Prayer:
Lord, teach me how to sacrifice for that which is worth fighting for.
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.” (James 1:12a)
June 18
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY
Chaplain Col. Gene (Chip) Fowler, U.S. Army, Command Chaplain for Combined Joint Task Force 7
Several weeks during April and early May 2004 can best be described as “The Ecstasy and the Agony.” The ecstasy came from the hope and joy experienced in remembering the central event of all history—the death and resurrection of the Lord of the Universe. On Easter Sunday morning, we had an absolutely marvelous Sunrise Service with so many people we could not count them.
The agony came from the senseless and sadistic murder of the four civilian contractors in Fallujah on March 31, and the heinous desecration of their mutilated bodies.
The ecstasy came from soldiers and civilians growing deeper in their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus.
The agony came from the attack on the convoy north of Baghdad where several were killed, and Tom Hamill was kidnapped and held hostage for three weeks.
The ecstasy came from his escape and reunion with his family.
The agony came from the highest total of soldiers killed and wounded in any month since the start of the conflict.
The ecstasy came from a wonderful and dynamic National Prayer Breakfast at Taji where soldiers and civilians gathered to ask God’s blessings on our nation.
The agony came from the horrid rocket attack at that same base a couple of weeks earlier that took four lives, including a reserve captain whose civilian job was as a youth minister. As he lay there dying, he looked at individual soldiers saying, “Joe, I didn’t see you at chapel Sunday; you know you need to go. Bob, I missed you at Bible Study.”
How does one deal with these ecstasies and agonies? Being able to handle the issues of life and death in the context of the eternal is the challenge. It is the work of chaplains and their assistants, and those whom they empower with a living faith. They take care of soldiers with selfless concern, imputing God’s love and grace into the most difficult of situations. And then they take care of each other. May God continue to provide such servants to the military forces of our nation, nurturing their faith, strengthening their moral resolve, and lifting their souls toward heaven.
Prayer:
Lord, may my trials strengthen my faith instead of compel me to doubt.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2)
June 19
RISING UP AGAINST EVIL
Chaplain Col. Gene (Chip) Fowler, U.S. Army, Command Chaplain for Combined Joint Task Force 7
From an email newsletter dated June 11, 2004:
The abuses at the prison at Abu Gharib are obviously an embarrassment to all. The real hardship that is not known is that the soldiers currently assigned there are taking all the heat and scrutiny, even though they were not present at the time of the abuses last year and have been doing a good job. I have two chaplains permanently assigned there who are very strong in their spiritual leadership and encouragement, and are doing a marvelous job at helping their soldiers handle all the unwanted (and mostly undeserved) visibility. The alleged perpetrators are rightly being handled through the military justice system, but the actions of a very few will tarnish the reputation of the many who are honest and decent soldiers serving honorably.
Yet in light of this event, we were reminded of the nature of this conflict and our purpose for being here. The enemy we seek to stop has shown its true colors with the brutal and horrid decapitation of Nick Berg (added to the desecrations in Fallujah in April, and many other examples). Debates will continue to be conducted over the legitimacy of this war, and history’s story will be written. Yet God alone can determine its legitimacy. However, I cannot help but feel that God-fearing people, and humanity at large, must rise up against such evil as we see in this enemy. If not, then we all lose. As we reflect back sixty years ago to the largest single invasion of all of history at Normandy, we remember “the greatest generation” did precisely this. They knew not what they would find months later in the concentration camps; but when they saw the evil, they had a increased sense of their purpose and legitimacy. More and more, we are finding the same here.
Prayer:
Lord, may my life represent and honor Christ to all those around me.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
June 20
U.S. CITIZENSHIP ON FOREIGN SOIL
Chaplain Col. Gene (Chip) Fowler, U.S. Army, Command Chaplain for Combined Joint Task Force 7
In October 2004, we had a Naturalization Ceremony, where thirty-four U.S. soldiers from twenty-two nations became U.S. citizens. Until now, all Naturalization Ceremonies took place on U.S. soil by law. But President Bush signed a new law, effective October 1, 2004, which allows soldiers serving in a deployed location to be naturalized on the soil where they serve. Foreigners can join our military, pledging to support and defend (and die for) the Constitution of a nation not their own. Why would someone want to do that? Is it that in spite of our many frailties as a nation, we offer something that no one else does? From the stories of these soldiers, I believe so.
Undersecretary Aquirre, head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, himself a naturalized American citizen, said in his remarks that because of the obvious increase of the threat of major violence against America and Americans worldwide, you’d think that immigration would have dipped in the last few years. We are being ostracized by “friends” and abandoned by “allies,” but individuals are still streaming in ever-increasing numbers to join the hope, and to literally fight for the dream that America promises.
