Gen. George Washington signed a general order July 29, 1775, authorizing the position of one chaplain for each regiment, and the Chaplain Corps was born.
While Washington wanted the chaplains to be religious leaders, they also visited the wounded, took care of the dead, wrote letters home for Soldiers who couldn't write and gave discourses of a patriotic nature to keep Soldiers from deserting.
Today, chaplains maintain many of those same duties, plus so much more. Under the motto Pro Deo et Patria (For God and Country), they are "boots on the ground," a calming influence for Soldiers, wherever they're deployed, and for the Families left behind.
Chaplains also provide marital counseling, officiate weddings, act as historians and offer much more.
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