Well, brothers and sisters, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to spend a few moments with you today. It's an honor for Wendy and I to be able to be associated with you all. We esteem you to be a choice people because not only have you made a commitment to serve in the chaplaincy, whose very foundation is honor, integrity, courage, selfless service, and sacrifice, but you've also made a commitment to serve your God and minister to His children. If there were more people like you in this world, this world would be a much better place. I especially want to express my appreciation to the spouses and the family members who are here. There aren't words to express appreciation for the sacrifice that you make and the work that you do. Any success that we have, I firmly believe, is proportional to the support that we have from a spouse. And that's certainly been the case in our lives. When Wendy married me, I was barely commissioned and I hardly even had an award. And I wonder, if someone were to have advised us in that early time of our life what experiences that we would have, I don't even think we'd have been able to comprehend it. But the important principle is that we have done this together, and we're both better because of it. I want to base my comments to you today around the theme of becoming the moral, ethical, and spiritual adviser to your commander and to the command. This is a role that I think applies to both the chaplain and the spouse. And I provide these insights from the perspective of what I have personally experienced in the commands that I've held and in the units that I've been a part of. I've served in every level of our army, from the fire team to the Pentagon. And I've commanded as an O3, an O5, an O6, and an O7. And I've learned many of the principles that I'm going to share with you today from the school of hard knocks, and perhaps I can spare you some of that. Now, there's a tension right now in our force today as to who should provide the ethical and moral advice to our commanders. Is it the chaplain, or is it the attorney? Or is it both? Now, at the end of the summer of 2015, greatly concerned because of the unethical conduct of a senior leader, the secretary of defense mandated a new ethics training program. Each flag officer was personally trained by a DoD ethics team. And those flag officers were directed, in turn, to foster an ethical culture within their organizations and to train their subordinates. Now, the DoD ethics team was comprised of staff judge advocate personnel and inspector general personnel. There was not a single chaplain in the mix. And we were told in that training that if we wanted to stay out of trouble, we would seek out the ethics attorney on our staff and turn to them for advice and counsel. Now, that struck me as a purely secular bit of advice. Should the attorney guide a commander based on litigation, based on investigation or regulation in ethical matters? Or should inspired counsel guide an individual in the moral and ethical situations that present themselves? Well, some facts are clear. As a chaplain, your staff is small. You may even be a staff of one. The staff judge advocate, on the other hand, has dedicated manpower. The staff judge advocate also has presumed competency with the commander. The idea of lawyering up presents, in the mind of the commander, a shield that will aid him or her in deflecting irritating complaints and investigations. But the chaplain, on the other hand, must first establish trust and earn access to the commander. It does not come automatically, especially now as our world is becoming increasingly dark and secularized. So you have a tremendous challenge ahead of you. The societal trend is increasing moving away toward freedom from religion, not freedom of religion. And the recent dustup over a prayer of gratitude after the victory of West Point's football team is an example where the advice of counsel to a commander resulted in a curtailment of an initiative in the religious affairs realm. But societal trends notwithstanding, trust and access, however, can in fact be earned. And you and your organizations will be blessed because of it. So it's my hope that through the insights that I'll share with you this morning, that you'll be inspired as to what you can do to take your service in the chaplaincy to a whole new level. So I encourage each of you to answer for yourselves the question on who is the ethical adviser to the commander in your organization, anything that relates to your sphere of influence. Is it you, or is it the staff judge advocate, or is it both? So the reality is this. Becoming the ethical, moral, and spiritual adviser to the commander will not come automatically, though we may clearly want it to. There are some hoops that you're going to need to jump through. There are some bona fides that you're going to need to establish before you will have the credibility necessary to be able to advise a commander. Now, this is not a new problem. It's always been this way, and I expect that it always will continue to be this way. History gives us numerous examples of this, so we should not be surprised or perplexed if we find ourselves in this situation. Daniel from the Old Testament had to jump through a few hoops and establish some bona fides before he could advise a king. Ammon from the Book of Mormon had to jump through a few hoops, had to establish some bona fides before he could advise a king. You will have to jump through a few hoops and establish some bona fides before you can advise a commander. Based on my experience, one of the key things that you can do is to be visible to the commander and have a complete dominance over your understanding of your unit's mission and your craft. By this, I mean that the commander should not have to explain