To see the faces of those thirty-four soldiers; to hear the pride in their voices when they took their oath; to see the tears flowing down their cheeks humbled me greatly. To hear the power and meaning in their words when they said the Pledge of Allegiance (including a lusty “UNDER GOD”), made tears flow down my cheeks. And I realized then and there, we still have a future, and God willing, we still have a bright future. The hopes and dreams that made America (out of a bunch of immigrants) two-plus centuries ago, is still here.
The country debates whether this war is worth it. I think the good I see happening, though hidden by the spectacular tragedies, makes me say yes. But when I see the power of purpose in the faces of new Americans in whom our future resides, then I know beyond the shadow of any doubt, yes it’s worth it. And I am proud.
Prayer:
Lord, help me appreciate more fully the great freedoms I have in America, but even more so, the freedom I have in Christ.
“Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the King.” (1 Peter 2:17)
June 21
SCENE OUT OF M*A*S*H
Chaplain Col. Gene (Chip) Fowler, U.S. Army, Command Chaplain for Combined Joint Task Force 7
It was like an episode of M*A*S*H when the evacuation helicopters landed. There were five casualties: four serious and one dead. I called for chaplain backup, and three more chaplains arrived shortly.
Chaplains are vital parts of the emergency medical team, but they have to know how to stay out of the way of the medical folks. Usually that means that they are positioned at the head of the patient where they can easily speak comfort to him or pray with him. The chaplain can also assist some of the medical procedures by getting things from the tray or holding something for the medics but mainly they keep focused on the patient.
My soldier had a seriously broken arm, a collapsed lung, and was covered in blood from the many pieces of shrapnel he’d taken. He was conscious, so I continued to engage him in conversation, including prayer, while the medics worked on him. He said he’d been hit twice. He was in his room when he was hit first. Bleeding, he went outside to get help when another round and h
it him again.
We as chaplains have to maintain the peace of God in our own lives so that peace flows over to the ones we minster to so they’re not as anxious. I felt that very strongly and that’s what I was doing. There were about five or six times during that year where I was actively engaged in ministering to dramatically injured soldiers and in each case, I was the calming effect, not only to soldiers injured, but also the young soldiers who were the medics that were traumatized by all the ordeal. Some of these medics running the clinics were only eighteen to twenty years old. They’d been in college and were in a Reserve unit when their unit was called up. The aftercare was taking care of those folks. It was deeply rewarding ministering to them and helping keep them focused on the value that they give the good they do in ministering to the broken bodies of soldiers.
Prayer:
Lord, cultivate in me a spirit which seeks to encourage others as they strive to serve you with their gifts.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
June 22
SERGEANT DIMA
Chaplain Col. Gene (Chip) Fowler, U.S. Army, Command Chaplain for Combined Joint Task Force 7
With the ambulance gone, the majority of the medical team went straight to work cleaning the clinic there was a lot of blood and getting it ready to receive more casualties if and when another incident occurred. They must be ready twenty-four hours a day. What heroes they are.
The other few set about to process the remains of the one soldier killed. I assisted them. The soldier was Sergeant Dima, a Romanian who came to the U.S. a few years ago. He hailed from New Jersey and joined the Army Reserves after 9/11 a member of 411th Construction Management Section of the 420th Engineer Brigade. He became a citizen on October 3, 2004; was promoted to sergeant on the morning of November 13 and gave his life for his new country on the evening November 13.
Every soldier has a story; Sgt. Dima has become part of mine. There is something spiritual about kneeling and laying hands on the broken, bloody body of a soldier, praying for his soul and the three young children he was leaving in the care of his now single wife. It is somber and sobering to see the deep respect the medics have as they treat the remains of a fallen comrade. After we finished the preparation, I was honored to pull back the curtain and call the clinic to attention as the medics moved Sgt. Dima to a holding area, awaiting initial transportation to start his way back home. Every person was silent, prayerful, respectful. It takes people with some kind of moxie to do their job as medics, day in and day out, mostly taking care of our little aches and pains, but always ready for the worst. And when the worst comes, so does their best. I thank God that this is the ministry he placed in my hand. We gathered everyone in the clinic together, and I asked one of my Air Force chaplains to offer a prayer for these servants of health. It was well appreciated.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your promise that our labor is not in vain; help me trust you for the results.
“Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
June 23
BLUE FINGERS
Chaplain Col. Gene (Chip) Fowler, U.S. Army, Command Chaplain for Combined Joint Task Force 7
The significance of January 30, 2005, is summed up in inked-stained forefingers. This was the day Iraqis voted for themselves.
