Centurion Faith!
Prev Next Vol IX - October 17, 2009 - FOB SHARANA, AFGHANISTAN
PFC Ferguson and I enjoying an afternoon on the deck at OE.
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)
Paul traveled with Barnabas on his first missionary journey from Antioch throughout Cyprus and modern-day Turkey. I can only imagine the support and friendship that formed between these two evangelists as they set out on an adventure to proclaim the gospel to all they met. Of course Paul and Barnabas had a falling out after the journey (Acts 15: 36-41), and they parted ways. This set the stage for Paul to find Silas, who will always be remembered as the companion of Paul. Silas traveled with Paul over 2800 miles through Syria, Turkey, and Greece. He stuck with him through riots, floggings, and imprisonment.
Sgt. Neal and I have been great traveling companions, although we havenʼt caused any riots yet, or been flogged, or been arrested. At least not yet... I count Sgt. Neal as a close friend and companion, someone I will keep in touch with long after Iʼve moved on from the 4/25th. Thereʼs something about enduring travels together that can form a strong and lasting bond. Eating and sleeping, working and waiting in very close proximity to each other, either we were going to become good friends and allies, or we were going to tear each other apart after a couple of months. Although we get on each otherʼs nerves from time to time, I think weʼve formed a good team and work well together. So, you can imagine my shock when Sgt. Neal heads home on R&R leave and Iʼm left to train and travel with a new temporary assistant. PFC Jon Ferguson is a great guy, and Iʼm lucky to have him, but thereʼs only one Sgt. Neal.
PFC Ferguson has been in the Army about as long as I have, and arrived to Alaska a month or two after me. So weʼre both green but enthusiastic. Jon is married to a wonderful girl back home and has a very cute 2 year old. Throughout the year Jon and I have often chatted, and heʼs kept me up to date on his home life and the hallmarks of Katie's (daughter) life. He works in supply but trained to be a generator mechanic (figure that one out). The running joke now is that heʼs going to need therapy for multiple personality disorders. He trained for one job, is assigned to a completely different second job, often gets tasked for other third jobs, and now works for me in a fourth job. Poor guy doesnʼt know if heʼs coming or going, but heʼs flexible and willing and so will go far if he can maintain that sense of humor and open spirit.
The view from the Cockpit, you can see another PAW bird flying tandem.
In actuality, this is kind of a little vacation for Jon. Heʼs been stuck on the same FOB for 7 months, looking at the same walls, dealing with the same issues and people. Spending 3 weeks with me jumping from base to base, living out of a ruck sack, sleeping in a different bunk each night... whatʼs not to love? In fact when we head home to Sharana for a day or two heʼs always disappointed. Heʼs even looking forward to going to Zerok, the roughest and most spartan base in our area. Give him time, heʼll probably change that tune after 6 months of this life and a few weeks being stuck at very remote bases. Of course in another week or so Sgt. Neal will be back, fully relaxed, tanned, and ready to tackle Afghanistan once again. As much as Iʼm looking forward to Sgt. Neal coming back, I also know Iʼm going to miss traveling with PFC Ferguson, heʼs another good traveling companion.
I talked a little bit about our tracking board and the heightened expectations placed on us as Chaplains in my last newsletter. Weʼre expected to travel to each base we are responsible for once every 15 days. Itʼs a tough standard to meet, but itʼs a sign of how seriously our command takes religious support. Although I find it exasperating and source of great frustration, Iʼm also glad that the standard is so tough. If thereʼs one thing that drives me nuts is settling for mediocracy. If we werenʼt forced to travel as often as we do then Iʼd be tempted to sit in one place for too long and get fat and lazy. As it is we travel fast and light, we learn to resupply on the road, and make the most of our time and energy at whatever base we find ourselves at for the day.
Since my last newsletter weʼve made significant progress on our tracker board. At the beginning of October I said it looked like a low budget slasher flick, red everywhere! The average time between Catholic visits was 32 days, meaning there were a few spots well above that number. As it sits now the average number of days between visits is 14 days, meaning weʼre hitting bases right as they turn from green to amber. For the Protestant side of the board itʼs even better! Their average is 8 days, every base getting hit almost once a week! And itʼs going to be getting even better as we just gained 3 new Protestant chaplains under our Task Force (TF). These guys have been here for a couple of months already but since they werenʼt under our TF we often didnʼt know where they were or what bases they had hit. Now weʼre tracking them, and theyʼll be able to help keep some of those bases green.
