The Iraq war has led to a major change in reserve forces utilization. Reserve components are now considered to be an operational reserve -- which means greater integration with the active force, better training and equipment and greater possibilities of mobilization from time to time.

The changed nature of the reserve component becomes part of the discernment process, as a priest considers a possible call to the chaplaincy in the Reserve or National Guard. That discernment must also include the spiritual needs of the men and women serving in these units and their families.

If a reserve component chaplain, the clergy person must balance equitably her or his civilian ministry and the chaplaincy. The balancing act is not unlike others a priest faces: ministry in the parish, in the community, and at regional, diocesan, and national church levels. A priest also may apply for commissioning as a chaplain and a call to active duty. The Episcopal Church wisely requires parish experience prior to granting an ecclesiastical endorsement for active duty.

I strongly believe that Episcopal clergy make good military chaplains and are much needed in our country's Armed Forces, active and reserve. Here's why:

1. Episcopal clergy usually have a broad educational background, which increases effectiveness as the commander's religious staff representative with leaders up and down the chain of command.

2. Episcopal clergy generally have interfaith openness and cooperativeness, making them productive chaplains in working with the religious variety that exists among military members. Because of the same openness, Episcopal clergy make good working partners with chaplains of other faith traditions, for the spiritual and emotional welfare of military members and their families.

3. Episcopal clergy bring a sacramental dimension to the military, one that seems to be diminishing as fewer sacramental clergy become chaplains while more religiously conservative, non-sacramental clergy do so. According to 2005 active duty chaplain statistics, there were 57 Episcopal chaplains for all services while our brother and sister ELCA chaplains numbered 93. By contrast, there were 451 Southern Baptist Convention chaplains and 163 Assemblies of God chaplains. (Washington Post, Aug. 30, 2005, p. A4)

5. Sacramental clergy who can minister to a wide group of military family members are needed as chaplains for real religious reasons: the baptism of infants and children as well as adults, regular provision of the Eucharist, the availability of other sacraments, and preaching and teaching rooted in the "outward and visible" as well as the "inward and invisible."

For information about becoming a chaplain, contact the Office of the Bishop Suffragan for Chaplaincies at 800-334-7626 or visit the web site http://www.ecusa-chaplain.org.