Stetsons and Garters

I haven’t blogged since leaving Ft Jackson so this will be a long one.
I guess the best way to write this blog will be to talk about four different aspects of the last month – moving, Hawaii, my unit and family

We arrived in Hawaii on the 13^th of April – after having a one day delay at the airport for a broken plane.  The Schofield Inn was nice but it was a hotel and living out of luggage and eating out for a month has been tiresome to say the least.  We immediately went to housing and were told of a long wait for a house but thankfully they worked with us due to Cody’s Crohns disease and his need for a better diet.  Last week we finally moved into our house here on post.  It is a four bedroom with a great living room and an outdoor patio that fits us very well.  Our household goods arrived on the 19^th and we now have about two boxes left to unpack, still have pictures to hang and we need at least one more window AC unit.

Hawaii is beautiful!  We have fallen in love with the North Shore and all the beaches up there.  Waikiki is nice but a little too commercial for us.  We plan on getting in some surfing lessons before I leave.  The mountains along Schofield are amazingly beautiful and most days we have a few clouds enveloping the peak of one of them and we have come to call this King Kong’s mountain since it looks so ominous.  The water surround Oahu is bluer than any ocean I have ever seen and as we drive down towards the North Shore it is hard to tell where the water ends and the sky begins.

My unit, 2^nd Squadron 14th Cavalry (2-14Cav) is part of the 2^nd Styker Brigade Combat Team, 25^th Infantry Division.  Being in a Cavalry unit is great, full of old traditions and unit pride.  We wear Stetsons at least once a week; those that have earned their spurs (either gold ones by deploying or silver ones by completing a spur ride) wear them as well and Denise has been awarded the "Order of the Garter". We have done three changes of command ceremonies since I got here, during these the commanders pass the unit saber between them as well as the guidon.  We also do a saber ceremony that morning, this is a like a roast of the outgoing commander.  We have also done a marriage retreat and a single Soldier retreat – both in Waikiki.  We are now on two weeks of block leave in preparation for our deployment to Iraq at the end of the month.

Denise and Cody have been great through all this transition and Nicole is here now for a few months.  Tripler Army Medical Center has been an wonderful blessing for Cody’s Crohn’s and his doctors there are very warm and receptive to our concerns.

 As the days countdown to our deployment our anxiety increases a bit but I know our family love is strong and God’s grace is powerful.  It will be a long year in the sandbox and we are all not quite sure of how the mission will be in Iraq.  Can’t say much on public posting like this but our squadron will be pretty remote from everyone else and we will be sitting about 30 miles from another unfriendly country’s border.  I know God placed us here for a reason and we are ready to respond.

Diversity

One thing that I have missed about the Military is the diversity of the soldiers that we serve with.  In the past two weeks I have heard sermons from Southern Baptist, Seven Day Adventist, Mormon, Jewish, Catholic, and Pentecostal.  My Chaplain Class has White students, Black students, students from Korea, Africa and Israel.  We cover all four points of the United States.  And yet, even in a very critical and prejudicial sect of culture - religion - we are here under a common bond - a shared goal - to serve all the men and women of the Army.

We are taught a word here, pluralism.  In many circles this word is sacrilege, it opposes the very essence of religion.  But here in the Army culture it represent the purpose of God's creation in us.  He loved us so much that He gave us the free will to choose Him or to not to choose Him.  Here we are free to worship Him in the way that we are led too.

For the past few years I have been submersed in a very white culture, I have even faced the sting of bigotry myself as I tried to stand up against racism, a disease that still exists in this very melting pot of America yet has no place in Christianity.  To me no way a person who calls himself a Christian can have these very sinful feeling towards a fellow human.

Yes, I am being harsh here, but hey - this is my blog and I am an Officer of the United States Army.  I have made an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and prejudice and bigotry is an enemy of our constitution.  

Sorry I am running off on a tangent with this blog, but I have missed the Army and I did not realize how much until I returned.  And it is because of the culture that exists here.  We Are the "All Americans"

The Beret

   This week marked the end of Chaplain Initial Military Training.  It has been interesting, being prior service, watching from from almost an outside view as fellow classmates, civilians, become soldiers .  The chaplaincy is a calling, but so is the military and especially that of an Army officer. 
   There is a saying in the Army - about being a volunteer, a double volunteer and a triple volunteer,  a soldier must volunteer to do this job, to be airborne one must volunteer a second time because no one can be forced into this training, to go Ranger and or Special Forces one must volunteer a third time because airborne is a prerequisite.  The Chaplaincy is similar, we must be called to be a soldier, called to be an officer and called to be an Army Chaplain.
   At the end of CIMT we had our beret donning ceremony.  The wearing of the beret symbolizes much more than the official headgear of the Army.  Since WWI it has been the symbol of the elite - starting with British Tank Crews then carrying over to the SAS and Airborne.  The Special Forces were the first to adopt the beret in the US with the blessing of President John F. Kennedy and the then Ranger and Airborne units were authorized.  When the decision was made for the entire army to wear the beret I have to admit I was a little upset - this was a special item that had only been worn by special units.  Now I realize the significance of the entire army wearing it - the United States Army is a special unit, we are different from any other army in the world, we carry a presence about us and we serve the people of the world and not ourselves.

