Centurion Faith!
Prev Next Sunday, May 17, 2009 - FOB Sharana
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I
will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have
you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am
a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he
goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he
does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen,
I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
(Matthew 8:5-10)
As we read in scripture: "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, 'Come with me be yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.'" This should be the motto for every Chaplain and Chaplain Assistant during the week after Easter! After running like mad, hopping birds and running to the HLZ hoping that the bird waits for us, we definitely needed some time to rest and recharge. Oh yeah, and fill up on Dairy Queen! Sgt Neal and I headed to BAF (Bagram Air Field) for 4 days of training and R&R, along with the other Catholic priests in the area (see picture above). BAF is a nice enough place, they have everything there, especially traffic and crowds! Needless to say the 4 days of rest were good and much needed, but I was also looking forward to getting back on the road and getting away from the big city...
The Blessed Sacrament chapel at BAF, peace in the midst of the storm.
While at BAF we learned about the BAF Freedom Restoration Center, which is a program set up for combat operational stress (COS). It's for guys that are stressed out, but not to the point of PTSD or serious psychological distress. COS runs the gamut of stress from combat or getting blown up, or stress from integration into a new unit (the "my NCO makes me do pushups!" stress), stress from transitioning to a deployed status (the "my recruiter didn't tell me about this!" stress), stress from family or marital problems back home, etc... It's a pretty cool program, it removes guys from their unit but not far enough that they feel removed from the fight. They fill their days with counseling, stress and grief training, and PT. After 3-5 days they are returned to their unit, hopefully with stronger coping skills and greater resiliency. It follows after lessons we learned in WWII, when guys suffered from "shell shock." They found out that if they sent these guys all the way back to the states to recover, they never got better. But if they sent them to the rear for a couple of days of rest, a shower, three hots and a cot, then they were usually able to return to duty fairly quickly. They removed them from the front yet kept them close enough to the fight that they were reminded they were still soldiers, they still had a job to do, and they hadn't abandoned their buddies. It's a good program, and we're lucky to have something like this available to us. Who knows, we keep our current pace and in about 6 months I'll let you know just how successful it is!
One of the great parts of this job is the travel, getting to meet new people in new places, listening to their stories and nurturing their faith in a very unique environment (that's putting it kindly)! This is also one of the more frustrating parts of the job as well. There are days when we bust our humps trying to get out to this remote FOB (Forward Operating Base) which sees a chopper just 1-2 days a week, only to arrive and have just a couple of guys show up for mass (sometimes even less). When you know that 25% of the Army is Catholic, even going to a small FOB with just 30-50 guys, we should still get at least 3-7 guys to come to mass. However, sometimes you get to a location and you discover an established, thriving, and vibrant community. Hitting these places makes up for a lot of the frustration that builds up from locations where faith consistently ends up on the back burner.
Orgun-E is one of those locations where we head when we need our own batteries recharged, and where I receive as much nourishment from a strong community as I give out. We have made it a point to hit OE often, at least twice a month. In fact, it's fast becoming our home away from home. The only problem is that every time we show up here we get stuck. (I know, cry me a river, right!) It's funny that this is a hub for SE Paktia, with lots of air and lots of convoys each week; yet we consistently end up arriving just before a storm grounds all the air for 3 days, or suddenly every chopper with our name on it suffers mechanical problems and spends a day or two in maintenance. I keep blaming it on Sgt. Neal (OE is full of guys from his old unit), but we're both developing a reputation. When the HLZ (Helicopter Landing Zone) guys see us jump off the bird, they shake their heads and tell us, "Must be a storm coming... Chappy's here, so nothing's coming for a while." But as I've said, OE is one place we don't mind getting stuck at... They have a good community, both in and out of church. The food is good, the bunks are comfortable, and the gym has a good variety of machines.
Ch Morken, Robert, and Ch Jacobs prepping boxes to go out to the smaller FOBs.
One great ministries at the chapel is the care package ministry. Ch J. Jacobs is the TF Pirate chaplain, a reserve unit based out of Virginia. He has established a whole mess of contacts back in the states, who have been very generous with sending copious supplies, food, hygiene, bedding, everything under the sun. In turn he sends out all this stuff to guys in the field who don't have access to the amenities that we have. In the 4 months since they arrived he received over 600 boxes from the states and has consolidated them and pushed forward 225 boxes to guys in the field. It's an amazing ministry, and a perfect example of passing on the gifts and graces of God. It's a good thing that he doesn't spend as much time on the road as we do, otherwise this ministry and all it's good works simply would not exist. Remember what Paul says in 1 Tim 6:17-18... "Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God, who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share." Ch Jacobs certainly has taken these words to heart in recognizing his richness and passing it on to others.
The chapel at Lilley. Notice the empty missile casings serving as "candle stands" outside the door!
I can't complain too much about the food we have in the Army. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest, and my expectations have been blown away. The food here is pretty good, better in some places, and in others you simply use more hot sauce... Anyway, I've been impressed with the food we have, especially the meals we get at these smaller and more austere FOBs. It's funny how the smaller and simpler the kitchen, the better the food that comes out. It probably has something to do with the size and amount of food that these guys have to push out. At a large FOB, there's simply no way to make 700-1000 plates of food taste good. But 30-50 plates, you can put a little more care into it.
A CH-47 Chinook taking off...
Why all this talk of food? Because, we found the gem of Afghanistan on our last trip. If you ever have the opportunity, or happen to find yourself in the neighborhood, I'd highly recommend stopping by FOB Lilley on a Friday night for the local fare. Lilley is a relatively small FOB, but there are OGA and SF guys there who invite all the Army Soldiers over on Friday nights for dinner. They brought their own cook with them, and he was trained in France. Need I say more? Yup, I need to say more... How bizarre is it that I had to go to a war-zone halfway around the world to find a perfectly seared and grilled steak? Or to find caramelized cauliflower? Or fresh asparagus that's not soggy? Or hand-made and still warm croissants that melt in your mouth? Yeah, guess where we're going as often as possible, as long as it's a Friday?!?
The wildlife at Zormat.
The sun rising at Sharana (they make us get up waaaay too early!)
The Wildlife at OE
Reading the Catholic Herald at OE
Riding on Centurion Air
Once again, the final page of this newsletter is dedicated to all those that have sent stuff forward to us to be distributed to the troops. Every week we spend about 4-6 days traveling, and then come home to an office that's loaded with packages that arrived during our mission. Sometimes the number of care packages to sort through is small (under 10), other times we have to start sorting and shipping stuff out just to find room to walk!
Sgt. Neal was viciously attacked by a box of beanie babies!
We'll be giving these out in a few weeks to the kids at the local school...
Every week I am humbled by the generosity and support of so many friends, family, and complete strangers who have learned about us and heard of our need. It's truly Awesome! As a way to say thanks, we carry bibles with us (it's one of those things that we have plenty of) out on our missions, and then sign those bibles and send them to those who have supported us with goodies. I'm sure that some of you have already received a bible, and some of you have bibles in the mail. It's simply a small way for us to show our gratitude, and to give back something of meaning and importance. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support and generosity. It's not so much the great stuff we receive, the the fact that someone back home took the time to gather it, package it, and pay for the postage to send it off. Thanks, and God bless you all. Please keep us in prayers, for we need those more than anything else! (Yes, even more than coffee or beanie babies!)
Here are a couple of ideas of stuff that we can use, or stuff that soldiers are always looking for:
Here's some bad things that we can't use, or will get us into trouble! Don't send us this: