UMT NTC

UMT NTC
Originally uploaded by greek64.

Attached is a photograph taken earlier today of me and SPC Andre Hargrave, Chaplain Assistant at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA. We work as a Unit Ministry Team (UMT) and I am the only member of the batallion (228 FSB) that has a permanent Personal Security Detail. I foresee many good experiences working together during this deployment to Iraq.

Entering the Desert

In my last few days before leaving Camp Shelby for Ft. Irwin, CA (NTC) there were some other soldiers I met that were noteworthy. First of all, there was Bob. Bob is a man who is overly over 50 years of age. He is round and is missing some teeth. He is a sweet souled man who was told to report to Camp Shelby for deployment. When he stepped into the health screening area for the SRP, the staff took one look at him and told him to go back home. The sad thing was that Bob had is heart on deploying, so I met him when he was a little deflated. MAJ O (my eccentric barracks mate) was once his commander. He did a fine thing by going to the movies with Bob. The next day I met up with them at lunch. I arrived late and discovered that all the strawberries had been eaten. I briefly mentioned something about it when I sat down and got back up to go get some condiments. When I got back to the table Bob had placed three big fat strawberries on my plate. I thought Bob was an excellent example of a human being who in his own suffering still was sensitive to others….a walking sermon.

I haven’t mentioned MAJ O as much as I probably should. He is a bright, eccentric and quick witted man who has a good read on things. He keeps me laughing with his take on things. He also gave me the chutzpa to just stay in the transitional/replacement unit barracks and not go up to my assigned barracks that was packed to the gills. He is a single man in his late forties that continues to try to find the right woman. He is competent in his profession, but I think that he sometimes over thinks things and needs encouragement when it comes to personal decisions. Now that we are at FT Irwin he is working hard with his unit and I see him less.

Before I left Camp Shelby on the final evening before our departure, I decided to do laundry. In the laundry trailer, I struck up a conversation with a young soldier who seemed exceptionally bright. I quickly learned that he had been home schooled by a highly religious mother. He also mentioned that he tended to be a bit more quiet in his unit because they didn’t quite understand him. He told me that he had been studying philosophy, but wasn’t sure that was the way he was going to graduate. We talked a bit about some history of philosophy type stuff. He admitted that he didn’t expect a chaplain to be as worldly as myself. He mentioned that he usually avoided them because they tended to proselytize and be a bit pollyana. I told him my first theological plank was if there wasn’t a God there should be one. And that when someone tells me that they don’t believe in God, I ask them to tell me about the God that they don’t believe in and that chances were that I did not believe in that God either. He tested me when he asked if I had ever heard of Anton LaVey, I said that I recognized the name but couldn’t place the personage. He reminded me that Anton LaVey was the writer of the Satanic Bible. I told him that I knew a little about Satanism and that what most people think of as the Satanic church is a pretty modern construct. I also told him that I knew that Satanism wasn’t the worship of evil. He said that Satanism is mostly about putting oneself first. I told him that the problem with putting oneself first is that it builds hatred toward the weak and treating others as objects. He agreed and told me that he wasn’t a Satanist anyway. He told me in not so many words that the God his mother presented to him wasn’t one that he cared for. I told him that it was OK and that resenting his Mom had more to do with her and less with God. He knew that. I told him to keep in touch with me because I found him to have a hungry mind.

When it came time to leave for FT Irwin a battalion of soldiers stood in formation in the dark and roll was called. When one name was called a young man with a Boston accent yelled “We’re all gonna die!” There was nervous laughter. I heard that later the soldier was confronted by his peers for his poor choice in humor. It took a whole tractor trailer to move all our sea bags and rucksacks. We boarded four school buses and then we went to a processing center where we were weighed and ID’s and dog tags were checked. From there we boarded three tour buses where we took an hour’s long drive to Gulfport, MS to the Trent Lott (ugh!) Army National Guard Post. We arrived after midnight and slept on the cold concrete floor for four hours. Well, it wasn’t consistent sleep. As a matter of fact at one point in the middle of the night when it got really cold a couple dozen soldiers got up around the same time and huddled in the break room. Some soldiers slept seated, others on lined up chairs, and some including me were on the floor.

