The Fall(en)

My homecoming is quite a journey. It's more than a plane ride. It's so twilight zone. One becomes accustomed to living in a completely different culture: sights, sounds, smells, weather, etc. Then in a matter of days it feels like you are time-warped back into Garrison and American life: people, familiar things, safety in one sense.

But there is a kind of clashing that goes on inside of us. The deployment is over, but not quite.

The widow of one our Fallen Paratroopers was here to visit with us. Together it brings those closer to a sense of closure with new clarity.

On a bus in Kuwait I sat next to a sharp NCO and we discussed the reasons why Soldiers engage in high risk activities especially after a deployment even though they receive numerous safety briefings, ad nauseum. He took a very common sense approach and had some valid points. I asked him what he thought of the human being's fallen nature, the spiritual and moral bend to do things that cross the line. That was one to ponder.

When Paratroopers return from deployment to the desert they are very very thirsty. It's almost as if they had nothing to drink for a whole a year! That is difficult to mitigate against.

I visited a Trooper in the hospital who met terra ferma from four stories without a parachute.

Last night I took my son out to hear his piano recital. The leaves are still falling off the trees in this part of North Carolina. The church landscape was beautiful. The colors continue to pop though many leaves were rustling at my feet.

Upon the conclusion of the recital the instructor praised the children for their musical accomplishments. And, then she said something like, "If music was just about playing the perfect notes, then we would all be robots."

We are not robots. God did not create us that way, and our lives will not always play perfect notes. Life is not perfect, and somehow there is beauty in that. There is beauty in seeing a child struggle to play the perfect notes even though sometimes they are off key. That goes for you and me too. The perfect notes are out there though.

Twilight zone and time warp is going on inside of me. Driving home from the recital, my son and I are listening to Christmas music on the radio. My favorite: Peanuts, "Christmas Time is Here" (Piano Instrumental).

The Christmas music, hitting all the perfect notes pointed me to a time in the future when there will no longer be the Fall(en) or the proclivity to go in that direction. It pointed me to the Advent of the Perfect One who has shown us the perfect way. The season to celebrate that joy will soon be upon us.

In the News . . .

82D, 3BCT, the Brigade which I am assigned participated in a live studio audience show via satellite with Oprah.

Sarah Palin is to visit Ft. Bragg, but not after some misgivings. Story here.

Here are some great pics of my Battalion, 2-505 or 2-Panther, HHC and Fox Companies, returning on 17 Nov 09. I arrived ahead of them at 0300, twelve hours prior to their landing and was able to greet them as they returned.

1 of 6 Myths

Would you bear with me just a little for a moment? I'd like to share a pet peeve. I have a difficult time with people who have a "can't do" attitude. There are 10 different ways from Sunday why "it" can't work. The opinionators may have some influence, but they are not the subject matter experts in the field in which they are commenting.

I don't consider myself to be an idealist, but I'm no way a pessimist! Here's part of an article from the Weekly Standard written by an Infantry Officer who just returned from Afghanistan in July.

Myth: America cannot win a war in Afghanistan, the "graveyard of empires." How can America succeed where Alexander the Great, the British, and the Soviet Union struggled? This refrain belongs, as they say now in the military, in the graveyard of analogies.

The Soviets, in particular, teach us how not to win in Afghanistan. A heavily mechanized force, the Red Army was ill-suited for Afghanistan's treacherous terrain, and it was dependent on long, vulnerable supply lines. It also discouraged innovative junior leadership, which is critical against an insurgency. To compensate, the Soviets employed vicious, massively destructive tactics that inflamed the Afghan people and still scar the country with depopulated valleys and adult amputees maimed as children by toy-shaped mines.

Our present way of war couldn't be more different. We deploy light and wheeled infantry to Afghanistan, making our tactics more flexible, our supply lines shorter, and our soldiers more engaged with the locals. We also radically decentralize decision-making authority to our junior soldiers and leaders, who increasingly can draw on years of combat experience.

In short, America has a counter-insurgency strategy, whereas the Soviet Union had a genocide strategy. Afghans I spoke with always recognized the difference, reviled the Russians, and respected our troops.

Chaplains, Ready for Anything

From the USA Today, an article about the Chaplains responding to the crisis at Ft. Hood.

This is what we train for, even at home. Here is a post that I wrote back in June 2007 about a MASCAL (Mass Casulaty) Exercise on Ft. Bragg that I was spontaneously volunetold to participate in. It was a kink in my plans for the afternoon, but I'm grateful for the training. No bravado here. Chaplains are not innoculated from the pain either.

