Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

not be faint.” This verse was appropriate for me in so many ways. I was a colonel then, and an eagle symbolizes this rank. ‘Waiting on the Lord’ seemed appropriate given the time I spent alone. Not ‘growing weary’ was a constant effort. Psalm 23 also played a role in my deployment, with the idea that I could not rest but rather that the lord would cause me to ‘rest in green pastures.’

All of these experiences led to a growth spiritually that I had not experienced before. What surprised me was not only the amount of growth and confidence that developed in my faith, but also the depth that has remained over the last five years since my return home. The growth of my faith was one of the realities of my deployment. It was as constant as the never-ending routine and tutti-frutti ice cream at every dining facility.

Prayer:

Dear God, I’m thinking of a soldier serving you in Iraq or Afghanistan or now back from his tour(s) of duty. Cause that soldier to grow in faith, share it with others, and come to a full understanding of every good thing we have in Jesus Christ.

“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” (Philemon 1:4–6)

November 16 EXPLOSIONS Sergeant Major “Ted,” special operations medic (name changed for security reasons). As a senior assault medic, he deployed more than a half dozen times to the war

The blast was incredible. I heard nothing. I felt everything. I was looking at the observation point (OP) outside of Kandahar, about to drink my first cup of coffee just after daybreak in December of 2001 then there was a flash, and suddenly we were physically not there anymore. The shockwave was like being hit by a wave in the ocean. It took our breath away. We were only sixty meters from the impact point. No one could hear anything after the explosion.

My sergeant major was standing to my left outside the building in front of a door. When the blast occurred it blew him through the door and on the pile with the rest of us. To put it in context, that amount of explosives was approximately one quarter to one third of what was used in the Oklahoma City bombing.

There were people standing close enough to the explosion to get flash burns on their eyes and second-degree burns on their chest from the actual heat and flash of the explosion but were otherwise relatively un-injured. Yet people far away were literally cut in half. There were people well within the lethal circle that were not killed. When the OP was hit directly, one soldier was simply gone and another was blown forty feet and only had a few scratches. The disparity of who gets the worst injury and where they were in relation to the explosion repeated itself over and over again.

It defies what we would assume to be logical. We think all those that are inside the lethal circle should be dead or seriously injured but that’s not the case at all. It’s very diverse what happens to people.

What we don’t understand about explosions is related to what we don’t understand about life. There is a time and a place where each person is going to die. At that point they’ll be accountable for what they’ve done in this life.

Prayer:

Lord, lead us to the conclusion that we have just one life to live and that life will soon pass. May we live with the understanding that only what is done for you during our lives will be of lasting importance. Amen.

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

November 17 CASUALTY COLLECTION POINT Sergeant Major “Ted” is a special operations medic

Initially, we were unaware that it was a bomb. All we knew was that we had been hit. We were ready to defend our position when the call came down that Americans were down the hill and we needed to take the hill. Running outside, I encountered the masses of casualties: close to one hundred people were wounded or killed in that immediate area.

The shrapnel pattern from the 2000 pound JDAM bomb went down in front of and behind the observation post. There were a lot of Afghan forces in front of the observation point watching the bombing and they were hit too. Our small special operations force was now the only force defending the position. There was no other force in the area that could lend assistance; and for all we knew the Taliban had scored a direct hit and were beginning an attack.

The casualties were easy to identify but sometimes difficult to find. Some got blown under vehicles, others were buried, some laid in heaps. There was a village nearby and they began to come out after the explosion. They were curious but some were looting the wounded and dead. This furthered the chaos and absolute anarchy of the situation. We established a Casualty Collection Point (CCP) in between the two buildings. There were munitions preset in the OP to defend the position and they began to detonate and send ordinance directly at us. When this began to happen we had to move the CCP to a point better shielded from this incoming fire.

There was only one other medical provider capable of working initially and we split up the work at hand. Everybody was doing what they could and there was a constant stream of casualties coming into the CCP. Despite the chaos and confusion everyone was focused on the tasks required to secure the position and save lives.

We think it’s difficult to keep focused when bad things happen, but sometimes the stress sharpens our responses and we push past physical discomfort and overwhelming tasks to do what needs to be done.

Prayer:

When chaos and confusion abounds, give me the ability, O Lord, to focus on the tasks at hand.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 121)

November 18 NEEDING HELP Sergeant Major “Ted” is a special operations medic

As I am there on my knees, treating an injured soldier, someone poked me in my back.

“Leave me alone!” I shouted, not looking up.

Another poke, this one more forceful and into the back of my head. Turning around, I see an Afghan fighter with a large belt-fed RPK machine gun pointed at the back of my head with his finger on the trigger. He pointed at the empty bottles of antibiotics on the ground and then pointed the weapon back at me, putting his eyes behind the site of the weapon as if he was going to shoot it. Over the last hour he had seen us administer antibiotics to