“The Iraqis who came out to vote did so to say thank you to the coalition,” said our cultural advisor, Kadeem an Iraqi ex-patriot from St. Louis who fled Saddam’s revenge after Desert Storm. It was somehow a validating event for all the work, pain, and suffering of the soldiers here, and their families back home. Kadeem called his three brothers and asked them who they voted for; all three voted for someone different. And he said, “Never before has anything like this happened in Iraq, where people can determine their own future.”
Yet such a thing comes at a cost one that I will never forget, but will always honor. From February 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005 (the time I was in Iraq), we’ve suffered more than seven thousand wounded, almost seven hundred killed by enemy action and another nearly one hundred fifty who died from non-enemy causes and those are just the U.S. military figures. There were many more when you include our coalition partners, civilian contractors, the friendly Iraqi security forces, and the many innocent Iraqi civilians.
“I don’t understand why your soldiers die for my people,” an Iraqi National Guard soldier told one of my chaplains. I hope Sunday’s actions by the Iraqis begin to tell the reason why. With blue fingers as badges of courage, a tidal wave of Freedom began that desperate terrorists could not stop as more than nine million free citizens voted.
Is this the dawning of a new age in human history? I don’t know the answer to that. But it is a new age in the lives of Iraqis, and many other nations are looking to see what it means to them. For us as democratic freedom lovers, it gives hope that the incessant evil of terror is waning. The struggle against such evil as terror brings isn’t over the Devil doesn’t give up easily. So we must persist and continue to pursue the objective of eliminating the demon of terror.
Prayer:
Lord, renew my hope in you above all else.
“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” (Job 13:15a)
June 24
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Col. John Gessner, Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan, 2002
It wasn’t part of their official mission in Afghanistan, but it was the most rewarding Col. John Gessner and his Base Engineer Team sponsored an orphanage in nearby Charikar. This humanitarian project was going on when they weren’t reconstructing the Bagram Air Base in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Orphans are part of the terrible cost of warfare, and in Afghanistan, this is particularly pronounced. There are more than thirty thousand orphans in the Kabul area alone.
When they arrived at the orphanage in Charikar the first time, about seventy-five children and staff hesitantly greeted these Americans in uniform.
“They were a little leery of us when we first met them but warmed to us in time,” recalled Gessner. “What I first noticed was the lack of shoes and lack of glass in the windows in the sleeping rooms.” Summer temperatures in Afghanistan reach higher than one hundred degrees but drop to the teens in the winter.
When we left the orphanage on that first day, a rather large Airborne Ranger sergeant major, nicknamed Big Jim, looked at me with tears in his eyes and asked, “What can we do to help these kids?” We decided to write a few letters home hoping that perhaps people would send us some donations.
The letters worked. The sergeant major’s contacts sent numerous pairs of shoes. Jim Powers, a friend of Gessner’s in Rockford, Illinois, mobilized his Kiwanis group to support the orphans. Powers also established a website for the orphans’ plight and landed a front page story in the local paper. After the article in the paper, the orphans’ website received more than four hundred hits the first two days. The donations began flowing in.
“In three months, we received eight thousand dollars and three hundred fifty boxes of goods,” said Gessner. “The first donation came from a friend’s grandson who volunteered up his own shoes. While his grandma convinced him he needed his own shoes, he volunteered up his change totaling fifty-seven cents.” Other significant donations included coats from J.C. Penney’s and eighty hand-sewn quilted sleeping bags from a ladies’ church group.
“I was asked by a reporter once what we had received from the orphans for our work,” Gessner remembered. “My response was: ‘A lot of hugs and the satisfaction of leaving the place a little better than we found it.’”
Prayer:
Lord, instill in me a desire to give to others out of the abundance with which you have blessed me.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this
: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” (James 1:27)
Col. John Gessner with orphans in Afghanistan
June 25
DEBUNKING THE “GREAT SATAN” MYTH
Col. John Gessner, Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan (2002)
The anticipation of distributing the donations to the orphans was contagious especially on Sunday afternoons. This was typically the day Gessner’s team of fourteen engineers plus some other soldiers helped with the deliveries. Civil Affairs officers and interpreters also escorted them on the forty-five-minute journey by armed convoy.
“Some of the soldiers who volunteered to drive the trucks for us had spent most of their time on base on engineer missions,” Gessner said. “They were extremely excited about interacting with the kids and volunteered to go back several times. One told me it was the greatest thing he had ever done.”
Initially, the orphans and staff were cautious around the Americans, because they had been told that Americans were “The Great Satan” and other stories that would soon be proven false.Interpreters explained why the Americans were there and that they had gifts for the children. After a few visits they got used to having us around. Several of the kids picked out their favorite soldier and the soldiers had their favorite kids.
Donations included toys, stuffed animals, and candy along with school supplies, clothes, socks, shoes, underwear, and coats.
Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan Page 25
