There were men called 'army chaplains.'

[pynchonoid]

[...] When the Truman pulled out of Norfolk, Virginia,
on December 5, Baker told CT, "My charter is in fear
itself. A lot of people don't know what the fear is
about: 'I'm not going to come home.' 'I'm going to let
down my shipmates.' 'I'm afraid of dying.' I'll say,
'How can we work through that?' When fear is there,
people really go to the core. When life gets really
challenging, the fog lifts. You find out what your
priorities are, and it's not music, your home, or car.
It's people. It's relationships."

Baker's usual duties include supervising use of
worship space, helping people express their religious
yearnings, and conducting Protestant services. When
Baker conducts worship services, he often pulls out
his harmonica to accompany a guitar-playing shipmate.
He also teaches a college-level course on
"Introduction to the New Testament."

Back in his private office, he pulls off a few blues
licks on his harp. The shelves are lined with books.
An entire row is reserved for shiny copies of Fighting
for Your Marriage: Preventing Divorce and Preserving a
Lasting Love. Another shelf holds the Operation
Enduring Freedom edition of the Bible, and Thoughts in
God's Great Grace. [...] 

Faith and Fear on the Truman
How one Navy chaplain helps men and women face combat.
by Adam Piore | posted 04/01/2003
<http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/004/2.74.html>


The blues harp is a nice touch.  Baker might benefit
from meeting Bodine next time he's in
Norfolk....Wonder where I might get my hands on that
Operation Enduring Freedom edition of the Bible, guess
it's got special illustrations or something...

-Doug

"There were men called 'army chaplains.' They preached
inside some of these buildings. There were actually
soldiers, dead now, who sat or stood, and listened.
Holding on to what they could. Then they went out, and
some died before they got back inside a
garrison-church again. Clergymen, working for the
army, stood up and talked to the men who were going to
die about God, death, nothingness, redemption,
salvation. It really happened. It was quite common."
-Gravity's Rainbow, p. 693



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