Nearly 300 soldiers reaffirmed the prayers of their new commander in chief early Tuesday at Fort Gordon’s National Prayer Breakfast.

“We’re reminded how blessed we are to live in a country that affords us the opportunity to pray,” Maj. Thomas Helms prayed. “God, although we serve the military and the government, our hope is still the same as most peoples in this world. We hope and we pray for peace.”

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Salem First Christian Church on West Main Street welcomed home a special guest on Sunday, Feb. 15. In a series of slides, United States Army Reserve Col. Larry Toney shared his experiences as a chaplain and soldier during his second tour of duty in Iraq.

He has no regrets about entering into the United States Army at the age of 18, which he said he originally did in order to earn the G.I. Bill to pay for his education. The Army has introduced him to amazing people and taken him to fascinating places, he said. He told how the temperature would often reach 120 degrees in Iraq, how many often make the mistake of thinking all Iraqis are of the Muslims faith but there are a large number of devoted Christians and Jews in the country, and how Muslim Iraqis were grateful for the help of their fellow Christian Americans.

He went into war zones and helped bring supplies to women and children in the torn country. Toney showed slides of the people he came to know and love in a country many believe to be the enemy. He didn’t speak as a representative of the United States Army but as a man who wanted to share love and knowledge among his Christian fellows.

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For a growing number of young US troops in Iraq, boredom is becoming the new enemy as major anti-insurgency raids turn rarer and their disengagement from the country starts to take shape.

Behind T-walls – the concrete anti-blast barriers that are also omnipresent in Iraq’s capital – most soldiers in high-security Camp Liberty adjoining Baghdad airport already live in isolation from Iraqi life.

At the Main Street USA Food Court, not far from Vigilant Street, trailers converted into fast-food takeaway joints such as Burger King, Taco Bell, Popeyes, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Subway compete for business.

A huge supermarket caters for almost every imported need, including DVD films and music, especially for the desert joggers’ MP3 players and iPods, but there is no alcohol which is banned for the men and women in uniform.

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Nearly 300 soldiers echoed the prayers of their new commander in chief early Tuesday at Fort Gordon’s National Prayer Breakfast.

“We’re reminded how blessed we are to live in a country that affords us the opportunity to pray,” Maj. Thomas Helms prayed. “God, although we serve the military and the government, our hope is still the same as most peoples in this world. We hope and we pray for peace.”

The soldiers thanked God for building a strong institution such as Fort Gordon and prayed for blessing on the communities that neighbor the post.

The Fort Gordon prayer breakfast is one of several held across the nation in honor of the official National Prayer Breakfast, held Feb. 5 in Washington with President Obama. The tradition was begun in 1952 with President Eisenhower and has been attended by every president since.

The surroundings were familiar for Col. Samuel J.T. Boone, a former battalion chaplain at Fort Gordon. He is now commandant of the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School in Fort Jackson, S.C. He spoke on the value of loyalty, service, respect and courage.

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A U.S. soldier on active duty in Iraq has called President Obama an “impostor” in a statement in which he affirmed plans to join as plaintiff in a challenge to Obama’s eligibility to be commander in chief.

The statement was publicized by California attorney Orly Taitz who, along with her Defend Our Freedom Foundation, is working on a series of legal cases seeking to uncover Obama’s birth records and other documents that would reveal whether he meets the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.

“As an active-duty officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the office of president of the United States,” wrote Scott Easterling in a “to-whom-it-may-concern” letter.

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It is called “the gloom period,” when the pewter skies seem to mirror the gray fortresslike buildings on campus, and cadets hustle from class to class to avoid the cold winds whipping off the Hudson River.

But this winter, the somber mood at the United States Military Academy has been deepened by two recent suicides among the 4,400 cadets — the first since 1999 — as well as two suicide attempts last month. Those followed two suicides last summer by staff members, and come as the Army is grappling with a record number of suicides among its members, many of whom have endured long deployments to war zones.

Last week, the academy — where the Army trains its future leaders and admission is highly prized — began a “stand down,” 30-day suicide-prevention program with an Army-wide training session that includes a new interactive video. It depicts a suicidal soldier and choices he confronts as he spirals downward: One set of choices leads to improved mental health, the other to tragedy.

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Washington, DC – Congressman Bob Filner has reintroduced legislation honoring the legacy of the Four Immortal Chaplains who sacrificed their lives over 65 years ago (H.Con.Res. 86).

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After Pvt. Paul Bridges saw his buddies die in Iraq in a Humvee in February 2006, his mental state began going downhill, said his father, Terry Bridges.

Three months later, a mental health counselor told his chain of command that Bridges needed to leave the theater immediately. His weapon was taken away.

But nearly six months later, on Nov. 2, 2006, still in Iraq and working 12-hour days, Bridges shot himself with his roommate’s weapon.

“His command let him down,” said Terry Bridges, who has received no answers about why his son remained in Iraq. “It was something that could have been prevented.”

He said the military needs to train noncommissioned officers not to treat troops as malingerers when they exhibit mental health problems, and also train troops in how to react and protect their comrades who might be contemplating suicide.

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On any other Sunday, John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Hollywood is consumed with the sounds of families frolicking near the surf, but last weekend, the beach echoed with a more somber note, including a 21-gun salute to heroes long gone.

The salute, by American Legion District 9, was in remembrance of the ”Four Chaplains and the 672 Heroes” of the U.S. Army ship Dorchester that went down off the coast of Greenland during World War II.

As the torpedoed ship swiftly slipped into the icy North Atlantic on Feb. 3, 1943, four chaplains courageously gave up their life vests and their lives to crew members.

They went down with the ship, praying and singing.

READ MORE from The Miami Herald