Archive - October, 2008
Christian Soldier
By Admin 17 October 2008. Filed in Resources.
0George Powers is helping lead souls to freedom as co-director for the Southeast Kansas House of Prayer, Pittsburg
PITTSBURG —
George Powers has been a fighter against tyranny all his life.
First he fought against communist tyranny as a Ranger, a Green Beret and master parachutist, serving three combat tours of duty in Vietnam. Now he’s fighting spiritual tyranny, helping lead souls to freedom as co-director for the Southeast Kansas House of Prayer, Pittsburg. His new book, “The Making of a Soldier,” traces his battles, military and spiritual. Powers will sign copies of the book from 4 to 7:30 p.m. today and 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the recently dedicated Kansas National Guard Armory on South Rouse.
“I so much appreciate the Kansas National Guard agreeing to be my host for this book signing,” Powers said. “I want to do anything I can to make the public aware of the sacrifice our military is making, not only those who are serving but their families as well.”
A native of Wyoming, Powers wrote that “the heritage of a soldier that was to become mine literally grew out of the ground I lived on as a small child.” His great-grandfather’s ranch included three sites involved in the U.S. military’s battle against various Native American tribes, including Fort Phil Kearny.
READ MORE from The Morning Sun
Chaplains use ‘ministry of presence’
By Admin 13 October 2008. Filed in Deployment.
0Military chaplains are sometimes forgotten or regarded as oddities within a rigid structure that comes with its own set of customs and mores.
But they are a vital part of military life — in peacetime and in war.
“Civilian pastors don’t have to deal with issues of being in combat and a war zone and those factors,” Chaplain Henry Beaulieu said. “That’s unique to the military chaplain to go into that environment and be there right along with the soldiers.”
Beaulieu, a pastor at Eastwood Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, spent a year in Baghdad with an Alabama Army National Guard unit.
As a military chaplain in a combat zone, Beaulieu saw soldiers coping with grief, trauma and stress. Some handled it well; others were incapacitated by fear or reacted in unhealthy ways, he said.
It’s all ministry — but a combat zone makes the job more intense.
READ MORE from the Montgomery Advertiser
Army battles suicide with virtual video
By Admin 10 October 2008. Filed in News & Commentary.
0Soldiers will be required to play role of anguished infantryman in new prevention project
WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a record rate of suicide in its ranks, the Army has unveiled a unique prevention tool — an interactive video to be mandatory viewing Army-wide — in which soldiers will play the role of an anguished infantryman and make virtual choices that lead the character to get help or, in the worst case, shoot himself in the head.
“This is you: Specialist Kyle Norton,” a male narrator begins, putting soldiers in the boots of a 19-year-old Midwesterner after a bomb-clearing mission in Iraq.
The video, titled “Beyond the Front,” leads the viewer through a detailed drama in which Norton is hit by relationship troubles, financial problems and scrapes with the law — what Army research shows are major events that precipitate suicide. Norton is blindsided by an e-mail from his fiancee, who has become pregnant by another man. He is devastated further when one of his best friends is killed in an ambush.
Questions pop onto the screen at key moments, prompting the viewer to decide whether to get help — by opening up with buddies, Norton’s sergeant or a chaplain. Depending on the choices, Norton edges toward recovery or sinks deeper into suicidal thoughts. The goal is to immerse the viewer into Norton’s life in a way that makes preventive lessons stick, say Army officials and the video’s creators.
The video is one of several initiatives launched by the Army to try to stem the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers. That rate increased from 12.4 per 100,000 in 2003, when the Iraq war started, to 18.1 per 100,000 last year.
ADL Welcomes Army Decision To Protect Jewish Soldier in Wake of Anti-Semitic Assault at Fort Benning
By Admin 7 October 2008. Filed in News & Commentary.
0Atlanta, GA, October 6, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the Army’s decision to move out of harm’s way a Jewish soldier at Fort Benning who was the victim of anti-Semitic harassment and an assault. ADL had requested that the Army move the soldier for his safety and discipline those responsible for the incidents.
Pvt. 2nd Class Michael Handman was moved to a secure location at Fort Benning, far from the scene of an assault by a fellow soldier that left him hospitalized with a concussion and other injuries. ADL learned of the Army’s decision from the soldier’s father, who said he now believes the Army is doing a good job keeping Handman safe.
“We were pleased to learn from the family that the Army has now taken steps to make sure that Pvt. Handman is out of harm’s way,” said Bill Nigut, ADL Southeast Regional Director. “This gives us great hope that Army officials understand the urgency of dealing with anti-Semitic acts against Jewish soldiers.”
READ MORE from the Anti-Defamation League
Chaplain’s Iraq mission is troop morale: Military documentary follows Baptist captain counseling Wolfhounds
By Admin 6 October 2008. Filed in Deployment.
0
SAN DIEGO — A television documentary recently broadcast on the Military Channel explores the role of an Army chaplain in helping soldiers through the danger and dreariness of a 15-month deployment in one of the more dangerous parts of Iraq.
“God’s Soldier” covers three months in the life of Capt. Charles Popov, chaplain for the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, the Wolfhounds. Popov, 49, a Baptist, tries to keep the troops’ morale from sagging as the unit suffers 18 killed and 300 wounded.
One topic is ever-present: How can a chaplain justify war in the face of a biblical admonition against killing? Popov tries to distinguish between killing and murder, noting that the Bible, in several places, condones violence against the wicked.
“There is a justice that has to be served,” Popov tells his flock. “God is a god of mercy, and God is also a god of justice.”
READ MORE from The Honolulu Advertiser
Pastor is heading for Iraq: A Chesterfield man is leaving his church for chaplain duty
By Admin 6 October 2008. Filed in News & Commentary.
0By REED WILLIAMS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
The Lord has some strange ways of calling on people, says the Rev. Phillip R. Glick.
“This time, the call is coming from God through Uncle Sam,” Glick said yesterday, a few minutes before his final service as rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Chesterfield County.
Glick is being deployed to Iraq next year with the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the North Carolina National Guard. It will be his second overseas tour as a military chaplain.
He has resigned from St. David’s, and he will leave Sunday for training at Fort Fisher, N.C.
At an earlier service yesterday at St. David’s, Glick thanked more than 80 worshippers for helping him strengthen his faith since he became church rector in 2001.
READ MORE from the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Tallahassee pastor answers the Army’s call for a chaplain in Afghanistan
By Admin 5 October 2008. Filed in Deployment.
0They call them dirt sailors — Navy personnel who individually assist the Army. They go alone to wherever the need is, plugging holes so the mission gets accomplished.
Someone in Baghdad needs a bomb specialist, the Navy sends one. A translator in Kandahar? No problem.
In Mike Shockley’s case, the Army needed a chaplain, and so for the second time in his 30-year career, the pastor at Tallahassee Heights United Methodist Church went to a war where he would eventually earn a Bronze Star, the fourth-highest combat award.
In February, he left his family in Tallahassee and flew to Bagram Air Base, located 30 kilometers north of Kabul, on a high plateau in East Central Afghanistan. At 6,000 feet above sea level and hugged by the snow-capped peaks of the Hindu Kush Mountains, it was a far cry from the blue seas a sailor might expect. But for Shockley, a commander in the Navy Reserve, it was home.
For seven months, the grandfather of four lived and worked there as a chaplain attached to the famed 101st Airborne Division, earning the respect of his peers, the gratitude of his community and a Bronze Star for bravery along the way.
READ MORE the Tallahassee Democrat
One in five suffer problems
By Admin 1 October 2008. Filed in News & Commentary.
0FORT DRUM, New York (Reuters) – U.S. military chaplain Nathan McLean says he deliberately makes it difficult for young soldiers to get married because if they have to “jump through some hoops” the marriage is more likely to survive.
The U.S. Army has reported divorce rates rise with longer deployments in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With one in five veterans of the two wars suffering mental health problems, the strain is taking its toll on military families.
“The more difficult it is for (young soldiers) to marry, typically the better it is for the family,” Capt. McLean said in an interview at Fort Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Division 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which has deployed four times since 2001.
McLean will only perform a marriage after a couple has gone through at least four relationship counseling sessions.
READ MORE from The Macon Daily
