First Blog Topic

     OK, first topic, and it's a hot one: Religious Leader Engagements (RLE).  (We need to try to draw a quick audience.  Maybe starting with a hot topic will help.)   Ton's of discussion going on about this around the Corps.  My thought is that we chaplains should be doing RLE, when appropriate.(I think there's a DA directive out there regarding RLE, but I don't have it.)   In a counterinsurgency fight, the key to the conflict is earning the trust of the local populace.  RLE's can be an important aspect of that effort.  Success in earning the local populace support can also save the lives of our soldiers.  

     HOWEVER, I do believe that there are some powerful caveats to chaplains conducting RLE's.  The governing principles for chaplains and RLE should be the following: 1. The Commander's decision regarding his chaplain and RLE and, 2. METT-TC.  First, does the CDR want the chaplain to do RLE?  If so, then the chaplain does RLE.  If the CDR doesn't want the chaplain to do RLE, then the chaplain doesn't do RLE.  The CDR makes his decision based upon his experience, his visualization of the battlefield and his assessment of his chaplain.  

     METT-TC also governs whether a chaplain should do RLE's.  Does RLE on the part of the chaplain positively impact mission success?  Does the "enemy" set lend itself towards chaplain RLE's?  Are there bridges to peacemakers out in sector that chaplains can help build?  Is the terrain such that chaplains can be utilized in a somewhat safe manner for both him and the supporting detail?  Regarding troops, are there troops available to support RLE without robbing combat power?  Since the chaplain is a troop, I think this is a good point at which to ask the following questions:  is the chaplain capable of conducting RLE.  Does he have the necessary maturity?  Is he trained?  Does the unit and CDR have the time available to flex the chaplain for RLE?  Does the chaplain have the ability to manage the time available to conduct RLE without sacrificing troop ministry time?   Finally, do the civil considerations, especially the human terrain and culture, create a set of conditions that are favorable to RLE's?  RLE's may work in Al Anbar, but not in Afghanistan, or even in Mosul.       

     I totally understand that chaplains doing RLE assumes that we are engaged in a just war and that RLE's can rub us up next to combatant status.  Chaplains who conduct RLE's have to stand firm against pressures, both internal to them and external to them, to cross the line into becoming an intel gatherer.  That's a difficult line to walk at times, but I don't think it means we shouldn't conduct RLE when the conditions are right and when our bosses tell us to.  

     Bottom Line:  I contend that with the right checks and balances like those listed above, chaplains should conduct RLE.  The ideal may be that RLE is a BCT-level chaplain's job viz. a battalion chaplain, but if the boss says "Do it," and the effort meets the METT-TC checks, then I think we can make a huge contribution to the unit mission in addition to our internal RS mission.       Chip Huey

Thoughts??