Evangelical Efforts to Convert Catholic Soldiers

An article in Our Sunday Visitor reports on the problem of proselytization of Catholic soldiers by evangelical Protestant military chaplains:

Although the military brass has stepped in on several recent occasions to address concerns about proselytism – including charges raised by a fellow Christian chaplain last year at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. – the practice continues among many rank-and-file evangelicals who see Catholic soldiers as prime targets. Lacking a solid formation in their faith or an available Catholic priest to visit for counsel, some Catholic soldiers find themselves too poorly equipped to effectively defend church teaching and practices against the evangelicals’ charges.

For the most part, the remedy the article advises is to recruit more Catholic chaplains and supplement them with lay military volunteers to nurture and soldify Catholic soldiers in their faith.  Yet in that first quoted sentence above -- referring to "military officials [s]tepp[ing] in . . . to address [these] concerns" -- the article seems to hint that perhaps military officials ought to protect soldiers (Catholics, presumably others) from conversion efforts by chaplains of other (primarily evangelical) faiths.  If the article is suggesting that, isn't it misguided?  Set aside methods or situations in which conversion efforts are coercive (as they were in the Air Force Academy, apparently) or would undermine soldiers' morale or cohesion.  Outside of those cases, shouldn't the Catholic attitude be that proselytization -- which as Michael McConnell has pointed out, is just a nasty word for "persuasion" -- is a legitimate part of religious exercise, including chaplains' religious exercise?  Shouldn't the Church see itself as an evangelizing church too and seek to join evangelical Protestant chaplains in evangelistic competition -- not ask for limits on those chaplains' activities in order to protect Catholic soldiers from persuasion?

(HT: Christianity Today)

Tom