military Chaplaincy Review, I challenge military chaplains across the services and at every level to support all your religious support teammates in this important work. Be charitable and encouraging conversation partners for them. Give them the time and space to work out their ideas on paper. Provide constructive feedback. Make their hard work visible to their leaders and celebrate their accomplishments along the way.
July 2025 will mark 250 years of military chaplaincy in America and in the U.S. Army, in particular. Chaplain assistants and now religious affairs specialists are vital parts of that history and tradition, as are our other religious support teammates. I challenge us all to dig into that history, to help tell that story, and to consider how we can work together, in the pages of the Review and otherwise, to help shape the future of the military chaplaincies across the globe.
Pro Deo et Patria!
Sergeant Major Meaghan B. Simmons
U.S. Army Chaplain Corps Regimental Sergeant Major