    What makes the beret even more of a symbol of the United States Army is what must be done to it before it can be worn: 
    When a beret is first bought it looks nothing like the final product - it is unformed and covered with extra fuzz - kind of like the civilian who is on his or her way to becoming a soldier, they are untrained, undisciplined and bring extra baggage with them.
    The first step in preparing the beret is to take a razor and meticulously shave away all of the fuzz.  The soldier is similar, he or she must be torn down, to be stripped of all that separates a civilian from the professional soldier.  This includes attitudes, individualism and mental weakness.
   Next, once the beret has been stripped of all the fuzz it is then soaked in water and placed on the head and formed into the shape of the soldiers beret.  This takes time, it must be done carefully or it will look bad.  It has to be left on the head until it is dry or it will not hold its shape.  The soldier is the same, once broken down he or she it built back up into a new creation - that of the United States Soldier, full of confidence ability and espret de corp.  This is also a slow process but once done he or she looks like nothing else, like the beret, everyone knows a United States Soldier has entered the room

CIMT Over

Chaplain Initial Military Training is now over, four weeks down - nine more to go!  We have been to the Team Development Course, the CRBN (Gas) Chamber, Victory Tower, spent two days in the field doing our Warrior Task Training and testing (minus the combat tasks of course), Day Land Nav and Night Land Nav, the day infiltration course - practicing moving under fire with a Chaplain Assistant, and did what has been a right of passage for all soldiers - the night infiltration course where live ammo is fired overhear and explosions go off near by as we low/high crawl 100 yards to safety.  Being prior service it was all a little more enjoyable this time because I understood the needs and I did not have the anxiety of the unknown.

We ended the week with our beret donning, which I will post about seperatly

 

 One thing that I have missed the most about the Army is the friendship, the camaraderie that exists no where else.  In these four weeks I have new brothers that I will never loose contact with and will always value.

I also have my pinpoint assignment with the 25th ID now, the 2-14 Cavalry!  SUIVEZ MOI (Follow Me).  I am so excited to go to a unit with such great espret de corp and to be given the opportunity to serve such soldiers.  To be a "Trooper"  wearing the Stetson and earning my Spurs and serving along side such professional and seasoned soldiers is humbling

God, grant me the wisdom and the strength to serve, and love the soldiers of the 2-14.  I pray that you will bless and protect them in the coming weeks as they prepare for our deployment, be with the families as they also prepare for the separation to come.  In your Holy and Sovereign Name I pray , Amen

Zero Week

It has been a long but very wonderful week.  I had planned to post a blog once a week but there may be too much happening in this time period to report.  We arrived Sunday and met the school cadre and each other, settled into our rooms and prepared for what is termed 0 week - a week of in processing.  This included a lot of paperwork to cover finance, insurance, personal records; we also did our dental and medical checks.

On Monday, while coming out of the Clothing and Sales store I received my first salute.  A Sergent First Class provided me this opportunity and I handed him my silver dollar - a tradition in the military, stemming from the pay that officers would give to enlisted aids they would hire.  I was happy that it went to an NCO who recognized what it was about.

That afternoon I was interviewed for a leadership position in the class, I was subsequently assigned as the 1st Platoon Platoon Leader - the All American Platoon.  This is a great honor, not only to be in this position but to also represent the 82nd Airborne.  Our Platoon song is "All American Soldier".  I have a great group of Chaplains and Candidates and I have the utmost confidence in them and our ability to perform.

Tuesday was filled with dental and medical processing, I ended up needing a filling but they were able to do that that very morning.  Wednesday was very cold and we completed our medical processing.

On Thursday I received and incredibly honor and an even better surprise.  We were addressed by the school leaders.  CH (Col) Boone, the school commandant, was the first to speak and at the end he called me to the front.  I had no idea what was about to happen, but as I stood at attention facing the class he commended me on my initiative and leadership ability in setting up our class Facebook page, he then presented me with his personal coin.  These are known as challenge coins and are a matter of unit pride, CH (Col) Boone's coin is very unique as it is wooden.

He then surprised me even further by announcing that Denise and Cody were here in the back of the room to see this - needless to say I was shocked, I had spoken to Denise that very morning and she had said nothing of all this!  This was a wonderful surprise and even though they are moving down here at the end of this next week it was great having them here this weekend with me.



Today we attended the post Jewish service.  This was for a number of reasons - first, I am required to attend five different post services and report on them; second, Denise has become good friends with Ms. Stephanie Alexander, a Lay Jewish leader here on post and the person responsible for a number of our blessings here, and there is great opportunity to learn.  After the service we attended some down time with the basic training and AIT soldiers here on post, very young men and women away from home.  It was a blessing to see how I can minister to them, to just talk to them and encourage them.

I am humbled by the Chaplains in class with me, we are what I believe to be the example of Christian leadership - here we are, all from different denominations and backgrounds, we even have three Rabbis with us - yet we have put this all aside to serve God, Country and the men and women who protect us.  I am, and my family is, exactly where God wants us.

A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.
(Psa 121:1-8)

"Civil Prayer" repost

For a while now I have been wanting to write a post on the controversy of ministering in a pluralistic environment, particularly the subject of prayer and praying in the name of Jesus.

Chaplain Paul Lynn, a brother whom I have come to know through his blog and emails and even though we have not met in person - a good friend, wrote on this very subject on his blog (please visit the link)

worth my salt - civil prayer


Since accepting this call to the Army Chaplaincy (note- a calling by God, not a personal decision) I have met with questions, concerns and even criticism over this subject.  One thing that needs to be clarified - the Army Chaplaincy is a pluralistic environment, not pluralistic religion.  My duty as a chaplain is first and foremost to serve God by serving the soldiers, secondly is to provide for the freedom of religion to all soldiers.  Is this a contradiction?  I believe no; God gave us the freewill to choose to follow or believe in Him because He desires us to come to know Him out of love.  Should we mere humans be any different?

Father Joseph O’Donnell, a retired Vietnam Chaplain describes the chaplain's ministry this way; “he must have the willingness to accept people where they are in their understanding of life and faith, not where the chaplain would like them to be. No matter how firm I am in my approach to God, I cannot have the last word for anyone else.”

This past weekend my home church held an ordination and farewell ceremony for me and my family.  One of the songs that was played during the service was "They will know we are Christians by our Love".  This is how I want to be identified.  I want every soldier in my care; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, or whatever their belief, to know that I love them enough that they will feel comfortable in coming to me for help or guidance without the fear of criticism or admonishment - God will take care of the rest.  He put me here in the first place and I trust Him to know what He is doing.

For God and Country

"For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD" Jer 29:11

   Today we had my ordination and farewell ceremony at New Life Authentic Christian Community Church (yes I was ordained a year ago by WCICC, but today was a special occasion as my church laid their hands of approval upon me).  For those who have never seen an ordination; it is a reflection of Acts 13 where Barnabas and Saul are set apart from the church by the Holy Spirit - called to leave them do go and do God's work.  The people prayed and laid hands upon Barnabas and Saul and sent them away.  During the service today the elders, deacons and members of the church laid their hands upon me and my family to pray for us as they sent us away to serve in the Army Chaplaincy.

   It was 6 years ago this month that God called us to this new plan in our life.  I can still remember it clearly, we were seated in the third row back on the right side of the church.  Pastor Steve was preaching on answering God's call, according to Denise - I do not remember this as I was overcome with emotion.  I remember feeling God's presence and there were no words but I knew he was calling me to ministry and at that time I was sure it was to the Army Chaplaincy.  Denise told me later she saw the tears coming down my face and felt nervous, but when we got out to our truck I just broke down and cried, I told her and the kids what was going on and that began it all.
   A few days later Steve came by the house and we spoke, he agreed that this was truly a calling from God.  Three weeks more I was in school -an example of God's incredible ability.

Pastor Steve Clark - My Mentor and Friend

   It has been a long 6 years - a BS in Religion and two Masters Degrees.  Many lessons learned and the experience of discipling our next generation of leaders in a Christian High School.  I have seen the good and the bad of American Christianity and I have seen the love that can only be from God present in friends and family as we have endured the trials and tribulations that have molded us and prepared us for this incredible ministry we are about to enter.

   We will miss Catawba County NC and all the friends we leave behind, thank you for being there for us and for allowing us to grow as we have over these years.

   I read a quote this week by Charles Spurgeon: "The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction"   What a blessing to read such words and reflect upon where we have been and where we are going.  I pray and ask you to pray that God will continue to lead our lives and we will be able to serve Him as faithfully as He has been with us through these years.