The problem probably is that there's two viewpoints, both valid, on what a chapl ain exactly does; he's

a spiritual councilor and an accessible way of getting co unsel in non-spiritual ways. The problem you pointed out on atheist chaplains co unseling theist soldiers is a real one; without a shared experience of divinity, it's kind of like telling someone on the phone how to drive while they're alrea dy doing 60 in the road without actually knowing how to drive. I mean, you can d o it, you can go through the motions, but you cannot really, for example regardi ng Christians, help them nurture a closer relationship to God. Now, the second i ssue is that chaplains also deal with