WASHINGTON — Rep. Andy Ogles said Thursday that the military “MUST remain a virtuous army of believers” and that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “is fulfilling George Washington’s lived-out mandate to equip our soldiers with the Armor of God.”
Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, posted the lines on X on Oct. 1. He was quoting a post by Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez that linked a LifeSiteNews story headlined “Hegseth announces religious affairs office for US military: ‘Real battle is spiritual.’” “Virtuous army of believers” and “lived-out mandate” are Ogles’s wording.
Our military MUST remain a virtuous army of believers. @SecWar is fulfilling George Washington’s lived-out mandate to equip our soldiers with the Armor of God. Let’s go!
The paper is a Sept. 30 memorandum signed by Hegseth. It says, “Effective immediately, to strengthen the moral, ethical and spiritual readiness of our warfighters, I am establishing the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) and the position of the Director, ORA.” The director is a principal staff assistant with direct access to the secretary and is the principal adviser to the secretary and the deputy secretary on religious affairs. No director is named.
The memo says the department is “committed to fulfilling its duty to support” service members, families, and civilian personnel “in the free exercise of religion as protected by the Constitution of the United States and applicable Federal law.” Duties include resource advocacy for religious ministry, facilities, chaplain training, chapel youth programs, and faith-based homeschool support. The Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation director and the comptroller are to submit a baseline budget and an FY2027 funding plan within 60 days. Service secretaries have 90 days to report unfunded religious-affairs requirements.
Hegseth announced the office the same day at Marine Corps Base Quantico. The as-delivered text is on the Department of War site. He said the office would “report straight to the top,” with “no staff filters” and “no bureaucratic dilution,” and that it “won’t be a paper pushing shop. It will have real teeth.” A same-day release listed it as one of six initiatives, with an Autonomous Warfare Command and Project Meridian.
The Armor of God line is in that speech, not in the memo. Hegseth said, “Our department is, you might say, putting on the full Armor of God. Because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual.” He cited Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord,” and told chaplains to “live your calling.” The speech does not quote Washington using those words.
Hegseth’s Washington line was narrower. He said, “George Washington made sure the Continental Army had chaplains back at the beginning, back in 1775.” The Journals of the Continental Congress for Saturday, July 29, 1775, set a chaplain’s pay at 20 dollars a month, the same rate as the judge advocate. Washington pressed Congress for the posts. The journal entry is a pay authorization. It is not a text called the Armor of God.
The as-delivered speech says “less than 5% of our force identifies as non-religious” and treats that as “95% of our force recognizes an Almighty God.” A Pentagon news story quotes the 95 percent line. The department has not posted the survey or the definition behind the figure. The memo does not repeat it.
DoD Instruction 1300.17, “Religious Liberty in the Military Services,” already governs accommodation of religious practice. The instruction says requests should be approved when accommodation will not hurt mission accomplishment, readiness, cohesion, standards, or discipline. The Sept. 30 memo does not cancel that instruction. It adds an office that reports to the secretary and realigns chaplain advisement, including the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, under the new director.
The First Amendment bars Congress from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The memo cites the free-exercise side of that clause. It does not say service requires a religious identification. Ogles’s “army of believers” line is his description of the force, not a sentence in the memorandum.
Ogles represents Tennessee’s 5th District and sits on the Financial Services and Homeland Security committees. He is on the ballot Nov. 3. Hegseth’s speech and the memo do not name him. The office, as written on Sept. 30, is effective immediately and has no announced director.