Is 6200 (Navy Chaplain) a Good Rating?

AIT / Training

8 weeks

Training Location

Naval Chaplaincy School, Fort Liberty, NC

Career Field

Chaplain Corps

What the Recruiter Says

Navy Chaplains serve everywhere the Navy and Marine Corps goes — ships, bases, combat zones, and Marine units. You'll provide spiritual guidance to service members of all faiths and be a trusted counselor during the most difficult moments of people's lives. It's ministry at its most raw and necessary.

What It's Actually Like

You are a Navy Chaplain, which means you provide religious services, pastoral care, and confidential counseling to sailors and Marines who are far from home, stressed beyond civilian comprehension, and sometimes having the worst day of their lives. The recruiter said 'you'll bring spiritual guidance to the fleet,' which dramatically undersells the reality — you are a counselor, a crisis responder, a moral advisor, and the one officer who can hear anything from anyone without it going into their service record. You minister to people of every faith and no faith at all, and they come to you precisely because you are bound by confidentiality in a way that no other person in the chain of command is. Your Religious Program Specialist is your battle buddy, bodyguard, and admin assistant rolled into one. You will marry people, bury people, hold services in ship compartments that double as gyms, and counsel people through things that would break most civilian clergy. You are the soul of the command, literally.