i remember visiting Mazatlan on the HMCS Yukon in the 1970s. on sundays there was a religious service conducted on the quarterdeck & everyone not on duty was expected to attend. myself & 2 buddies found out that if we booked a fishing trip then we were exempted. so that's what we did & actually caught a 120 lb marlin.

Churchill said there is no more thrilling thing in life than to be shot at & missed. Many service members have not seen heavy combat, or sometimes even combat at all.

Soldiers in combat typically do not engage in long philosophical Inquires about the existence of god, if they engage in philosophical inquiries at all. They are much too busy trying not to get their s--t shot away. Those who get distracted are more likely to die or have serious injury. They are also a grave danger to others

Not only soldiers but anyone involved in a very dangerous situation are likely to fly on auto pilot & put their previous beliefs on the back burner. The terror of the situation can be numbing, & belief is a luxury they can't afford.

But after the battle, when relative peace is restored, many reflect on their experience. Many relive it over & over in PTSD. The pull of habit is very strong, & after awhile most return to their previous beliefs. But I think for many, the question of god's existence arises, & that's agnosticism

I am reminded of an infantry squad leader who had written “GOD WALKS BEFORE ME” on his helmet, and he behaved as if it were true. I once asked a policeman about the hazards of his job. He said, “If God wants me to die I’ll die”. I don’t think that religion for them was something to be logically analyzed and plumbed for truth or falsity. Religion was a bulwark by which they lived.

Although not religious in the traditional sense, I have always felt buoyed up by the very fact of consciously aware existence in a staggeringly significant but mysterious reality. I felt privileged to be a witness to warfare, a basic human behavior all throughout our evolution. There were fearful and unpleasant events, but a soldier’s duty is to overcome and continue to function. In war there is no time to philosophize about religion or morality, and those who do are a danger.

Having been a soldier & in the company of soldiers, and having studied the military all my life, I have to say there are different kinds of believers (among those who do believe).

One, who was portrayed quite accurately in the film Saving Private Ryan (the character Private Jackson), actually believes that God personally intervenes in individual lives and guides events. This can be either a very stable or a very dangerous kind of person to be around, depending on whether they are a humble person due to this belief or whether they think they know what "God's" plan is and believe they have a have a special place in it.

Another is the more typical believer who was raised up in religion, but doesn't put any special emphasis on it any more than they do philosophy or politics. Typical believers (like most people, believer or not) aren't deep thinkers, they simply go to the services Sunday (or Saturday) and the rest of the week go about their business. If asked, they will tell you they believe in God, but it doesn't shape their lives more than any other factor. In a dangerous situation, they might well exclaim, "God, don't let me die here," but then again, an atheist might say "Oh my God, I don't want to die" too. It's cultural conditioning.

Other believers don't even go to the services but practice a private belief.

And then there are a certain number of agnostics/atheists in the military, as I was. I still have my dogtags reading "No Religious Preference". While everyone else was at the chapel Sunday mornings, I was in my bunk reading the field manual.

The military is a cross-section of the civilian world, and you'll find the same beliefs there as anywhere else... at least that is my finding.