Five Scenes, One Theme: A True if Unlikely Story

In October of 1989, as a young Airman, I took some Leave, bought a Eurarail pass, climbed aboard a C-5 Galaxy on Space-A at Dover AFB, DE and found myself in Germany about 8 hours later. The U.S. was in the tail end of the Cold War, but we didn't really know the whole of it just yet. It was about 2 weeks later, after I had flown home that the Berlin Wall came down. I had just missed it! 20 years later, I just missed being in the same country for the anniversary, but I am reminded first of the stress, then the impact and change from those days.

As I return from my year-long tour in Iraq, essentially having fought agains Religious Extremisim, not Communism anymore, perhaps we don't quite see the whole way ahead for Iraq, though it's there, or even Afghanistan. It's a different idealogy, but the same kind of evil force that enslaves people for harm. I think it's quite possible that the tipping point for Iraq has already come on June 30th, 2009, when the Iraqi people celebrated their own freedom with much fanfare as the U.S. forces formally withdrew from the major cities. As usual, in this case, the world didn't take much notice.

20 years later, in Germany, I'm reading Bono reflect on the past:

EXT. BRANDENBURG GATE
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 2009 — NIGHT
The camera cranes over a crowd of thousands gathered in Pariser Platz.
An Irish band plays its song “One” in the city where it was written nearly 20 years earlier. The band is here for an MTV broadcast celebrating the anniversary of the wall’s falling. A helicopter shot glides like a ghost through the architecture of this most modern of cities: the avant-garde Chancellery, the glass dome at the top of the Reichstag, the refurbished Brandenburg Gate. Images of East and West Berlin dancing to the music are projected on the gate, turning this monument to peace into a graffiti wall of the same....

From the Army The Chief of Chaplains

11 November 2009, Veteran’s Day

Members of the Army Chaplaincy Family, Greetings to all of you in the Name of our Great God! I’m writing to you on Veteran’s Day, returning from a sad but hopeful trip to Fort Hood, Texas. Yesterday many of you watched or read about the Fort Hood Memorial Ceremony that honored thirteen of our fallen Soldiers who lost their lives to a senseless tragedy in the midst of a normal duty day. As President Barak Obama noted in his remarks, they were Soldiers “unable to escape the horrors of war, even in the comfort of home.” Our Army is a mission focused organization, prepared to defend our Nation at a moment’s notice and to do our duty in the midst of great challenge and calamity. And yet, events like the Fort Hood shootings don’t make sense; they “kick us in the gut” and take our breath away. They force us into an operational pause from our busy lives, and to reflect on what matters most- Family, friends, faith, community. In my own quiet moments since this tragedy, I have reflected on a few key lessons I’d like to share with you.

The first lesson is the reminder that we must always remain agents of hope in the midst of the persistent threat of evil. As President Obama said yesterday, “It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know - no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.” Such a treacherous violation of divine law as we witnessed on 5 November 2009 reminds us that there are indeed “spiritual forces of evil” from which we must guard ourselves, our Soldiers, and our collective hearts. Our Corps’ song, Soldiers of God, reminds us that “we are the Chaplains of the Nation…the Legions of Light.” We most effectively serve and protect our Soldiers, and each other, by remaining strong sources of light and hope that illuminate the glory of God’s righteousness above all other paths or alternatives. Our Soldiers struggle daily with temptations and thoughts that cause them to drift from the influence of what President Lincoln referred to in his first Inaugural Address as the “better angels of our nature.” As we represent and proclaim all those things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, moral, and excellent, then we help fortify our military culture against the influence of things that can harm our Soldiers and their Families. This is a powerful and important mission for us to remember and undertake daily as the agents of hope for our Army.

The second lesson is that we have the privilege of being part of an Army Strong community. Our Army Family is indeed the strength of our Nation. The President noted many who testified to the great ethos of our Army yesterday in his remarks. Amber Barr was “so intent on helping others that she did not realize for some time that she, herself, had been shot.” Police Officers Mark Todd and Kim Munley stormed into the face of danger to save others. Francisco de la Serna, a medic, treated both Officer Munley and the gunman; most likely saving the lives of both. Joey Foster, another of the wounded, also worked diligently to help others after being shot in the hip himself. Each of these individuals put a public face on what it means to obey the words “love your neighbor more than yourself.” Francisco de la Serna, while providing medical care for the gunman, showed the world that Soldiers will not return evil with evil, but will “overcome evil with good.” These are amazing testimonies to the values and virtues that our Soldiers possess and which you teach to them. They are not always easy virtues to maintain, but they are always beautiful to behold. I commend our Soldiers for practicing these virtues, and our Chaplain Corps for modeling and teaching them.

The third lesson I’ve been touched by is to love deeply now. We lost 13 precious souls we never expected to lose last Thursday. Yesterday there was also a powerful Memorial Service at Fort Lewis where multiple other Soldiers were remembered for their supreme sacrifice, including the spouse of one of our own chaplain assistants. At the Fort Hood memorial ceremony, I stood in reverence before each of the 13 memorial displays, reading the names and looking at the pictures of the Fallen. I regret not having met these Soldiers. I wish I had been given the honor of hearing their sacred stories. Life is fragile. It’s brief. We must learn to love all we can, in all the ways we can, as much as we can, and for as long as we can. We must love extravagantly all those precious people God places in our lives as treasured gifts from the Heart of God, for that is what they truly are. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all of you for the record levels of Strong Bonds events, and other similar ministries you’ve conducted to enable our Soldiers and Families to love each other more deeply. You’re doing a great job to meet that need.

The fourth lesson regards the promise of resilience to the caregiver. Proverbs 11:25 says that “…the person who refreshes others will themselves be refreshed.” SGM Marrero and I flew to Fort Hood the day before their memorial ceremony with one purpose in mind: to provide ministry of presence to the Fort Hood UMTs. We observed their compassionate and pastoral care at the Spiritual Fitness Center as they ministered to the Families of the Fallen. We worshipped and prayed with them as they prepared their souls for another emotionally draining day. We watched our chaplains and chaplain assistants plan and rehearse every detail of the memorial ceremony to ensure that our Fallen were honored properly. And, we sat back with tearful joy as our UMTs quietly attended the many needs of over 15,000 gathered for the memorial ceremony to mourn our Fallen Soldiers. As SGM Marrero and I return back home to our loved ones, we find ourselves refreshed and ready for the next leg of our exciting journey as your chief and regimental SGM. God promises to refresh the caregiver as they refresh others.

On this Veterans’ Day, I admit to different emotions running through my veins. I grieve as a Soldier for our Fallen Soldiers and for their wonderful Families. Yet, simultaneously I am filled with exuberant pride for the humble privilege to serve the spiritual needs of such tremendous Americans, alongside each of you in our Corps. You are making a huge difference in our Army at this hour of great need and powerful challenge. What stellar servants and “Soldiers of God” you are. As we move beyond the clouds of the past few days and press ahead towards the Thanksgiving holiday, please know that my bride, Sunny, and I are thankful for each one of you. We count it a daily blessing to serve in your ranks. This is indeed a great Army and we as a Branch remain committed to its spiritual support and leadership. Thank you for remaining vigilant in your prevailing ministry to our Soldiers and Families. Happy Veteran’s Day and Happy Thanksgiving to you all.


Pro Deo Et Patria!

2012

Posting from Kuwait. I don't have much time, so I haven't vetted this website called, The American Catholic. While in the chow hall this morning I saw a story on Fox News that was very disturbing. It's about the new movie, "2012."

The link is worth reading for the religios news effect.

pl

Got Guilt?

When you read this, what is your reaction? What is the first thing that pops in your mind? By asking you that question there is a strong possibility that it will trigger feelings of guilt and shame from the past.

Is that guilt real? Or is it just perceived? The litany of questions could go on.

I'm convinced that the enemy of our souls wants us to feel guilty for things that we do not deserve. This is called, "false guilt."

We're all born with a conscience. Some are more active than others. Psychologists call it an "internal parent." A person's conscience could be under active if one choose a consistent course of thought and action that conflicts with the truth. An overactive conscience condemns oneself for imaginary faults.

This could be a quagmire.

For the Christian, one can find forgiveness from sin, the violation of truth and disobedience to it against God or another person.

Here is an existential definition of guilt: it is the negative feelings for doing something wrong; having "crossed the line."

Here is a definition of shame: it is the negative feelings that you are a bad person.

There is a difference between guilt and shame. Guilt comes from something that you did wrong. Shame is feeling like you are a bad person. Seeing the separation of these two is important.

Shame comes from guilt. If you get rid of the guilt, then you can get rid of your shame.

I John 1.9 says, "If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

You can do that with a simple prayer to God.

When you confess your sins to God, and He forgives you, then you are no longer guilty. He does not hold it against you. You are forgiven, guilt free.

