Religion and the Military: "Active Duty Missionaries"

If you're not familiar with it, Military.com is the most popular site on the internet for troops and veterans in terms of sheer traffic.  I happened to be on that site yesterday when I came across a paid advertisement for something called "Active Duty Missionary."  When I saw the advertisement, I thought, "Hmm. . .that sounds totally wrong.  That sounds like the kind of stuff Troutfishing has been writing about."  So I clicked on the site.  

Lo and behold, on one of the first pages I viewed, I saw this gem:

We'd love to speak with you about how you can take your Military background or training and leverage it in the service of Christ.

Being an Army officer myself, I thought, "Oh Christ, what is this shit?"

In oversized letters on the front page, we see this:

As a Christian in the Armed Forces, what does ACTIVE DUTY mean to YOU?

Oh boy.

I started reading into it and found that Active Duty Missionary is an organization that uses marketing techniques to make active duty troops think it’s associated with (and sanctioned by) the Department of Defense.

Active Duty Missionary aggressively recruits members of the military to spread the word of God around the world.  But it’s only in the fine print that they explain:

Active Duty Missionary (ADM) is a program started by TMM to identify military families called by God to missions service after they have fulfilled a military service obligation, and to offer them the training and resourcing necessary to become effective missionaries.

Active Duty Missionary explains that their

1500-acre training base in the remote mountains of North Carolina provides a unique setting for thorough and "hands-on" preparation for missions service.

The cost to attend for 11 months is $17,675 for married soldiers couples and $12,010 for single soldiers individuals.  The Montgomery GI Bill will pay for this.  

Now, to be quite honest, after scouring the website, the Christian missionary work being done by ADM seems pretty typical.  There is nothing very alarming about it in and of itself.  However, their need to aggressively recruit members of the military on Military.com and in all versions of the widely-read Military Times (Army Times, Marine Corps Times, Air Force Times, and Navy Times) is alarming to say the least.

This represents an unnecessary and inappropriate—though legal—linking of proselytizing and the military.  And it begs a number of questions.  Here are just a few:

Why does Active Duty Missionary feel the need to make it look like as though it is a military organization?

What does it benefit Active Duty Missionary to use language like this?

Are you that leader? Are you ready to complete the mission?

I’m not terribly comfortable with this idea that missionary work is somehow an extension of military service.

Why does Active Duty Missionary feel that it benefits from mixing trained military people with spreading the word of God?  While trained soldiers do often make outstanding leaders, this whole recruitment process seems a little over the top if all you want is some good, well-traveled leaders—especially considering the cost of advertising in these publications.  There seems to be something here I'm missing.

Anyway, this is just something to think about.  Check out their website.