to you what the unit does, nor should the commander ever have to explain to you what a chaplain does. You have to be involved in the battle rhythm meetings of the command that you support. You have to be at those meetings. You have to be in the room. And you have to be cheerful, and you have to greet people there. They should feel better for having seen you at the meeting. You also need to know your service and joint doctrine cold. Reading the doctrine of your service should be your hobby. Now, some people have a golf hobby. Others have a running hobby. Think about how much time you spend on a hobby, and that's how much time you should spend learning about your profession. It doesn't take a lot of time, but it does take some time. Now, in my career, I spend about 15 minutes a day in professional reading. I found that to be the perfect balance between increasing my understanding about the profession of arms and falling asleep because of some truly dry reading. And with about 15 minutes a day, there's still plenty of time for you to get everything else done that you're supposed to read, like your scriptures. You certainly need to know Joint Publication 1-05 cold. Everything that we do now is part of a joint operation. This is the world that you are involved in. Religious affairs is about support and advising, the very thing that I'm encouraging you to do. And then once you have done this, you are ready to employ a key focusing question in every meeting that you attend in your unit. Now here's the question: What does this meeting have to do with religious affairs? Let me say that again. What does this meeting have to do with religious affairs? Because this applies to any meeting. It can be a training meeting. It can be an operations briefing. It can be an intelligence briefing. It can be an exercise that you're even just participating in. It can be an after-action review. It can be whatever. Ask yourselves this question, and the inspired answer will come to you. And you will know what you need to do to engage the chaplaincy to be a part of the solution to the tasks that are assigned to your unit. Your answer will be different depending upon the situation, and that is good because it will be dynamic and it will be adaptable and it will be agile. I have an example from this summer that I'd like to share. So each year, the United States Northern Command, NORTHCOM, conducts a major Tier 1-level exercise called Ardent Sentry. Now, a Tier 1 exercise means that it's big and that it costs a lot of money. It's the biggest exercise that we conduct. Ardent Sentry focuses on the support that the Department of Defense provides to civil authorities in case of a major disaster. Now, if a disaster affects more than three states, we call it a complex catastrophe. And one of the primary missions of NORTHCOM is to provide support to the governors in the cases of complex catastrophes. This year's Ardent Sentry exercise revolved around a scenario that, if it actually happened, would be the worst day in America. In this scenario, the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of Washington State and Oregon suffered a category 9 earthquake. Not only did the earthquake destroy buildings, roads, and other infrastructure, but the resulting tsunami caused massive flooding. The coastal region was completely destroyed. The I-5 north-south corridor was mostly destroyed, and destruction was suffered clear to the Cascades mountain range. Physical devastation, economic devastation, loss of life, and loss of services characterize this incident. We have local, state, and federal government entities completely involved in this response exercise. Participants in this exercise range from every level, from the city and the county emergency response teams to the White House. This was a 24-hour exercise that lasted two weeks, and it required a tremendous effort on the part of the participants. Thousands of people were involved in this exercise. Now, for those of us involved in the exercise in Colorado Springs, the headquarters for NORTHCOM, it became pretty routine after a few days of 24-hour operations. We'd go home at the end of our shift. We'd kick our shoes off, put our feet up, and eat a bowl of ice cream. Now, I'll never forget how our command chaplain, Colonel Jay Johns, an army officer, refocused the entire command in our morning update briefing by asking a simple question: "How many of you have family in this area?" Now, a silence fell over the room when we realized that most of us did. I have a sister, a brother-in-law, a niece, a nephew who would have been numbered among the casualties of this disaster. With that simple question, he made this exercise real to us. You see, he asked himself the question, "What does this exercise have to do with religious affairs?" And you can see that it has a lot to do with religious affairs. Not only would faith-based organizations be involved in the relief efforts at the site of the disaster, but we ourselves, who were involved in the consequence management, would have been grieving and would ourselves have been in need of support. So the chaplain, with that simple question, became a key member of the command's response. He earned a bona fide with the commander. He conducted religious affairs. He earned clout. He gained some wasta. Now, as commanders, we occasionally need to be reminded that we own the religious support program in our commands. We also need to be reminded that we own the Family Readiness Program. In fact, we need to be reminded of a lot of things. But the important principle is this. Although the commander owns the religious support program, you, the chaplain corps, execute it. Now, the key to reminding the commander about program ownership is not to waltz into the office and tell him or her that she owns the religious support