Military chaplains will no longer display rank, Hegseth announces
USA TODAY
Hegseth said chaplains would instead wear religious insignia as part of an effort to \
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced two major changes to the military's chaplaincy corps on March 24, one of which will mean chaplains will no longer wear their rank insignia.
They will instead display their religious insignia while retaining their rank as officers. They "will be seen among the highest ranks because of their divine calling," Hegseth said in a video posted to X.
The change reflects Hegseth's wider effort to infuse the chaplaincy, and the military more broadly, with more explicitly religious sentiments.
Service members’ spiritual health should be seen as equally important as physical and mental health, Hegseth said, lamenting what he said was the chaplaincy’s misguided shift away over the years from focusing on religious faith in favor of "self-help and self-care."
"A warfighter needs more than a coping mechanism," he said. "They need truth, big-T truth, they need conviction, they need a shepherd."
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