The duties of chaplains were moral as well as spiritual. Although personal probity stood to reap military dividends, the moral well-being of the soldier was pursued for its own sake in the 1950s, its importance reflected in ‘padre’s hour’ and in the activities of the Army’s many church houses. After National Service, waning confidence in padre’s hour entailed a rethink, with US models adapted for an Army-wide programme of ‘Character Training’. However, this was insufficient to offset the effects of the ‘permissive society’ on Britain’s all-volunteer Army. By the 1980s, verdicts on its moral condition could echo age-old prejudices against professional soldiering in general. The end of the Cold War, the increased prospect of humanitarian and counter-insurgency operations, and the professional emphasis on the importance of the ‘strategic corporal’ placed a new premium on the moral education of the soldier. Informed by the McGill Report of 1999, and reflecting a new emphasis on ‘Values and Standards’, chaplains played a leading role in promoting ‘moral understanding’, their contribution felt through ITD 11 and MATT 6 and, as confidants and advisors, by commanding officers in the War on Terror.