A lot of people who live in the midlands don't realize it, but prospective military chaplains learn how to minister under fire right here in Columbia at the U.S. Army's Chaplain Center and School at Fort Jackson.

It's a 13-week course that ends with a 3-day field exercise.

On the first day of a recent exercise, chaplain trainees were given 15 minutes to prepare remarks designed to comfort soldiers heading out on a dangerous convoy. They also conducted religious services in the field and practiced comforting the wounded and consoling soldiers traumatized by battle.

About 160 chaplains graduate from the school each year.