The Chaplain Utilization Field encompasses Chaplain Service programs, staff management, readiness, plans, advisement, administration, budgetary and fiscal management, and education functions supporting the free exercise of religion provision of the first amendment of the US Constitution. This includes planning, programming, and operations related to the following activities: staff supervision; war and contingency planning; deployment execution, chaplain materiel and facility management; chaplain resource management; chaplain recruiting; and chaplain services training and education.
Only officers originally commissioned to serve as chaplains and possessing ecclesiastical endorsements from a faith group recognized by the DoD Armed Forces Chaplains Board and acceptable to the Chief of Air Force Chaplains are classified in AFSCs 52R1, 52R3, and 52R
Chaplains have rank without command authority, serve only in noncombatant status, and are not assigned duties outside the chaplain specialty.
Individual shredouts of the Chaplain AFSC are not authorized for use on manpower documents to identify peacetime requirements. They are only to be used as a management tool to provide readiness capability for asset management, unit taskings, operational plans development and execution, requirements determination, and force availability. They are used to ensure unit type code configurations and mission capabilities support wartime taskings. They provide a tailored flexible crisis response capability to support a variety of contingencies.