The flight to NTC was comfortable. We flew on a commercial airliner that treated us to leather seats and a couple of movies. We arrived early in the day. The bus ride to FT Irwin was about 45 minutes. As one drives through the desert on their way past the gate, there is a large rock formation that is painted with various division crests: Airborne, 3rd I.D., 1st Cavalry, and many more insignias were emblazoned on the rocks. It was partly impressive to me and partly saddening. I thought of how in some ways the painting on the rock was a prayer for permanence for some who passed through here and never came back.

The desert is beautiful. The landscape, the weather and even the light remind me a great deal of Greece. Our initial camp site is in a basin surrounded by hills and mountains a few miles out. The weather has been hot and dry in the day, and cold and windy in the evenings. There have been a few dust storms during the day. We live in very large and weathered circus tents that have been rented to NTC for $4 million a year. This is somewhat puzzling since there are dozens of small structures without walls that could be modified. In fact, I was told that years ago all soldiers stayed in these and slept on the ground.

All seven teams (chaplain and assistants) are here now. We’ve begun to coordinate our efforts as the brigade plans the mock battle. Apparently, this battle scenario will be non-linear reflecting the current situations in the world. There are many Observer/Controllers who set the rules, watch the action and give feedback to the leadership. It is now my fourth day here and we are receiving MILES equipment that is worn to detect laser beams as we’re shot at. We’ve also begun to wear our flack vests that contain heavy protective plates inside. Within a few days we will drive out into “the box” which is about 1,000 miles square (the size of Rhode Island) and begin the battle. I will be in a Forward Operating Base for most of the time, but will have some limited functions out in the field for training purposes.

On Sunday, I lead an evening service around the time the sun was setting. There were about 15 soldiers present from various Christian traditions. Instead of calling the service a General Protestant service, I named it an Interdenominational Service in hope of having lay contribution to the service. CH (LTC) Purinton was in attendance and could tell that he appreciated my efforts. He and my immediate supervising chaplain have been very supportive. SPC Hargrave has been an excellent assistant and very helpful. He had been looking forward to my arrival at Camp Shelby because he had been tasked with other things to do beside chaplain related responsibilities. He gets a little frustrated at the bureaucracy and some of the digs that come his way for a variety of reasons. We’re a good match and I sense that we will be good friends as well as a good team. It hasn’t been all roses integrating into the FSB, though. I think that this is partly due to the way the commander views the chaplaincy. LTC Z is new to this unit and had replaced LTC Niles, whom I met back in November. LTC Z is a junior high school teacher in civilian life who has earned an M.S. in Psychology. I believe he is a “gamesman” of sorts who likes to use the chaplain as an information gatherer and a “good cop.”

Camp Shelby: Eleven Days Out--Part II

A Chaplain's Plate full of Army Personalities

The experiences here at Shelby are coming fast and furious. Partly it is due to my training schedule. (I am brushing up on some basic soldier skills as well as gaining “advanced” training for the chaplaincy.) Some of it is due to the fact that units are now packing for desert training at NTC. And plenty of the experiences are coming from the soldiers who have heard that the chaplain has arrived. I have had a steady stream of counseling sessions each with different themes and particular twists. Additionally, I have met a whole stage of characters. Many have the unique personalities that only the Army can draw.

So far, I have met one person that I immediately sensed was a true leader and an honest Christian. MAJ Harlow, a native of Mississippi with soft southern draw and manners was always ready to laugh or earnestly converse. He is an accomplished man who does survival races. He has a sibling who is a doctor and another who is a district attorney in a tiny town. We spoke for a number of hours about our own faith perspectives, how they were similar, how they were different. And we spoke of what nourished our faith. We prayed together like old friends. By the time the MAJ Harlow and his men left for Afghanistan, I felt like I was saying goodbye to someone dear to me. I was touched that he invited me to come to the chapel and pray for him and another soldier. The other soldier had recently had a brain tumor removed. Both sides of his skull had scars. He was a gentle man who showed gratitude for his life. As we were finishing up another person prayed for us. MAJ Harlow introduced him to me as the chaplain that retired from his unit. This chaplain was a simple country preacher who had combat experience in Viet Nam. We briefly talked and I asked him what he thought was the most important thing I should know about the chaplaincy. He was simple and direct. “Be with your soldiers.”

