The Navy is making chaplains a permanent part of destroyer crews (navytimes.com) By Geoff Ziezulewicz January 12, 2022
FTA: In a nod to the mental health needs of guided-missile destroyer crews, the Navy is starting to make chaplains a permanent part of the warship’s force.
The effort began last month in the always-busy Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet.
There, Destroyer Squadron 15 assigned one of the uniformed religious leaders for each of the squadron’s eight destroyers, making them a permanent part of the ship’s company.
Before that, chaplains were farmed out to destroyers during workups and deployments as visiting “ship riders,” according to Naval Surface Forces.
“The mental health of our Sailors is a top priority for the Surface Force,” command spokesman Jarred Reid-Dixon said in an email. “We identified the need to assign chaplains aboard destroyers to help build Sailor resiliency across the Fleet.”
The Navy is making chaplains a permanent part of destroyer crews (navytimes.com)
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