"You must remember that intelligence is not enough.
INTELLIGENCE PLUS CHARACTER-
that is the goal of true education."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
INTRODUCTION
The United States Army Chaplaincy was created in 1775 by the Continental Congress at the
request of General George Washington. The history of the chaplaincy has been long and complex as
chaplains have served valiantly in numerous conflicts at home and abroad along side soldiers.
Chaplains, like other soldiers, have died in service to their country. And chaplains have long relied on
assistance from other soldiers in completing the chaplaincy's mission.
The Army Chaplaincy rests on three important foundations: (1) its institutional value; (2) the US
Constitution; and (3) endorsing agencies.
(1) Institutionally, chaplains are noncombatant staff officers who are under obligation to help
defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. They are required to take an oath and
to offer aid to soldiers in a variety of ways as spelled out in U.S. Code and AR 165-1.
(2) Constitutionally, the chaplaincy provides for the exercise of religious conscience in the
military under the First Amendment.
(3) Endorsing agencies are the denominational or faith groups which sanction individual clergy
men or women, for service to the military.
Now, more than ever before, chaplain support activities are concerned with the concepts of
character building, ethics, role modeling, moral leadership, and morale -- Army-wide. These areas, as
you will see, are linked.
The title of this subcourse was taken from a program which until recently was formulated as a
distinct entity supported by an Army Regulation. Over the years it has been called moral self
development, character guidance and other similar names. In this subcourse we will use Chaplain
Support Activities to refer generally to Unit Ministry Team (UMT) programs which improve the moral
and ethical climate of the command. This perspective is the backdrop to IS1600. Chaplains and
chaplain assistants are assigned to units to provide religious support and to help meet the challenges of
human leadership.
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