Of course, not all soldiers are like MAJ Harlow. I met another soldier, SPC S__ who had 18 years experience in the Marines. He and I were pared together on a land navigation course along with one more female specialist. When we began to plot our points and set our compasses so that we could go out to find them, he began to simply say “this is wrong” without offering any suggestions or showing willingness to try to persevere. At one point we got separated and we were both confronted by a sergeant course manager who stated that if we separated again, he would take us off the course. I felt frustrated in his presence and called him on his attitude. He then lectured me about his eighteen years of service and his three previous deployments and the fact that he had a B.S. in computer science. I told him that I respected his work, but felt that he was disrespecting my leadership. We hadn’t found even one point before three hour course was about to end. At that time and after his whining, I marched us up to the start point and asked that I be given a “No Go.” About a week later I did the same exercise with my chaplain assistant, SPC Andre Hargrave and we found all of our points.

My chaplain’s assistant is a squared away soldier and a licensed Baptist preacher. SPC Hargrave is an African-American man who is over 30 years old. He is competent, attentive and keeps a positive attitude. After briefly spending time with him, my intuitions were confirmed that we will do well together. He is a faithful man with a realistic perspective. He is able to see and laugh at some of the ironies and hoops of the military. Right now he is a little frustrated because the camp has been put on lock-down so many times, that he hasn’t had the opportunity to go send some money to his wife and child. This past Wednesday, we attended a prayer group together. There were soldiers from so many different traditions, but all of us spoke freely about our journeys of self-acceptance and God’s grace. SPC Hargrave was very supportive to those in need. He has pastoral sensitivity and respect for my training and leadership.

Another fine person that I met was a complete surprise to me. CH (LTC) Purinton, a UCC ordained chaplain from Vermont and holds some type of administrative posts that is connected to this deployment. He took me out to lunch and shared with me some of his anti-war activist journey during Viet-Nam. I knew that I had met the right person who would understand that the call to military chaplaincy was an odd turn for me. We talked about his and his wife’s interest in eastern healing methods. He is a calm and warm man with intellectual curiosity. Something in the back of my mind told me that CH Purinton and I will have some future dealings.

The other day I needed to complete two more Common Tasks. One of the tasks was to high and low crawl while under fire. Soldiers usually learn how to do this on with their weapon in tow. Since I did not have a weapon, I asked if there was something special I should do. The sergeant said, “No. You just won’t have a weapon.” At that moment a sergeant from Florida spoke up and said that he would protect me by shadowing him. So, there were three on the team. SGT Pask impressed me as ready and capable to handle assaults. He stated that he was part of a SWAT team in Tampa and that he would do anything for the Word.

I have had many counseling sessions already. There have been a wide variety of issues. I have had one soldier who went AWOL and who was suffering from emotional distress. He claimed that he belonged to a gang back in Philadelphia and that he had entered the Army because he was in fear for his life. He had brought his young family to Mississippi. They were living in motel along a strip near Camp Shelby. I have met a soldier who had been Active Duty who was very down and didn’t want to be a soldier anymore and was having suicidal thoughts. I have been working with a young man who applied as a Conscientious Objector who found out recently that it may take six months to process his application. This means that he will still have to go to Iraq with a gun in his hand. I spent time with a young man in tears whose recent bride will not talk to him on the phone other than saying she can only talk about it face to face. I have prayed with a woman soldier who is feeling isolated and vulnerable.

A small irony took place when I met SPC Schaeffer, a young man from Clearfield, PA who had converted from Protestantism to Orthodoxy. He had sought the path out himself. He was looking to speak with a chaplain who could connect him with Orthodox worship. On Saturday night, he and another soldier who grew up in an Orthodox-Catholic household and one more soldier who was interested went to an Easter Service in Biloxi. I helped to get them there. SP Schaeffer was interested that I knew so much about the services, iconography and hagiography. It’s likely that we will have more to talk about in country. I told him that some of the oldest Christian communities are in Iraq and if the climate allows, he might have an opportunity to go and worship with them. Amazingly, under Sadaam Christians were protected.

Right now I am happy in my work and in my day to day life here at Camp Shelby. Many of the soldiers are beautiful in their earnestness. One thing that seems to mark the American GI is his flexibility. They work hard and show resilience when things get tough. Just the other day the dates for the trip out to the National Training Center got moved up. Many have to leave tomorrow. They were told to pack up faster. They did. We’ve been on lock-down because of some missing sensitive items. They bear it in stride. The mix here is amazing. There are young men, men in their prime and men past their prime looking to contribute or have an adventure. The young women are determined and capable. I am where God wants me to be right now and I pray that my ministry among them is worthy in his eyes.