program. Doing that will not go over very well. The best way to remind the commander about ownership of the religious support program is by sitting down with him or her and laying out what you would like to do as a part of the command's religious support program, and seek guidance and approval. And if you present it in such a way that the commander will see how the initiatives in the program benefit the command, you'll find that it's approved, and you'll be given resources and you'll be given the backing that you need. From a commander's perspective, you as chaplains have one key and overarching job: to support and care for the members of the unit, period. It is as simple as that. And if the commander sees that you are effective in doing that, he or she will turn to you for moral, ethical, and spiritual advice. Why? Because service members who know that they are supported and cared for are happy. And when the members of the organization are happy, the morale is high and the command climate is healthy. The organization accomplishes its mission, and the commander is happy. The command climate is healthy because you have shepherded unit members with support and care. Now, here's the deal. Commanders hate drama. You can't make up some of the drama that we have to deal with. And when a commander sees that you are effective in reducing drama, when he sees that you are effective in caring for the members of the organization, when he or she sees that you have created a healthy command climate, he or she will seek moral, ethical, and spiritual advice from you. Now, central to your ability to do this, however, is your professionalism. Your success in the ministry is proportional to the degree of trust that you have--trust between you and the service members, trust between you and the leadership. If you have earned trust, service members will share things with you that they won't share with the chain of command. You are entitled to privileged communication. You must never violate this, not with your spouse, not with your peers, not with other service members, not even with the commander--especially not with the commander. If you ever once do it, your credibility is lost. Now, what you can do is inform the commander of trends and command climate issues. You can suggest what might be done to improve it. All of this can be done without violating privileged communication. So spend some time with this in your professional developmental reading so that you know the parameters and you know the boundaries, because you'll come across issues that the commander needs to know about: abuse, ethics issues, suicide ideations. And if you study and you prepare, you'll be inspired how to convey information to the commander without violating trust, and you'll be able to build a relationship with the commander in order to do so. Now, the foundation of a relationship with a commander is a relationship with the members of the unit and the organization. A commander's time is incredibly limited. There is only so much time on a calendar, and commanders are going to spend it where there is a return on investment. It's a little Machiavellian, but it's true, and it's just as simple as that. But the same principle applies to you. If you want to use your limited time to minister and serve the members of a unit, you have to go where they are at, just like the Savior did. You cannot wait for them to come to you. Now, the easiest place to interface with service members is to do physical training with them: run with them, hike with them, talk with them. They will love this, and so will you. It's a nonthreatening and a great environment. I'm also saying that you should run with the commander. This is a perfect opportunity to do something and to talk with that individual. If you do PT with me, for example, you have my undivided attention for as long as you are with me, but you have to keep up with me. And you have to be able to carry out a conversation without breathing heavy, so you need to be in shape. But I can promise you this. I have been in the inner circles of every commander with whom I have done PT. And without exception, any of my leadership who has consistently done PT with me has found their way into my inner circle. I'm saying that you need to be visible with the units that you serve. They need to see you there. And the commander needs to see you there. If the commander sees you well engaged with the unit, then you have established credibility, and he or she will be very inclined to believe you and to heed you when you share a unit morale trend. You need to be at unit functions and social events. Your spouse also needs to be at those events where spouses are invited. Your spouse needs to be involved in family readiness and community activities because unit spouses look to your spouse for interface. Now let me share a personal insight. Senior command and senior leadership is lonely. Nobody has you. To whom can a senior leader turn when they are in need? Now, when I was a company commander as a captain, I felt like my battalion and my brigade commanders had me. And they did, and that was nice. But when I was a battalion commander, that feeling began to go away. And now at flag level command, the next commander in my chain is a four-star, and she's a combatant commander. I'm the army element commander for everybody assigned to NORAD in U.S. Northern Command. There is no higher army commander. I am it. So outside of the Church, where do I go when I am in need? There is no end of legal advice counseling commanders about the evils of fraternization or of exerting undue command influence or the demonstration of favoritism or partiality. And this makes for loneliness. So at the end of the day, there's really only three places within a service that a commander can turn to when in need: a peer