In wartime, they carry guns and holy books. At home, these Soldiers are the ones setting up the weddings and the baptisms -- and handling the myriad attendant paperwork.

For 106 years, U.S. Army's chaplains' assistants have supported both chaplains and Soldiers in spreading faith in God and country. They teach religious studies and coordinate religious rites but cannot counsel or conduct services.

Paired with a chaplain, they provide the spiritual support for a battalion. More than 300 chaplains' assistants now serve the Army around the globe.

"We're the only team that only consists of two," said Chaplain (Capt.) Daniel Claypoole of the 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment. All other battalion support staff come in larger groupings.

On Monday, Fort Jackson's assistants and their chaplain partners gathered at the NCO Club to celebrate the holiday season, as well as the birth of the 56M military occupational specialty more than a century ago.

Chaplains' assistants come into the Army as enlisted Soldiers. They complete Basic Training, as well as training in their particular MOS. Many remain non-coms -- Staff Sgt. Angela Curry has been a chaplain's assistant for 15 years -- and a few go on to become chaplains themselves.

Chaplain (Capt.) Darrell Harlow-Curtis of the 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment is one of the latter. The recipient of a master's in theology, he was commissioned as an officer and summoned into the chaplaincy after less than two years as a chaplain's assistant but wasn't named a permanent chaplain until he finished coursework at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School on Fort Jackson.

Curry, 35, became a chaplain's assistant because "my auntie (in Alabama) wanted to keep me in the church."

"She told me I could become a choir director, and I could own the church."

For 10 years, Curry directed Army church choirs. For the past five, she has traveled among other churches to sing religious songs. She is assigned to the U.S. Army Garrison.

"Being a Southern country girl, it was so amazing (to see) all the religions that coexisted in the Army," Curry said. A girl who once had thought it a sin to wear pants to church, Curry now attends in her ACUs and has learned in her years of service to exorcise her own personal demons and to help others with theirs.

"Here, it doesn't matter where you came from," she said. "We're able to talk to each other openly."

Through the process, Curry said, she has discovered that traditions she once thought were part of doctrine really belong to the practice of certain groups -- the way she views worship has become more universal.

She witnessed even more commonalities when she was deployed to Iraq some years ago, a situation that strengthened her own faith and that she said brought others to belief.

"You were able to open up the Bible (and see that) the things that (we) read about, (we) were also able to see."

When he was deployed to Afghanistan not long ago, chaplain's assistant Cpl. Brett Foltz, 22, of the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment carried in his left breast pocket a small Bible that had been through five wars and five generations of Soldiers in his Family.

"I knew joining (the Army) in a time of war increased my chances" of being deployed, he said -- but "I feel like God had called me" to serve others.

Always one to respect the faiths of others, Foltz feels as if the Army strengthened that habit -- although he admits that learning the dates of holidays for the world's different religions was a little daunting.

It's possible Army chaplains and their assistants have something to teach the world outside post walls.

"One of the things I have learned," said Harlow-Curtis, is that "everyone has a faith," where it be in a deity or something else.

"We … have to honor our Soldiers, regardless of their faith. (That's) a high standard for a chaplain."

And an assistant.

FOOD VOUCHERS FINANCE HOLIDAY CHEER

Donations from Fort Jackson churchgoers have financed $12,000 in commissary food vouchers since Thanksgiving.

Each year, congregations on post take two special collections intended to finance holiday-season meals for Soldiers in pay grades E-1 to E-6. Brigades choose the Soldiers, who then receive vouchers for holiday meals from the Holiday Food Assistance Program.

"We've got very generous congregations on post," said Sgt. 1st Class David Townsend, assistant to garrison Chaplain (Col.) Mark Penfold. Townsend said donations at Fort Jackson exceeded those he had seen at previous postings -- Fort Bliss in Texas, and Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

Installation chaplains delivered $6,000 in vouchers before Thanksgiving this year, as well as $6,000 during the past few days, Townsend said. Two hundred forty Soldiers received the $50 vouchers.

- Christine Schweickert, Fort Jackson Leader