Beginnings can be challenging. My beginning at Joint Base Balad Iraq this month brought its share of challenges.

First of all, getting off a military aircraft at 3 a.m. dressed in full body armor had its challenges for a 50-something chaplain. My back ached, and sleep in the droning C-130 aircraft had been scarce.

Overhead, balls of fire launched from an adjacent runway and thundered into the early morning dark haze. Somewhere in front of the fireball sat a fighter pilot who likely was wondering whether his replacement – often called “my new best friend” – was among those deplaning.

Soon, chapel staff members greeted me and escorted me to something called a housing pod. A pod looks somewhat like a cargo container partitioned into four rooms. Each room contains two sets of bunk beds, a window and outside door. Each pod is surrounded by 25-foot concrete barriers that create the feeling that one is in a maze.

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