Centurion Faith!
Prev Next Monday, April 27, 2009 - FOB Sharana
Sgt Neal getting into character for Good Friday!
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he
said, "my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible suffering." Jesus said to him,
"I will go and heal him." The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you
come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I myself
am a man of authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and
that one 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When
Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth,
I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith..." Then Jesus said to the
centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would."
(Matthew 8:5-10,13)
The 725 Support Battalion are the Centurions of the Brigade. Aptly named, for the Centurion of Matthew's gospel was a roman soldier whose faith amazed Christ our Lord. This is the only instance, in all of scripture, where Jesus is amazed. Do you want to amaze the Lord, surprise him, cause God joy? Move and act and speak with great faith residing in your heart.
Holy Week always has been, and always will be, an intensive week of planning, preparation, long hours and endless details. This year was no different, and in fact was intensified. It took a lot more planing and forward thinking than usual, you can't run down to Wal-mart to pick up candles or cloth or nails. You have to think about what you want well in advance, or do without. Needless to say there was a lot of "doing without" for me this year. I couldn't even have a decent Easter fire, and anyone who has been to Easter Vigil with me knows how integral fire is to the proper celebration of the liturgy! Needless to say, next time I'm in a third-world country during holy week, I will be sure to pack wood, flint, and steel.
Never-the-less, a more spartan celebration also heightens the priority of the celebration. If you can only celebrate certain parts of the liturgy, then celebrate those parts well. Focus on what the celebration boils down to, that despite expectations, understanding, and conventional wisdom, that Jesus fought the greatest enemy (Satan) armed with the most fearful weapons (sin and death) and emerged victorious.
"Outside the wire" at FOB Curry, full of Illinois National Guard troops.
Jumping from FOB to FOB (Forward Operating Base) is a huge part of my job. On average I will spend about 3-5 days traveling each week. Normally I enjoy traveling, seeing the sights, meeting new people, enjoying the local cuisine. But this is a little different, and not just because Afghanistan isn't on anyone's top ten places to visit on the summer vacation. I'm starting to understand the long-term toll this year is going to take. I'm going to spend the next 12 months, roughly, living out of a backpack, sleeping in a sleeping bag on a cot if I'm lucky, never in one spot long enough to really relax or even unpack. I'm running on adrenaline now, and am enjoying the fast pace of war-zone ministry. I hit the ground, touch base with the commander and 1SG, make my rounds for 20 minutes "drumming up customers," celebrate mass, hear confessions, do a little counseling, and then run for the chopper so I can make it to the next FOB. During Easter week we hit 3 to 4 FOBs a day with this schedule, about an hour and a half to two hours at each stop. It was exhausting, and I'm glad that we don't have to do this again until Christmas.
The view from FOB Malekshay
From now on we will spend more time at each place, hitting one, maybe two places a day. This will help in both ministry to the guys and in sustaining my own sanity. Of course we'll still be sleeping in a different bed each night, but we'll have the chance to socialize a little bit, enjoy my chow, BS with the guys, watch a movie, play some Mario-kart, read some books. All that makes sleeping in a different bed worth it, even if that bed happens to be a litter at the Aid station. (Not very comfortable, by the way, but better then the floor or the gravel in the bunker outside.)
Most of the flights we have been on have been with PAW, a civilian organization working here to help with moving people around the battlefield. They have nice comfortable choppers that are sound-proofed and quiet, and fairly fast. The only drawback is that they are unarmed, which means they fly low to the ground and fast to avoid getting shot down. (Yes, it's actually safer to fly low to the ground than to fly high.)
But on Thursday of Easter week I got to ride in the twin-rotor chinook, which is a really cool bird, and the workhorse of Army Logistics. They fly everything short of up-armored vehicles. And even those you could probably sling-load to the bottom of a chinook. The strangest part here is that they don't close the ramp during flight, so you're sitting in the bird looking out this huge opening in the back and hoping that the pilot doesn't lift the nose and toss everyone out... It also means you're hammered with noise, and feel the cold air in higher altitudes.
PAW is more comfortable and more flexible, but the chinook definitely wins with the coolness factor.
FOB Tillman, named for Pat Tillman, the football player turned Soldier, killed not far from this base in 2004.
"The Porch" at FOB Tillman
Waiting for a flight at Kushamond, which we decided is Pashtu for "Mud & Dust."
Some medics playing with the "locals" at FOB Orgun-E
Sgt. Neal enjoying the smell of his lemon cookies! Thank you Girl Scouts!
Once again I wanted to say thanks to all who have been sending stuff and letters. I'm very sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with the correspondence, but Easter coverage has kept me on the move, and I have a large pile of mail to answer in the weeks ahead. This page of the newsletter is not about milking my friends/family or parishes for care packages (ok, it's a little bit about that), but it's more to recognize and thank those that have thought about soldiers living in a rather unpleasant part of the world and taken action to make their lives a little more comfortable. Almost everything that is sent to us gets pushed forward to FOBs that can be pretty austere, or is shared on our "Table of Grace" outside our office. If for nothing else it gives people who are a little timid a reason to stop by my office for a little chat or a good word. So thanks again for all the support and prayers that are sent our way. The guys really appreciate what gets sent forward to them, and we've learned that nothing gets taken for granted. Know that they make a difference and are greatly appreciated. If you want to send something, or write to a soldier directly, here is a list of good things that always bring us smiles, and some names and addresses of my soldiers who always like getting mail:
Good stuff:
Here's my address, and the addresses of some soldiers you could write to:
CH Jason Hesseling
HHC 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO, AE 09311
SPC John Slattery
B Co. 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO, AE 09311
PFC Erika Nadeau
HHC 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO, AE 09311
2LT Carolyn Odell
A co. 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO, AE 09311
How could I leave out the recent fun we had... I'm sure you all are familiar with USO tours, where some celebrity comes over here and makes the rounds with all the soldiers in the war-zone. Well, Toby Keith is making the rounds now, and due to our battlefield circulation we actually got to see him twice! I'm not a country music fan, but I have to admit I had a blast at his concerts. I mean, a free concert is a free concert... And anything to break up the "Groundhog Day Effect" of deployments are good. I guess that's where I'm lucky, we get to travel around enough to keep things fresh, new... Most guys wake up and face the exact same day as yesterday, for 12 long months. It is arguably one of the hardest aspects of deployments... Anyway, here's the pics:
