You are absolutely right. A good chunk of folks who come to see us aren't coming because they have what they would identify in any way as being a religious question or a spiritual question. They're coming because they see the chaplain as an easy resource to access, because the chaplain is where they are. They don't actually have to go to a medical clinic or to the chapel even to find the chaplain, because the chaplain is in their unit lines. Seeking the chaplain out and having that first conversation there is just easier for people to do, and we hope to then make it easier to get them to a resource that might be more appropriate.
One of the important things for every chaplain to know is the limit of their competency and ability to care. I have to know when somebody needs something that I can't provide, and my job is to not just send them there but to actually take them there and to journey with them. That's vital.
We also do some of what Father Mulcahy did. We might call a bingo game or do that sort of thing as well.
With regard to isolation, I've often said that I get paid to have coffee. Chaplains wander around. We spend a lot of time, kind of like a beat cop, in a sense. We wander. We loiter with intent.