I John 3.19-21 says, "By this we know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us [false guilt], God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God."

You can gain confidence with youself by not allowing false guilt to hinder your life. And, God's plan of forgiveness also brings confidence before Him as well. Sometimes you might find yourself feeling ashamed, like you are a bad person, for something when you are in the right. This is when someone tries to lay a guilt trip on you, when you don't deserve it. Recongizing when we do, or not is crucial to gaining confidence in ourselves and before God.

O.K., so here's the catch. When we confess our sin, we also need to repent from it. Repenting means making a 180 degree turn-around. If you are going in the wrong direction, then turn around and go the right way.

"But, Chaplain, I don't think I'll ever be perfect?" You are right. Neither of us will on this side of Heaven. That is why I John 2.1-2 says, "But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation [forgiveness] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

What do we get when we receive God's forgiveness? G.A.C.E.

G-God's
R-Riches
A-At
C-Christ's
E-Expense

We get something awesome that we don't deserve. Jesus Christ stood in for our punishment on the Cross. He was our substitute. He stood in for us when we deserved punishment from God. Romans 5.8 says, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

When we trust God through Christ with faith in our hearts in Him that he will forgive us then that brings spiritual transformation in our lives. We are free from guilt. The Apostle Paul wrote, "If anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come" (2 Cor. 5.17). We can know this and experience this every day.

Guilt is part of the make-up of our human nature. There is always a line of tresspass somewhere: with God, people, laws. Do you need forgiveness? Trust Christ, and God will forgive you. You do not have to be burdened with guilt, nor live with shame.

Hey, one more thing: if God forgives you, don't you think you should forgive yourself? Don't hold yourself to a higher standard than God. When should you stop feeling guilty? When you confess the wrong, and repent, walking in God's love and truth.

No more bad feelings from the past, nor feeling like a bad person. Now, go put this into practice with prayer, repentance, and walk in God's love and truth.

Someone needed that today. Maybe it was you.

Blessings.

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82D ABN DIV Arriving Home

My 56 Mike Leads the Way

SGT Derrick R. Hobbs, 2-505 PIR at Green Ramp, Pope AFB/Ft. Bragg, NC.

Derrick, may your homecoming be blessed! I'm not too far behind.

Veterans Day: Some Important Thoughts about Operation Iraqi Freedom

This is our HHC Company at Joint Security Station Beladiyat taken after the End of Tour Award Ceremony.

While eating my last meal in the dinning area at JSS Beladiyat I happened to be sitting across from one of our TERPS--Interpreters. Since the polling data in the U.S. has been abominable regarding our mission here, I thought because it was my last night I'll ask his opinion about the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and how things have progressed. Essentially, "What's your opinion on the whole matter?" Being honest, I was very unsure about what he might say.

But he told me over and over again like this, "I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. It was a good thing." So, why was it a good thing? He told me that he was a Kurd, which I didn't know. And, back in 1988 about an hour drive from his home 5,000 people in that village: men, women, and children were killed by chemical weapons when an Iraqi jet dropped WMD on them.

The link provided will tell you a lot more than just one incident. Thousands of villages were destroyed. Just Google the topic and there is documented evidence and graphic pictures all over the net. The Kurdish people were brutally oppressed. It was on December 30, 2006 that Saddam Hussein was executed for crimes against humanity from a different incident involving the execution of 148 Iraqi Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982.

The list could go on and on. At FOB Loyalty where my "home base" was for 6 months of my deployment, the building which our headquarters was housed used to be a jail and torture chamber where victims where hung from hooks off the ceiling, like a slab of meat, and their blood would drip down a sloped floor into a drain in the corner.

As the many polls cite above, the military personnel, VETERANS, who have fought hard and bravely during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) deserve much greater credit than the majority of our citizens provide them in regard to the incredible success they have accomplished despite the overwhelming opinions against their mission. Indeed OIF Vets have been supported; though the majority of opinion was and is against what they were doing. They soldiered on even though the call across America has been, "Bring the Troops Home Now."

You must know that people like the Interpreter with whom I talked during one of my last nights in country say, "We love America, and thank them for what they did."

Read what Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said to our Troops on July 26, 2006:

US Embassy press release titled "Remarks by President Bush and PM Mailiki at Lunch with Military Personnel and Families":

"...We are happy to be partners in this holy task of fighting terrorism and establishing democracy. Iraq, because of what you have offered, because of what your sons have offered, your families have offered, has now moved from dictatorship to democracy; from oppression, torture chambers, chemical weapons, and now into a state of freedom, liberty and partnership... And we are confident that we will succeed, because you, and people like you are helping us to confront terrorism -- terrorism that is spreading in our land -- with foreign support."

A CBS News Poll from 9-12 July 2009 asked this question to Americans:

"Which do you think most Iraqi people are feeling right now: grateful to the United States for getting rid of Saddam Hussein, or resentful of the United States for having taken military action against Iraq?"

Answer: 44% believe that the Iraqi people are resentful for the invasion. And, 38% grateful.

Clearly that is a misperception on behalf of the American people because the vast majority of Iraqi people do not feel that way.

What America has done through her military forces has removed an oppressive megalomanic who was responsible for the deaths of nearly a million people through the initiation of the Iran-Iraq War, the genocide of the Kurds, the Invasion of Kuwait, and the oppression of his own people.

The Veterans of OIF can be proud that they have provided true Justice, Freedom, Democracy, and a regional ally in the Middle-east.

Sometimes the American people need to lift their eyes off themselves and look around the world instead of only asking, "what's in it for me?"

And finally, though I am a different religion than most of the people in Iraq, I am persuaded that there has been a ring of the Divine to provide true justice to the oppressed and freedom to it's people.

Happy Veterans Day to all Vets, but especially OIF Vets.

Chaplain Paul Lynn

Out of the Box

I'm "out of the box."

The term "inside the box" is used during a phase at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) when it's an intense time of over-realistic training. It's a years worth of experience compounded in a span of days. Well, my year is almost up.

I conducted my RIP (Relief in Place) with the replacing Chaplain, the BN Commander pinned a Bronze Star on me, I jumped in the back on an MRAP, climbed in a Chinook (pic. above), and arrived at BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) at zero dark thirty in the morning.

I had sent a ton of my stuff home so that I wouldn't have to carry as much as I brought into country. I remember SGT Hobbs and I estimating about a 120lb pack, herking it in from Kuwait up to FOB Loyalty last Dec 2008. When I was stepping off the Chinook I said to myself, "I'm not going to do this again." That is, bring this much stuff.

Well, sure enough, someone needed a hand because they had multiple bags. Tons of stuff going in. Tons of stuff going out. It's just another way to serve.

I am very thankful to the Lord, and His Saints for such wonderful support in so many different ways. I made over 70 missions "outside the wire" to Joint Security Stations (JSS) visiting Paratroopers; only 3 were done by helicopter. The bulk were by MRAP or 1151 HMMWV.

So, I'm out of the box and waiting for my freedom bird.

Pro-Life Health Care Bill Passes House

From the Gray Lady: "Both sides credited a forceful lobbying effort by Roman Catholic bishops with the success of the provision, inserted in the bill under pressure from conservative Democrats."

“We think that providing health care is itself a pro-life thing, and we think that, by and large, providing better health coverage to women could reduce abortions,” said Richard M. Doerflinger, a spokesman for the anti-abortion division of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“But we don’t make these decisions statistically, and to get to that good we cannot do something seriously evil.”

Great effort!

Movie Review of New Iraq War Film

There is a new Iraq war film out called, "The Messenger." No, it's not about Islam. It's supposed to be about the life of a Casualty Notification Officer (CNO), starring Woody Harrelson. This review from the N.Y. Times discusses the fact that Iraq war films have been underwhelming. The closest film to get it right, and I still didn't like it was "Hurt Locker." I didn't see all of the Hurt Locker, it just didn't hold my attention; though it was dramatic it felt slow and choppy.

In the Messenger, there is no flash bang, it's all about dialogue and drama. Just reading this N.Y. Times review about the movie, it makes no mention whatsoever about the Chaplain's role in handling Casualty Notification. Any Chaplain who has done a number of these will tell you it is probably the most difficult job they will ever perform. Chaplains know from training and experience that they are not only there to support the bereaved, but the CNO! Sometimes it's the Chaplain who has to hold it all together. I can't remember a time that I didn't pray with the CNO before he delivered the news. There are lots of variables to consider as one approaches this situation. Having just read this review, if they chucked the Chaplain out of the film, then they've just missed a big piece of reality.

Apparently Harrelson's character just returned from a deployment to Iraq and has taken this position as a CNO. Notice in the picture above that he is not wearing a combat patch on his Class A uniform, right shoulder sleeve. It's very unusual for an officer not to have it on his uniform. As you can tell, the NCO to his left is wearing it. If they don't get little stuff like that right, they will get written off like all the other Iraq war flicks.