So the chaplains are looking pretty good right now, weʼre hitting every base fairly frequently even if that means weʼre only staying for short periods of time. Now the trick is to keep it looking that good. Weʼre still jumping birds and keeping our rucks packed, ready to go anywhere at anytime. Itʼs a stressful life, especially when we have to adjust fire on our travel plans at the last minute or travel to a base without coordinating prior to arrival. It places a lot of demands on our flexibility, and we run the risk of getting stuck for several days which can throw our upcoming missions into chaos. Nonethe- less itʼs the life of an Army Chaplain, especially an Army Priest, and I wouldnʼt ask for anything else.
Sgt Neal leading a class at Sharana.
A couple of months ago I told you a little about a soldier I met named Jeremy, a Specialist with the 276th Engineer Brigade out of Virginia. Well, the 276th guys are heading home, and Jeremy is looking forward to getting out of here. If you remember, Jeremy arrived over here around January, and was a gunner on an RCP (Route Clearance Patrol). These are the guys that dig up IEDs for living. They roll outside the wire knowing they are going to get hit. Itʼs a hard and stressful life, but they make the roads safe for the rest of us, both soldier and civilian. (Remember, an IED doesnʼt care who sets it off, civilian or soldier, combatant or non-combatant. It simply waits for someone to step on the pressure plate...) So needless to say, Jeremy saw a lot of action. In fact his truck was blown up three times, and each time he was hit with shrapnel or suffered a concussion. After earning his third purple heart in 2 months, Jeremyʼs commanders took him off of RCP and stuck him on FOB force protection, meaning he was going to spend most of his remaining few months in heavily fortified towers. (Jeremy says his commander made this change to give his brain time to heal from so many knocks, but in reality it was just because no one wanted to ride in his truck anymore!)
Well, on the day of the national elections, 6-7 weeks ago, we received a good amount of rockets and mortars and spent most of the day in our armor. Jeremy happened to be in one of the towers that day and watched a mortar land 20-30 feet from his position. A small pee-sized piece of shrapnel ricocheted through the heating vent, one of the few vulnerable spots in the towers, and caught him in the arm. Purple heart number 4... Jeremy takes this all in stride, even though he got pulled off of RCP to keep him safe and give him rest he still manages to find some action. When he got to the Aid station and called home I gave him my standard lecture that the first thing you say is “Iʼm fine, Iʼm going to be all right.” His mom picks up and he says, “Hey mom, guess where I am again!” All I can say is I hope he hangs onto his armor when he returns home, his mom is going to kill him for all the worrying he caused her!
But thereʼs the good news. Jeremy has less then 2 weeks to go. By halloween he should either be in an airport hanger waiting for a flight or sitting in a bar back home showing off his scars and telling crazy stories. So keep Jeremy and all those engineer guys in your prayers. Fighting over here is physically and emotionally draining. And when these guys get home they often find that the battle of reintegration is as hard, if not harder, than the battles they fought over here. None-the-less, Jeremy has good support from his command, from his chaplains, and from his family, as do the rest of the 276th engineers. They fought hard, they served with valor, and they bring home honor and strength.
SSG Spence and PFC Hudek making the rounds.
Jingle birds dropping their loads at Curry.
Complacency, the Joeʼs worst enemy.
A view from the cockpit.
A US base and the countryside.
PFC Ferguson reading at Mass.
A spur of the moment salsa lesson at Green Beans.
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. One of the great joys to coming home to Sharana is opening the office door and seeing a weeks worth of mail waiting for us. It can be overwhelming, and it takes a great deal of time and organization (which Iʼm learning now that Sgt. Neal is on R&R), but the difference those boxes and letters make cannot be measured. Everywhere we go we are recognized not only because of the cross but also because of the care packages we send ahead. There is nothing a Soldier loves more while deployed than mail and care packages, even if itʼs a general letter address to “Any Soldier” or a box of cookies “For The Troops.” Of course none of these great things would happen without you and your generosity. So thank you thank you thank you for making a difference in these Soldierʼs lives, for reminding them of home, for taking the time to write a few heartfelt words, for recognizing their service and sacrifice.
Here are some good things for care packages (bold are great things!):
CH Jason Hesseling
HHC 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO AE 09311