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Monday, May 1, 2006

Chaplains, Bigoted and Otherwise, in Iraq

Posted by on May 1 at 11:45 AM

This article in the Washington Post Magazine this weekend was very readable, and very odd.

The good stuff (i.e., the horrifying stuff) is buried pretty deep, so read all the way through.

Among the facts which were new to me: If a serviceperson uses a chaplain for psychological counseling, that exchange is confidential. If a serviceperson uses a psychologist for the same reason, that exchange is not confidential: “Anything soldiers confess to social workers, psychologists or doctors becomes part of their service records and can be accessed by their military superiors.” Perhaps someone better versed in the law can tell me: What about this arrangement does not constitute an unconstitutional establishment of religion? If soldiers want confidential counseling, there is no secular option.

There’s also the Southern Baptist chaplain who’s profiled: He’s so uptight about “the enhancement of any religion outside Christianity” that he comes very close to refusing orders to clean up the grounds of a mosque on his base. I don’t think “bigot” is too strong a word.


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Aside from the blatently religion issue here, this is disturbing. Most Americans can go to a therapist, psychologist, or other mental health professional with full confidetiality and without fear that their employer will find out anything about their visit.

The only time a therapist can breach the patient-doctor relationship of confidenitality is if the person is a harm to themselves or others.

The fact that military service personnel can find out this information is completely wrong and only serves to establish yet another barrier to accessing mental health services.

Mental health conditions like PTSD, depression, suicide, anxiety, etc. seem to be on the rise among military service personnel. Allowing their superiors to find out why they sought access to counseling services will only restrict a badly needed service for military personnel.

reason #523019283098 to stay the fuck out of the millitary.

Just a reminder that the Rabbi serving in Iraq do honor the confidentiality of the Jewish soldiers serving our country.


It's frustrating that the preachers serving the rest of the soldiers have to face bigotry. Yet another example of the hypocricy of some religions.

Sucks for the service member, good for you and me.

WHY says you? Well, forget about your civilian world american freedoms... the one where you are free to say "God tells me to kill, and I am sad about that" to your secular therapist or religious authority of choice. And said authority will work with you to help you with that... all without your boss knowing.

HOWEVER, when it comes to protecting my american ass (the military's bottom-line), I kind of like knowing that the folks who have access to all that efficient killing equipment (intended to protect us) and who are hearing voices in their heads (and are trying to determine if those voice are credible or not, hence the reason for talking to said authority), would actually be prevented by their bosses from having access to that killing equipment.


I am just saying.

That is reason #1 for not joining the military (or #1 for joining, depending on how you like your freedom, with or without military service). Once you put your signature on that bottom line, literally, you are property of the US Goverment.

While the church/state angle is compelling, this story highlights the abysmal state of mental health care in the armed forces. How many more soldiers have to come home and murder their familes before we take their mental wellbeing seriously?

Phenics—You miss my point. Soldiers can indeed get confidential mental health counseling, but they are forced to go to ill-trained, religiously motivated chaplains for that service. Not only are they getting inferior care (and thus putting your American ass in danger); they're also being (in my opinion, illegally) pushed toward religious practice.

The sad fact is that when you join the military you no longer fall under the constitution and have no constitutional rights...all your "rights" fall under the Code of Military Justice (CMJ). So a lot of the things you take for granted as a civilian are not available to the military, say like confidentiality. Your "boss"/commander is god of your life and can basically do anything with it, but the one thing the military won't mess with is your religion. Scream religious discrimination and things happen, thus you can tell your chaplain things in confidence. Mental health issues in the military are still deemed a cop out and in a lot of minds an excuse. The few people in the field are simply there to help further their degrees and education without having to compete for the work/job or have good grades…same with most of the doctors and ALL of the lawyers!

Unless you’re willing to totally give up all of your freedoms and right don’t join the military!

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