text: Religious Support for the Army
  RS includes providing those aspects of religious education, clergy counsel, pastoral care, authentic worship,
  and faith group expression that would otherwise be denied as a practical matter to Soldiers under the varied
  circumstances of military contingencies. At higher levels of command, it includes supervising and
  synchronizing the RS tasks of multiple subordinate chaplains and religious affairs specialists across the larger
  area of operations (AO).
  1-11. Chaplains and religious affairs specialists plan, prepare, execute and assess RS across the full ROMO.
  In its planning process, a chaplain section or UMT plans for three categories of RS for the Army—
  * Unit support. This covers the unit to which the chaplain and religious affairs specialist are assigned
  or attached and is normally the first priority of support.
  * Area support. This covers Service members, unified action partners, and authorized civilians who
  are not a part of the assigned unit, but who operate within that unit’s AO.
  * Denominational or distinctive religious group support. This covers Service members and other
  authorized persons of the chaplain’s denomination.
  Note: Availability of denomination-specific chaplains or distinctive religious group leaders and
  mission requirements may limit the availability and timeliness of this support.
  1-12. As credentialed religious leaders, who are themselves guaranteed the free exercise of religion,
  chaplains cannot perform RS contrary to their faith tradition, tenets, and beliefs.
  PROFESSIONAL MILITARY RELIGIOUS ADVISOR
  1-13. As a member of the unit’s staff, the chaplain serves as the professional military religious advisor to the
  commander and staff. Chaplains provide religious, moral, and ethical leadership to the Army by advising the
  commander on these issues and their impact on Service members, Family members, and unit operations.
  Chaplains advise commanders on the moral and ethical nature of command policies, programs, actions, and
  the impact of such policies on Service members and Families. They advise the command on such issues as—
  * Accommodation of religious needs and practices for Service members, Families, and authorized
  civilians to support the free exercise of religious beliefs.
  * Religious and ethical issues in the AO and the potential impact on mission accomplishment. (Refer
  to ATP 1-05.03 and ATP 1-05.04 for detailed discussion of internal and external advisement.)
  * The needs and concerns of Service members, Families, and authorized civilians, to include suicidal
  ideation, alcohol or drug abuse, or other at-risk behaviors that impact mission accomplishment.
  * Marital and parenting stressors resulting from extended deployments for training or operations.
  * Morale throughout all phases of an operation.
  1-14. The chaplain advises the commander on the impact of religion within the unit and how religion impacts
  the unit’s mission throughout its AO. Internally, the chaplain is responsible for advising the command on the
  religious practices of Service members within the command. This can include identifying holy days, specific
  worship requirements, dietary requirements, and wearing of religious garments. Externally, the chaplain
  advises the command on the specifics of the religious environment within their AO that may impact mission
  accomplishment. This can include indigenous religions in the AO, holy days that could impact military
  operations, and the significance of local religious leaders and structures. Chaplain sections and UMTs can
  work within boards, bureaus, centers, cells, and working groups to integrate their respective expertise and
  knowledge with the collective expertise of the staff in order to focus on specific problem sets to provide
  coherent staff recommendations to the commander.
  1-15. As a professional military religious advisor, the chaplain executes RS planning by actively integrating
  into the military decisionmaking process (MDMP). To effectively deliver RS to Soldiers, the chaplain is
  responsible for planning the RS tasks within the command that support the mission and coordinating support
  necessary for mission success. RS tasks are continuous, detailed, systematic, relevant, and responsive to the
  needs of the authorized population. RS must be more than minimal presence and a hurried service by the
  chaplain section or UMT. RS planning is critical to ensuring RS tasks are primarily predictive rather than
  reactive. The vision of the chaplaincy is providing the right RS in the right place at the right time.