senior commander, and this population gets very tiny; the senior enlisted adviser; and the chaplain, because the chaplain is part of your personal staff and you have privileged communication with the chaplain. And so my invitation to you is to build the kind of relationship with the commander that he or she will feel like turning to you when in need, because commanders suffer the loss of family members. They divorce. They suffer children taking a hard turn to the left and making bad choices. They suffer the normal panoply of tribulation that everyone suffers as a part of our daily walk in mortality. And if they feel like they can turn to you, then you will be a minister and you will be an adviser indeed. Now let me share a vignette of a chaplain who achieved this with one of our great military leaders. Few commanders in our system have achieved what General Dwight D. Eisenhower did. He was a magnificent leader. And on the military side, he worked and shaped an allied effort that resulted in victory in Europe in World War II. And on the political side, he was a superb president--landslide support, and the first to be constitutionally term-limited. Otherwise he would no doubt have been reelected if it were possible. He inspired those he led to do magnificent things, and his leadership principles are still studied by military and politicians alike. But what is to me, however, more significant is the relationship that he developed with his chaplain, the Right Reverend Dr. Colonel Edward Lee Roy Elson, a reservist. Chaplain Elson was called to active duty in 1941, and he made his way through his service to Eisenhower's notice. He achieved a relationship with General Eisenhower. And General Eisenhower made him his command chaplain at every level that Eisenhower served once he noticed Chaplain Elson. Elson was chosen to represent Eisenhower in any official capacity that involved justice or religion. And this was a significant deal because the Allies were dealing with such complex issues as the interactions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and the implications of genocide, Nazism, fascism, and communism. But as a concrete measure of their relationship, after the war, in 1953, when Eisenhower was in office as the seated president of the United States, he joined Elson's church. So what is it that commanders expect from their chaplains? They want chaplains who are mature, who have great interpersonal skills, and who know the system at a mastery level. I am talking about chaplains who know the system so well that they know where to get solutions to problems. They want you to be the problem solver for the command, even if you are in the midst of distress, uncertainty, and tribulation yourself. Now let me share a great example of this kind of problem solving from one of our family's favorite movies, Jurassic Park. In this movie, Ariana Richards was playing the character Lex. She was sitting in front of a computer, trying to figure out a way to prevent her and her brother from getting eaten by the velociraptors. So she needs to get the doors locked. And she stumbles upon this computer. And after a few keystrokes, she exclaims, "This is a Unix system. I know this. It's the files for the whole park. It's like a phone book. It tells you everything." Well, you need to know the system and points of contact so well that when you become aware of a soldier getting the runaround from housing, you can say, "This is the family housing system. I know this." Or when a soldier talks about a suicide ideation, you can say, "I know this," and you can connect the service member with the entity that actions the solutions of the problem. The commander doesn't need his or her chaplain to be the operations officer, the personnel officer, or one of the first sergeants or whatever. Those positions exist. What the commander needs you to be is the problem-solving chaplain, and there's only one of them. And additionally, the commander needs to know that at the end of the day, there is one entity in the command that can be counted upon to always treat everyone with dignity and respect, and that's the chaplain. The commander needs to know that he or she can rely on you to treat all with equal dignity and respect, regardless of religion, whether they're prisoners, whether they're guests. When the unit suffers a betrayal of an insider attack and is ready to put the stink eye on anyone wearing manjams, the commander needs to know that there is one individual in the organization that he can rely on to treat everyone with dignity and respect. When the commander is struggling because the life choices of one of the service members is so completely opposite to those of the commander that it's impossible to even wrap the mind around, the commander needs to be able to look to the behavior of the chaplain as a proper example of respectful interaction.

But you might be saying to yourself, "I've tried all that, and my commander doesn't like me or want me." What if the commander simply has no time for his or her chaplain at all except for to deal with a problem soldier? What if you've done everything in your power, and maybe everything I've already suggested in this presentation, and they still don't care for a relationship with you? Well, I say, don't take it personally. It's bound to happen. The personality difference between a chaplain and a commander is pretty well cut in stone, unfortunately. Let me explain. As a young officer, I was administered the Myers-Briggs personality test in my officer advanced course. Now, you know that test identifies the 16 personality types. Well, there were 100 of us that took the test. Now, two of us tested as INTJs. In fact, we tested as strong INTJs. And the instructor said to the class, "Watch these two guys." We were both the top students, number one