Chaitanya Jyothi Museum Opening, 2000

RAMANAM
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.  Amen.

Countrymen,

ORBIS NON SUFFICIT
SOLUS DEUS SUFFICIT

For Chaplains (Christian)

1- You will prepare and deliver to the Battalion, within 40 days, a three-part Lecture Series/Q&A, with simultaneous PDF distro via email and text message, on the deep-theological facets of Army mission, training, and kinetics. Each lecture will be and not exceed 20 minutes in length. Q&A to follow for no more than 30 minutes. The lectures will ruminate upon treatment of these subjects by Apostles, Fathers, Mystics, Schoolmen of The High Middle Ages, Reformers, and Counter-Reformers. Digest meanings from primary sources, not commentaries, and not Wikipedia.

You will repeat this Lecture Series/Q&A at six-month intervals, referencing the works of different observers from your tradition on each occasion and always with emphasis on the more ancient of them.

2- You will distro to the Battalion, daily via email or text message, a wise saying, an epigram, by a renowned Theologian, Philosopher, Soldier, Statesman, or Artist produced by the several religions of man and their resulting cultures.

For Chaplains (Jewish)

1- You will prepare and deliver to the Battalion, within 40 days, a three-part Lecture Series/Q&A, with simultaneous PDF distro via email and text message, on the deep-theological facets of Army mission, training, and kinetics. Each lecture will be and not exceed 20 minutes in length. Q&A to follow for no more than 30 minutes. The lectures will ruminate upon treatment of these subjects by the several Rabbinical Schools, especially from ancient representatives, both Sephardi and Ashkenazy. Digest meanings from primary sources, not commentaries, and not Wikipedia.

You will repeat this Lecture Series/Q&A at six-month intervals, referencing the works of different observers from your tradition on each occasion and always with emphasis on the more ancient of them.

2- You will distro to the Battalion, daily via email or text message, a wise saying, an epigram, by a renowned Theologian, Philosopher, Soldier, Statesman, or Artist produced by the several religions of man and their resulting cultures.

For Chaplains (Moslem)

1- You will prepare and deliver to the Battalion, within 40 days, a three-part Lecture Series/Q&A, with simultaneous PDF distro via email and text message, on the deep-theological facets of Army mission, training, and kinetics. Each lecture will be and not exceed 20 minutes in length. Q&A to follow for no more than 30 minutes. The lectures will ruminate upon treatment of these subjects by the several Juridical Schools, especially from ancient representatives, both Mutazilite and Asharite. Digest meanings from primary sources, not commentaries, and not Wikipedia.

You will repeat this Lecture Series/Q&A at six-month intervals, referencing the works of different observers from your tradition on each occasion and always with emphasis on the more ancient of them.

2- You will distro to the Battalion, daily via email or text message, a wise saying, an epigram, by a renowned Theologian, Philosopher, Soldier, Statesman, or Artist produced by the several religions of man and their resulting cultures.

For Chaplains (Hindu)

1- You will prepare and deliver to the Battalion, within 40 days, a three-part Lecture Series/Q&A, with simultaneous PDF distro via email and text message, on the deep-theological facets of Army mission, training, and kinetics. Each lecture will be and not exceed 20 minutes in length. Q&A to follow for no more than 30 minutes. The lectures will ruminate upon treatment of these subjects by the several Schools of Sadhana, especially from ancient representatives, both Vaishanavite and Shaivite. Digest meanings from primary sources, not commentaries, and not Wikipedia.

You will repeat this Lecture Series/Q&A at six-month intervals, referencing the works of different observers from your tradition on each occasion and always with emphasis on the more ancient of them.

2- You will distro to the Battalion, daily via email or text message, a wise saying, an epigram, by a renowned Theologian, Philosopher, Soldier, Statesman, or Artist produced by the several religions of man and their resulting cultures.

For NCOs

1- Your Soldiers, while on duty, will present in clean uniforms of the right size, in excellent repair, and worn with pride in correct Army bearing. You have authority and responsibility to make this happen everyday from start to finish. Spit Spot and Ramrod Straight. If they look like Soldiers, they will think like Soldiers, and they will fight like Soldiers.

