Unbelievable!! // February 16, 2007

I talked to my dad the other night. He got stuck in the snow... with a four wheel drive, V8, Suburban... there is so much snow up there in Michigan that he's spent an incredible amount of money... just heating the house. Here’s the view from his back yard.

Huh. It kinda hard for me to relate.

Here’s the view from my backyard…

Today, I washed my truck, raked my leaves and cleaned up the back yard getting ready for the spring rain.

Gotta love the south!

Sorry its been so long. I suppose every blogger says that but I really mean it. Really... thing is, this job I have now keeps me in front of a computer most of the day. Writing in my off time becomes a chore in that world. Its sad really, I find myself looking at my screen thinking through the hurricane of the last month or so and I struggle putting it all to words. Perhaps if I was writing on politics or religion it would come easier but simply relating what exactly it is that I do - its a bit difficult.

First things first, it took a while to get orders. I long while. Eventually, I had to get my Guard unit to issue me some temporary Annual Training orders just to get paid and during that time (the last couple weeks of January) my permanent orders came through. It seems that the Army (in the time between me submitting my packet and them actually bringing me on duty) kept changing my duty station. My Brigade wanted me here so they kept fighting it and finally won out in the end. Thank goodness!

Work is actually quite a bit like teaching. I am a OC/T (Observer, Controler/Trainer) for First Army. We train all the deploying Guard and Reserve units in the East. There are ten Brigades that do the training at various Mobilization Stations throughout the East Coast through the Midwest. My BDE (the 188th Infantry) does most of out training at Camp Shelby, MS. However, we send individual OC/T's to all the Mob sites.

I am in the midst of compiling and writing up to date training material for deploying RSTs. (Religious Support Teams - formerly known as Unit Ministry Teams) I take the material that currently exists and in some cases, rewrite it - in other cases I just adust it to fit our needs and teach it as is. What I am finding is that most of the material that exists is either too dated or information overload! Due to the new “surge” in the planning process, we need to simplify and streamline this training so that the deploying RSTs can maximize the time spent with troops and still get the “down and dirty” training they need in order to be successful.

Basically, I take everything and ask the question – would this have benefited me as I was preparing to deploy. If the answer is yes, then I ask another question – is this something that needs to be discussed in a classroom setting, field setting, or just put on a disk and they can read it themselves. The answer to that determines how they get the information. If the answer is no – then I just give it to them on a CD and they can read it if they need it.

These Chaplains are going to be so prepared.

I am giving them everything they need to hit the ground running. I suppose that’s why they brought me on here - to sift the chaff from the wheat. We are not doing “training for training’s sake!” Were that the case, I would not have taken this mission.

In the midst of all this, I have something of a pride issue. See, I am still a First Lieutenant. In the National Guard, every officer has to do their two years time in grade before they are elgible for Captain. On the Active side, a chaplain (because all his education and ministry experience is done in the civilian world) either comes in as a Captain OR is so within 6 months of coming on active duty. If you see a 1LT Chaplain – he is REALLY new!

That said, pretty much everyone I went to school with is now a Captain. Because I am on active duty and still a 1LT I get:
1. No Respect
2. Weird/hard looks
3. Statements like:
a. “Huh, I’ve never seen a 1LT chaplain before!”
b. “Holy crap! I didn’t know that officers, much less chaplains could get busted!”
c. “What did YOU do??”
d. “Well, since your brand new at this – we’ll see to it that you get trained up on how to handle grieving soldiers…” (That’s my personal favorite – it was said to me two days ago at a chaplain’s meeting here on post)
e. “Just wait till you get deployed AS A CHAPLAIN, you’ll really see some ministry then!!” (Keep in mind, all these things have been said to me in the LAST MONTH! This does not count all the things said/assumed while I was deployed!)
4. Treated like everybody’s kid (this is probably because I’m way younger than most of my Chaplain counterparts and get treated accordingly – seriously, the BDE chaplain AND the Chaplain Assistant are BOTH as old or older than my dad! So is the Family Life chaplain that I work with at the Gospel service! Go figure…)
5. Ignored. Yup, at the last installation chaplain meeting, I was ignored. All the new guys that have come on post were allowed to introduce themselves and tell a little about their history – me – the COL running the meeting didn’t even notice me and when he did – had my Chaplain Assistant introduce me. Whatever. I just let them wallow in their perceived significance.

I know these sound like the ravings of a frustrated man and to some extent they are – I’m just stating what its like being a 1LT in a CPT’s world! I hope that after I become some high ranking officer, I don’t forget what its like to retain 1LT two years longer than everyone else. I am finally coming up for promotion in the Guard system on March 15. I hope it all works out…

I was asked to be the Associate pastor of the Gospel Service here on post. I’m excited about it. The Senior pastor is also the Family Life Chaplain. He is a very godly man and I am looking forward to working under him and his mentorship. I am preaching this Sunday on the text: Isaiah Chapter 9.

A prayer, by the British historian, philosopher and essayist – Thomas Carlyle:

“Who art thou that complainest of thy life of toil? Complain not! Look up, my wearied brother; see thy fellow-workman there, in God’s Eternity; surviving there, they alone surviving; sacred band of Immortals, celestial body-guard of the empire of mankind. To thee Heaven, though severe, is not unkind; Heaven is kind, as a noble mother; as that Spartan mother, saying while she gave her son his shield, “with it, my son, or upon it.” Thou too shalt return home in honor; to thy far-distant Home in honor; doubt it not, if in the battle thou keep thy shield! Thou, in the Eternities and deepest death-kingdoms are not an alien; thou everywhere art a denizen.
Complain Not!”