We make it a point in our storytelling and communications to highlight and celebrate the diversity of people and cultures that make up our Military community. One of the things that is so beautiful about this country is the rainbow of experiences and backgrounds of people who make up this Nation. We are not all from the same place; we do not have the same lived experiences; and we do not hold the same beliefs or religion. That melting pot of Americans also make up the men and women of our Armed Forces.

This is why we love to highlight special months like Women’s History Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and cultural holidays like Chinese New Year and St. Patrick’s Day. It’s also why we celebrate “The Holidays” – because those Winter months are made up of multiple cultural celebrations like Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

As you know, Soldiers’ Angels does a lot of work supporting Chaplains, as they play huge supporting roles in the military. The Army Chaplain Corps is one of the oldest and smallest branches of the military. This unique military group has been serving as morale lifters, counselors, and mentors to their fellow brothers and sisters in arms as well as serving in a non-denominational, religiously diverse capacity since 1775! The DoD does a lot to ensure that it serves all members of our military no matter their background, race, or religion. It’s why Army Chaplains are trained to support religious diversity, offering agnostic religious support.

“I truly believe all soldiers – no matter the rank – are human at the end of the day. At times all they need is someone to hear them out when they have something troubling them. I support my troops with religious support, morale-boosting, and making sure soldiers are not being discriminated by race, gender, sexual orientation, or rank. I visit all my soldiers as much as possible and talk to them about how they’re doing here, as well as how things are back home. I supply soldiers with care packages, host bonding events, and religious cultural events.” – Chaplain Hernandez

According to a 2019 DoD study, approximately 70 percent of Active Duty Military reported being Christian (about 32% no denomination, 20% Catholic, 18% Protestant, 1% Mormon), 2 percent as Atheist or Agnostic, 1 percent as affiliated with an Eastern religion, 0.4 percent each as Jewish or Muslim, and the remainder (about 24%) were reported as “other/unclassified/unknown.”

Those differences compound when you look at the racial/ethnic distribution of the military. According to a DoD report, over 68.8% of active-duty members self-identify as White, while approximately one-third (31.2%) of active-duty members self-identify with a racial minority group (i.e., Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Multi-racial, or Unknown). Regarding ethnicity, 18.4 percent of active-duty members self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.

How’s that for diversity!?

It is for this reason, we want to make sure we represent all voices who make up our Armed Forces.

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