TORC

M*A*S*H's Father Mulcahy faces up to the job's credibility challenge

Army chaplains serve an intriguing role – as friends, counsellors and allies to the regular troops. 

Many are honoured in history for acts of immense bravery and gallantry; none more so than the 4 ministers on board the Dorchester troop carrier that was sank in the North Atlantic in 1943.

All four were last seen giving up their own life jackets to save the crew, before joining arms in song and going down with the ship.

The world of business takes many an organisational lead from military practice and much of its vocabulary too – but the role of the chaplain is a bit of a missing link.

Or is it?

For all intents and purposes, the executive coach is not too far removed from our image of the chaplain – certainly as portrayed in film over the years.

Father Mulcahy from the hit comedy series, M*A*S*H, comes to mind – the boyish padre looking after the spiritual needs of the wacky field-hospital  camp.

In one episode he tries to counsel a young soldier, Private Fitzsimon, who is so severely shell-shocked that he turns up in sick-bed, having deliberately shot himself in the foot.

But Fitzsimon refuses to open up to Mulcahy  – believing that a chaplain without front-line experience couldn’t understand what he was going through.

Father Mulcahy takes the point to heart and lobbies Colonel Potter to let him serve with the troops at the front, so he can better understand their predicament.

The Colonel refuses, but Mulcahy disobeys the order – sneaking away to accompany Radar on a field ambulance trip.

They soon pick up a soldier in need of an immediate trachiotomy.

For Mulcahy, it provides the opportunity not only to show his mettle but also to experience what it feels like to be a soldier in the heat of battle.

Without any medical training, and under intense enemy fire, he cuts open a hole in the soldier’s throat with his penknife  – & inserts an eye-dropper from his pocket to provide the all-imporant air-vent.

On his return to camp, his valour in saving the soldier’s life is duly celebrated by all.

But Mulcahy’s greatest satisfaction comes,  when  the heretofore, clammed-up Private Fitzsimon greets him with a big smile … and with the three little words he had been waiting to hear all along:

“Let’s talk, Father”.

PS. For related coaching tips, please click on the following links:
1. Emotional Intelligence Personified
2. Employee Engagement: An Unlikely Role Model
3. How To Rebuild Group Morale
4. Learning From The Movies