“When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD… then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.” (1 Kings 8:44–45)
December 13
FACING DEATH
The ambush scene was chaotic. We held the south end of the site, while the other convoy attempted to find its guys.
After about ten to fifteen minutes they found the missing truck. While this was going on, we lost internal contact between the two convoys. Because we were sitting in an exposed intersection, with no one talking to us, we finally decided to move to the north part of town. When you lose communications, it gets very confusing very fast. I got my gunner to use hand and arm signals to get the other truck in the intersection to follow me. We pulled through the ambush site, found the rest of the trucks from the convoys, and loaded the wounded guys on to the truck.
We stopped and triaged the wounded to find out how bad their injuries were. It turned out that the other guys were suffering only minor wounds. About that time the Apaches arrived. We told battalion we didn’t need MEDEVAC. We loaded up and drove for forty-five minutes back to Speicher with Apaches giving over watch. We left the deceased soldier in the Humvee right where he was. The battalion commander from the infantry battalion came down and met us at the one bridge over the Tigris and led us into the base. Guys from the Combat Support Hospital (CSH) came out to remove the casualty from the truck and start processing the body.
Afterwards the guys told me that we were under fire the whole time. I remember being shot at, but it didn’t seem like a large volume of fire, and it didn’t appear to be very accurate fire. My memory only vaguely recalls that part of the engagement.
The tough part is the thinking about it after the fact. I’m filled with thoughts like It should have been me… . Why did God spare me? The guy who was killed was twenty-eight years old. He had a wife and two kids. It was his last mission. He was going home after that one mission. It was a difficult thing to swallow.
“Staff Sgt. Michael L. Deason, 28, of Farmington, MO, died on Aug 31, in Ad Dwar, Iraq, of injuries suffered when a grenade detonated on his vehicle during combat operations. Deason was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, KY.”
Death fills us with grief. God of all comfort, please give an extra measure of your comfort to those who have lost a loved one in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader war on terrorism.
“But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16–17)
December 14
THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
The convoy was back on base, and the wounded were tended to. It was all over by about 1 p.m. We had DSN lines in the office that would allow us to call home free of charge. I called my wife that afternoon, but I didn’t tell her what happened. I did tell her if she saw anything on the news to know that I am okay. We would watch a lot of the news while we were over there and saw information about how soldiers were killed in Baghdad or some other location. When the media reported where the casualty was based or where the engagement occurred, it can be really scary for the families. They watch every story, and the media didn’t miss an opportunity to talk about a U.S. death.
Deason’s death never even made the news. That really bothered me. It also surprised me. He didn’t even make the news. I can’t remember how many soldiers died in the month of August 2006. We were nearing a hundred soldiers killed a month. But the fact that this young staff sergeant, this hero that was on his last mission, the guy that was in ambush meant for me, sitting in my seat, the one that should have been me…. This should not have been ignored by the media.
We should never forget the service and sacrifice. Staff Sgt. Deason and his family made the ultimate sacrifice. We should always remember that.
Dear God, help me never to forget the names of people I know who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in combat. Thank you that your name is great among the nations, even those who haven’t turned to you yet.
“‘My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 1:11)
December 15
LIGHT AND HONOR
When my parents came through Houston on their way to Iraq in December 2003, they visited my church and shared about the confirmation they received from Psalm 139:9–10 that Iraq was their “far side of the sea.” Verses 11 and 12 continue to say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
Light and honor were two symbols that stood out to me during that Christmas. They also visited my church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service. The whole church is dark, except for one little candle held by the pastor. From anywhere in the worship center, one can see this little candle’s solitary light. Then that single candle lights another candle. Those two candles light two more and so on. Soon the whole church is lit from the light of one tiny candle. I remember looking at Mom. With tears streaming down her face, she turned to me and said, “That is Iraq! It is a dark, dark nation but we are taking in the light of Christ and we are going to light up that nation with the light of Jesus!”
And that is what they set out to do, lighting a few candles so those candles could light others, spreading God’s word.
Also that Christmas, my family enjoyed our holiday tradition of sharing what the Lord had taught us in the past year and what we looked forward to in the coming year. Although my two brothers and I completely supported my parents’ move to Iraq, we were more serious as we shared. My father felt our unspoken concern, and when it was his turn, he said he felt the center of God’s will was the safest place to be and, for them, that was Iraq.
“Plus the worst case scenario,” he said, “is that we get killed and we go to heaven with Stephen! What an
