Fuck. I still get nervous about such. All the hypocrites who talked about boinking juicy girls, getting drunk, and then attending church with a hangover. But then, it was fun, so to speak, serving alongside a bunch of fanatical religious freaks. My time in Saudi, on one side of the compound guarded by guards were a bunch of straitlaced S.O.B.'s who would've just as soon knifed you as look at you. They felt that their religion of choice gave them the right to screw you over at every opportunity because you didn't believe in what they did. And then there were the Saudis or Kuwaitis, who weren't any better.

I served back in the 70s..Felt the same then as i do now. I also remember the prayer, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep, if I should die before i wake, GOD SUCKS! Amen to that. I leave out the pray the lord part because prayer is nothing but conjuring up magic potions. It was then and it still is.

10 years as member of Danish Civic Defence, That is a part of the military that goes unarmed and cleans up the messes left behind wherever there have been fighting. We have our own non-combatant logo (blue triangle on orange) So not millitary in the sense of not being a combatant (I was conscientous objector), but part of the millitary organisation. I liked it and learned a lot. regards JakobA

Currently serving in Iraq. Im enjoying the hell out of it

I haven't run into any major problems, at least not yet. I still expect I'll have some religious leader acting in a biased way against me if they're religious enough, but that hasn't happened yet, and I hope it never will. The worst thing that has happened was when someone in my division thought I was a 'devil worshipper' because I was reading Richard Dawkin's 'The God Delusion'. But a lot of people know that being biased against someone for their beliefs has no pull, at least not now.

I qualify under those conditions. I didn't understand why any non-religious person would want to see a chaplain. Their role is essentially preacher/counselor, but I could never understand 1) why anyone with problems would rather see a chaplain instead of a mental health professional; and 2) why the Army would have it this way. In my experience, the leadership would very often ask people if they wanted to speak with the chaplain, but seldom if ever did I hear them suggest people seek professional help. I suppose now that I think about it, if someone went to an actual professional it could perhaps be revealed that there is something medically wrong with the person that requires some sort of treatment or even a discharge, while with the chaplain the soldier will just get the standard "everything's going to be all right if you be strong and have faith" speech. Hmmmm. I feel kinda enlightened. Nice. Other than that, my atheism had nothing to do with anything military-related. As much as I would've liked to discuss religion with Iraqis I met, that probably would have been hazardous to my health. I wisely avoided such topics. [edited: clarification]

Atheists are just legalised anarchists. They enjoy getting up in arms about what everyone else is doing but consider what they do their "god given" right. Best thing to do is hit them with thick dictionaries chanting "sticks and stones may break your bones but they're not as logically satisying as a book full of words.." The chaplain or another religious man the army offers is there solely to offer support, aside from atheists who take eveyone elses, but it's a long tradition which religiously handicapped people like atheists seem to avoid in case they accept it.