Military Chaplains -- Treating PTSD at the Battlefield

Military Chaplains -- Treating PTSD at the Battlefield
Huffington Post
Lisa Cypers Kamen, MA
Executive Director, Harvesting Happiness

This week, Rebekah Havrilla, an army rape victim, testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee on sexual assault in the military.

She had refrained from formally reporting the rape at first because she believed the system was broken. When she went to her military chaplain for guidance and support, Havrilla explained, he told her, "The rape was God's will and that God was trying to get [her] attention so that [she] would go back to church." Havrilla's response was silence.

Havrilla's case is just that: one case. Her chaplain's conduct shouldn't be taken as representative of the 3,000-plus chaplains on active duty as of 2011. Just this week, President Obama announced the military chaplain Capt. Emil J. Kapaun would be receiving the Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts on behalf of troops during the Korean War. Kapaun, who is a candidate for sainthood, risked his life to provide comfort to troops amidst battle, running from foxhole to foxhole to provide support and returning to peril, even after he had reached safety, to help his troops.
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