and two respectively. We both became generals. Well, it turns out that most commanders in our force are either INTJ or ISTJ personalities. Now, most chaplains, on the other hand, are ENFP. Now, same-gender INTJs and ENFPs are not naturally compatible. Now, opposite-gender INTJs and ENFPs are hugely compatible, so be careful if that's your situation. But otherwise, don't take it personally if you have a stereotypical same-gender INTJ commander who is not immediately drawn to you. Now, Napoleon, presumably, was an INTJ based on his personality profile. And when he was a lieutenant colonel at the age of 23, after being given command of a battalion, he was asked whether or not he wanted chaplains. His response was classic: "As my nation was perishing, I was born. Thirty thousand [enemy] were vomited to our shores, drowning the throne of liberty in waves of blood. Such was the odious sight which was first to strike me. I don't need a chaplain. I need a cannonade." He never embraced the chaplaincy. And ultimately, things did not turn out so well for him. Now, keep this example in mind because in a minute, I'm going to share a vignette about Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who helped orchestrate the downfall of Napoleon, and how he viewed the chaplaincy. So what I'm saying is that just because you may experience one or two or three or whatever of your tours where the commander does not take to you, don't get wounded and feel sorry for yourself. Have a thick skin. There's two principles that you should apply. One, you did not become a chaplain to be a great military commander like Eisenhower or Napoleon or Lord Nelson or any other senior leader. You became a chaplain to minister. You have a calling. You have a religious endorsement from your church. Your focus is on the well-being of others, regardless of race, religion, gender. There is one individual dedicated to their welfare, well-being, and to whom they can turn. This is a sacred calling. And two, your time with the commander will be short. They rotate fast--sometimes altogether too fast when you have a great commander, and not fast enough when you have a terrible one. But one thing remains true. They will rotate. It will not last forever. Now, let me share as a contrast to Napoleon, who simply just did not care for his chaplains at all, a vignette of what is in the realm of the possible from his nemesis, Admiral Lord Nelson. Admiral Nelson was one of Britain's most heroic military leaders. Now, whereas Napoleon became a lieutenant colonel and a battalion commander at age 23, Horatio Nelson became a ship's captain at 20. And even today, he is quoted and he is studied. Admiral Nelson listened to his chaplain, Sir Alexander John Scott. Chaplain Scott advised him in moral, sensitive, and spiritual matters. And Lord Nelson carried Chaplain Scott with him in assignment after assignment. Now, a sniper delivered what would be a fatal wound to Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. And the painting shows that his chaplain stayed with him, rubbing his chest and comforting him, until he died. His chaplain recorded Nelson's last words as "God and my country." So brothers and sisters, here you have two examples: Napoleon Bonaparte, who never had time for his chaplains, and Lord Nelson, who did have time for his chaplains. And yet Napoleon was ultimately defeated by a coalition comprised of nations and military leaders who, like Lord Nelson, all had and listened to their chaplains. In fact, the Duke of Wellington, who ultimately defeated Napoleon, officially complained that there were not enough chaplains in his army. So he organized brigade and divisional chaplains to perform regular services and see to the spiritual comfort of the men. The Duke of Wellington's personal chaplain was Reverend Samuel Briscoe. Now, I do not believe that it was a coincidence that Napoleon's great military force that eschewed the chaplaincy was defeated by a numerically inferior force that embraced the chaplaincy. I think that commanders are simply better off when they heed the counsel of advisers and staff. Now, chaplains have touched my life for good. As a newly enlisted soldier and as a young officer in an infantry brigade, the battalion chaplains helped me get to church. In those days, I was the only Latter-day Saint in my formations. I was too junior to get the time off to go to church without support. And those Protestant chaplains defined unit ministry. They enabled my worship. By the time I was a company commander, there were four Latter-day Saints in our unit, and that was enough that we could do a servicemen's group. And I'll never forget the Baptist chaplain who helped me get that established. Ironically, he was actually the one that taught me what a Latter-day Saint servicemen's group leader was supposed to do. The internet was barely getting started in those days, and midwest Church organizations had no experience with military relations. But this brigade chaplain had access to the Church instructions through the chaplain channels, and we were able to use it to help our local stake know what to ask for through Church channels. This was a pioneering effort. It was when I was an O4 that our lives intersected with Chaplain Vance Theodore at Fort Benning, Georgia. Our family was in distress. On the 16th of December, my brigade commander came and met with me and said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, you're selected for resident command and general staff college, hooah. The bad news is that you start class on the fourth of January in two weeks at Fort Benning School of the Americas. Recommend you start thinking about this, hooah." Well, we and our four kids arrived just in time--too late for School of America's housing. And we were cooped up in a BOQ room with our four kids and a pet bunny.

