They always open military events with a prayer. They even have Nation Prayer Breakfasts. You learn to ignore the opening of any military gathering. You cannot change it, so just roll with the flow.

My Jewish boss would always turn his back to the opening ceremony. I myself, just thought about the menu coming up!

..influence, ya know the "we are better than the godless commies" thing (like the "under god" line injected into the pledge of allegiance).
By in History of western civilization, I learned it is more of a European based traditional "God on our side" thing.

is the American way.

Even though im not religious or spiritual.

morning, in both Houses.

Chaplains (who hold military rank) are in the services to "facilitate the free practice of religion" amongst the military. They will often do invocations/benedictions at official events.

If they are doing it right, there shouldn't be too much specificity when it comes to deities. No talk of In Jesus' name, or Mohamad Peace Be Upon Him. The generic "Lord" is the most commonly used term, or just plain old God.

They teach kids in boot camp/OCS etc. that you don't have to buy off, but you do have to wait it out.

The origins behind the military chaplains go back to the days when we didn't have so much religious choice. There were only a few flavors, everyone had an affiliation, and the government wanted to make sure that people were not DENIED an opportunity to practice their faith as a consequence of deployment or remote location. I can see this perspective. I don't understand why we need uniformed chaplains, though--or at least ones with rank. I think we should affiliate them in a different way, and get rid of the rank--it causes too much of that "finger on their number" shit where these supposed men/women of God are more concerned about advancement than ministering to their flocks.