10 USC § 643 - Chaplains: discharge or retirement upon loss of professional qualifications

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t10/s643"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "10 USC § 643 - Chaplains: discharge or retirement upon loss of professional qualifications"
title_number: 10
title_name: "ARMED FORCES"
section_number: "643"
section_name: "Chaplains: discharge or retirement upon loss of professional qualifications"
chapter_number: 36
chapter_name: "PROMOTION, SEPARATION, AND INVOLUNTARY RETIREMENT OF OFFICERS ON THE ACTIVE-DUTY LIST"
subchapter_number: "V"
subchapter_name: "ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO PROMOTION, SEPARATION, AND RETIREMENT"
part_number: "II"
part_name: "PERSONNEL"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added Pub. L. 96–513, title I, § 105, Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 2867.)"
---


# § 643. Chaplains: discharge or retirement upon loss of professional qualifications

Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, a commissioned officer on the active-duty list of the Army, Navy, or Air Force who is appointed or designated as a chaplain may, if he fails to maintain the qualifications needed to perform his professional function, be discharged or, if eligible for retirement, may be retired.

---

**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 96–513, title I, § 105, Dec. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 2867.)

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective , but the authority to prescribe regulations under this section effective on , see , set out as an Effective Date of 1980 Amendment note under .