Chaplain Theodore intercepted us and, based on his knowledge of the system, got us into housing that same day into Infantry School quarters. He solved our problem. He was the chaplain for School of the Americas and also a student of the course. He became the standard for me against which I judged all of my subsequent chaplains. To this day, as far as I'm concerned, Vance Theodore is the model. Now, as an O5 battalion commander, my battalion chaplain epitomized unit ministry. Our battalion was called upon to serve the division in two different places, Bosnia and Kosovo. I also had elements of my battalion remain in home station. And he figured out how to serve the deployed and those at home. And I credit our 100 percent retention and reenlistment rate to his care and that of our Family Readiness team, of which my wife was a part. Let me just say that it was in Kosovo that my life intersected with that of Brother Frank Clawson, where his support of our servicemen's group enabled us to get an institute program going at Camp Bondsteel. As an O6, my life began to be increasingly complex, and chaplains touched my life in multiple ways. For the first time, I had civilians in my portfolio, a lot of them, and they were aging. I had personnel suffer heart attacks. I had personnel in hospice dying of cancer. It was my first exposure to a dying workforce of long-term civilian team members. And it was my chaplain team, the problem solvers, who helped me with that. And then as a forward deployed O6, my command chaplain helped me in several ways. And this is the second time that my life intersected with Brother Clawson. In that instance, I was also the branch president of the Kabul branch. My command chaplain facilitated the chapel, the resources that we needed, the internet, everything we needed to host a unit of the Church. And he promoted and advertised our events among the coalition. He helped our members get released from duty in order to attend them. He was a vital part of our branch's success. And because of that foundation, we were able to take Church interface to a whole new level. And again with Brother Clawson's support, we did such things as broadcast the First Presidency Christmas devotional to anyone who was interested in attending, with all attendees receiving a Tabernacle Choir Christmas CD. And that strengthened everybody who participated in it. And again, we got institute going and even were able to conduct it for credit for those young adults who deployed with us. Our chaplain there connected soldiers who desired to worship with the means to do so. And now, as the commander of the army element assigned to NORAD and NORTHCOM, I find my chaplain to be a vital source of help in an entirely different way. I lead a force of army soldiers who are broken. They're back from their sixth or seventh deployment. They're retiring. They're seeking rest. And we have, in our headquarters, families who have sacrificed and weathered the storms of financial hardship, who are heartbroken from children who've gone astray, from spouses who've made poor decisions during their deployments, soldiers who are dealing with reintegration challenges. And our four-star headquarters is comprised of servicemen and women who show the signs of weathering the hardship associated with life. The median enlisted rank is E7. The median officer rank is O5, and only 20 percent of these live on base. The preponderance are dissipated throughout a community of over a million people. So my chaplain is snap-linked into resources to heal a force. I could not do it without him. So a concluding thought, some advice: If you want to be great chaplains to great leaders, study great leaders and their chaplains. What was it that made these leaders great? What made their chaplains great? What was it that bonded them and their chaplains? Each of these leaders that I have arrayed on this slide are legend: General George Washington; General George C. Marshall; General Hap Arnold; Admiral Chester Nimitz; Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington; General Douglas MacArthur. They all left a positive mark on history, and they were all advised by chaplains with whom they became very close. What can you learn from studying these officers and their chaplains? Here are some of the things that I learned. I learned about principled leadership. I learned about unwavering commitment to standards. I learned about valor. I learned about integrity. Now let me close by reminding you of your heritage. The U.S. Army Chaplain Corps is one of the oldest and the smallest branches of the army. The chaplain corps dates back to 29 July, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized one chaplain for each regiment of the Continental Army with pay equaling that of a captain. Let me quote from the record: "The duties of the regiment chaplain are these. One, conduct divine services. Two, obey superior officers and Congress. Three, act as a representative of the divine. Four, utter prayers, usually before the reading of the orders in the morning, before a march, and before roll call at evening. Five, hold Sunday services and services for the fallen. And six, perform marriages, both within the camp and for nearby citizenry who lack pastors. And seven, administer such care as necessary." The expectation for you to be mature, interpersonally pleasant, system-savvy officers energized toward the care of others stems from your heritage. It's been an honor for me to be able to share these thoughts with you today. You have a noble heritage, and I thank you for your service to our service members and to our country. I know that lives are blessed because of it. And as you serve, you will touch lives for good in a way that will endure for generations. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.