2- Your uniform, body, office — including restroom — and your Soldier’s barracks in toto will be whistle-clean and neat at all times of day and night except during training. You have authority and responsibility to make this happen everyday from start to finish. NCOs with untidy or unclean uniform, body, or office — including restroom — at any time except during training will be penalized.

3- While on duty, your Soldiers will present themselves to you and to their Officers in formal Army terms of address: language, posture, uniforms, and hygiene.

4- You will push authority and responsibility for Soldiering — includes maneuver and lethality — down your chain of command all the way to Squad Soldiers.

5- You will exhaust all ability on your part and all authority given by The Army to your rank and position to solve problems brought to you by your Soldiers before bringing those problems to your superior NCO. Ditto for each Platoon Sergeant, each Company First Sergeant and the Battalion Command Sergeant Major before bringing problems to your superior Officer. Problem solving is with the individual Soldier himself/herself and works up the chain of command only by sincere and serious need, which is Soldier or NCO skill and/or authority genuinely insufficient to solve a problem.

Exhaust your skill and authority before referring a problem up the chain of command. And be prepared to defend against an observation that you have not exhausted one or both of those assets of yours.

A chain is as strong as its individual links. Each Soldier and each center of authority is a link in The Army’s chain of command. The Army Team desires each link in its chain of command to be, effectively, DIY, Do It Yourself. In this context, let it be a rule of Soldiers in this Battalion: What you talk about, do that; What you cannot do, do not talk about.

For Officers

1- You will push authority and responsibility for Soldiering — including maneuver and lethality — down your chain of command all the way to Squad Soldiers.

2- Your uniform, body, office — including restroom — and your Soldier’s barracks in toto will be whistle-clean and neat at all times of day and night, except during training. You have authority and responsibility to make this happen everyday from start to finish. Officers with untidy or unclean uniform, body, or office — including restroom — at any time except during training will be penalized.

3- You will imbue your Soldiers with the reality, and its ramifications, that they joined a team, The Army Team. Among those ramifications you will make personal in your Soldiers is that they will honor their chain of command at every center of authority straight through to The Commander-in-Chief.

Your Soldiers will internalize to their minds and hearts that you are under authority just as much as they and we all are, such that centers of authority and persons working them in your Soldiers’ chain of command are intended and usually intend to help your Soldiers do their duty. Each person in our chain of command has a duty to perform, a very important duty to perform.

We respect each Soldier in the chain of command for the duty they volunteered to perform and recognize that more senior NCOs and Officers have more authority, legitimately, and more responsibility, commensurately, than we perhaps realize. We honor them for burdens they bear, voluntarily, on our behalf and we look to them, all the way across and up the chain of command, for wise counsel and safe guidance. This is as it should be in The Army, comme il faut.

Your Soldiers will internalize to their minds and hearts that senior commanders have reasons for ordering and doing things that your Soldiers must, at least initially, trust are in their best interest. And your Soldiers must execute accordingly. The Army is a Team. We live as a Team. We train as a Team. We fight as a Team. We win as a Team.

4- You will exhaust all ability on your part and all authority given by The Army to your rank and position to solve problems brought to you by your NCOs before bringing those problems to your superior Officer. Problem solving is with the individual Soldier himself/herself and works up the chain of command only by sincere and serious need, which is Soldier, NCO, or Officer skill and/or authority genuinely insufficient to solve a problem.

Exhaust your skill and authority before referring a problem up the chain of command. And be prepared to defend against an observation that you have not exhausted one or both of those assets.

A chain is as strong as its individual links. Each Soldier and each center of authority is a link in The Army’s chain of command. The Army Team desires each link in its chain of command to be, effectively, DIY, Do It Yourself. In this context, let it be a rule of Soldiers in this Battalion: What you talk about, do that; What you cannot do, do not talk about.

5- You will lead your Soldiers with strong examples and soft words. You and your Soldiers will train hard so you can fight easy. You will fulfill in each of your Soldiers the Soldierly yearnings that caused them to enlist or seek a commission. Make ‘em happy they did this. Give them clear direction and a light rein. Let them handle the rest. And do not accept slacking, especially in yourself.

This Battalion functions with unity of command and unity of purpose. Simplicity grows our flexibility, shrinks our fragility, and guarantees our lethality. VUCA is opportunity; welcome it.

Βασιλεία του Θεού
Kingdom of God

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA