LANDSTUHL, Germany (6/26/09) – The boxes arrive daily from the United States.

Some days, 15 boxes arrive. Some days, 20. Typically each week, between $8,000 and $12,000 in cash also pours in from U.S. citizens and groups.

The boxes and the money are meant for the wounded warriors who pass through here, most coming from Afghanistan or Iraq. More than 54,000 wounded warriors have passed through Landstuhl Regional Medical Center’s doors since Operation Enduring Freedom began October 2001, according to a hospital spokesman.

Lined with shelves organized in a manner that would make even the most obsessive-compulsive supply sergeant proud is the Chaplains’ Closet. The name is a misnomer, because it is about the size of your average neighborhood convenience store. Its official name is the Wounded Warrior Ministry Center.

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Chanhassen resident and Faith Presbyterian Church pastor Chris Carlson sneezed for 10 months in Afghanistan, the “dustiest place” he’s ever been, but now the 54-year-old chaplain is back for a humid Minnesota summer.

His army reserve unit returned in March. The deployment was from May 1, 2008, to March 1, 2009. Carlson was back in the pulpit at Faith Presbyterian in Minnetonka on Easter Sunday, April 12.

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STEVENS POINT — The Rev. Dan Farley has faced danger before; in fact, he’s survived it many times.

Farley, who ministers at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in the town of Buena Vista, has worked to stop gangs in Los Angeles and counseled soldiers in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many of the areas where he worked in Afghanistan were within the most dangerous in the country.

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WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 26, 2009) — Several Walter Reed Army Medical Center staffers survived the deadliest accident in Washington Metrorail’s 33-year history Monday.

Maj. David Bottoms, a Walter Reed chaplain and Col. Thomas Baker, chief of pathology, said they were both riding in the first car of the train that slammed into another stopped train during Monday’s rush-hour commute home.

“I was reading and listening to my iPod, and I noticed the front end of the car was buckling and it was coming toward us. It looked like a wave … it stopped three seats in front of me … I was praying then,” Bottoms said.

Baker stood in the rear of the car. “It was very scary. Oh my God. It was a very surreal event,” he said.

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WASHINGTON – Active and reserve Army chaplains are playing a critical and strategic role in Iraq, a chaplain serving with Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq said this week.

“Our troops are working tirelessly and selflessly to create a trusted and viable security force,” Army Maj. William Steen, chaplain, said during a “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable June 23. “However, the work, family separation and the long hours all take their toll on our troops.”

Steen discussed how the military is helping soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines cope with the physical, mental and emotional stress while deployed in Iraq.

Chaplains play a critical role in today’s military by providing forward-deployed troops more than religious support, Steen explained. Among other things, they also provide training before and after deployments, help service members strengthen their marriages and families, and take an active role in suicide prevention.

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Five years after being gravely wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the Rev. Tim Vakoc, a well-known and well-loved Roman Catholic priest from Minnesota, has died, his family said Sunday.

Vakoc, 49, who had been living at St. Therese Care Center in New Hope, died about 8 p.m. Saturday after being taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, said Barb Rode, president and CEO of St. Therese.

Rode declined to confirm or deny announcements made by several Twin Cities priests during Sunday services that Vakoc had met with some sort of accident at the care center. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office is expected to release a report on his death later today.

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