responded the way general officers usually respond: “Get out there and be with the troops, tell me what they’re thinking, what they’re going through and what difference it makes.”
Commanding generals want their chaplains to be independent observers, whether at staff meetings or with troops in the field. They want feedback from someone who is going to tell them the way it is from the carefully guarded heart level of the soldier. Chaplains are not “command spies;” they are pastoral advocates for all.
“I’m the chaplain. I’m supposed to tell the truth. Commanders and soldiers are free to talk with the chaplain unencumbered with the concerns of climbing the ladder of success. The chaplain protects that honesty and communicates the feedback that the decision maker needs in order to understand the impacts of war planning and execution. I’m not going to tell the CG all the ‘raw raw whoop-ity whoop stuff,’” Hoyt explained. “I’m going to tell him what I see.”
For example: “These guys down here are sucking wind, boss. It’s tough. There are quality of life issues with isolation, water supplies, hot chow, and intermittent mail call. Sometimes there is a real slug fest going on for control of an area. Anxiety levels are high. Leadership is challenged. Perceptions of contributing and sacrifice and loss are an issue. Other times the worse it got, the more unbeatable the team became. The resilience of the force is truly amazing.’” Hoyt indicated. “I could always depend on the CG to decide how to deal with issues in the most positive of ways.”
Command chaplains become eyes and ears for all ranks. It’s an important part of mission.
Abba Father, thank you for leaders who listen to the needs of others.
“Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.” (Job 16:19)
March 20
WELCOMED VISITS
“My primary objective in going out into the field was to communicate to the soldiers their part in the big scheme of what America was doing in Iraq,” explained Multinational Force-Iraq Command Chaplain Hoyt.
Hoyt traveled throughout Iraq several times a week. His mission was to encourage the force spiritually and deliver the theater commander’s message to the troops by telling them what they were up against. Hoyt traveled anyway he could: by helicopter or by Humvee; it didn’t matter. After having traveled in two hundred convoys, he stopped counting the number he’d been in.
“I’d travel out and talk with chaplains first. I would lay out for them the role of Multinational Force-Iraq and show them all the different players that were involved in making this great effort work,” he explained. “I would build that backwards down to their level, where they were at and where their division was their brigade and battalion. Sometimes I would consider what their company was doing. I’d try to work that all the way back up and how that affected the strategic outcomes of the country.”
Hoyt went as the direct representative of the theater commander. People would notice his patches, the cross on his right and the colonel’s eagle in middle. His visits were well received.
People were always willing to be engaged at a spiritual level. And that’s not a tribute just to Hoyt, but that’s a tribute to all the fine chaplains out there who are and were authentic in their faith.
Sometimes Hoyt arrived after a catastrophe occurred, even one affecting the convoy he was in.
“As mad as the guys were about the losses they’d sustained and as confused as they were about whether or not it was worth it, they were always willing for a chaplain to be with them. It was okay not to have the answer. It was okay not to know, and it was okay to be mad at the time. And to be all that in front of the chaplain, that was okay and, in fact, sometimes it was welcomed,” he said.
“Then when the body bag was zipped up and the dust was gone, stuff would get back to whatever was normal in an abnormal environment, then we’d work out the details,” Hoyt reflected. “I came across that a lot. That always was a sacred time for me, being able to be a minister in the mess of the moment.”
You are the great host, the one who welcomes all who come to you with over-flowing kindness even under challenging circumstances.
“The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.” (Acts 28:2)
March 21
RELIGIOUS CONFERENCE
“Not every problem in Iraq is religious but every enduring solution requires a religious accommodation,” explained Multinational Force-Iraq Command Chaplain Hoyt of the signature event he’s most proud of: the Iraq Inter-Religious Conference.
This council brought together leading clerics for Sunni, Shi’i, Christian, and Yezdi on a national level for a dialogue on reconciliation.
The point was to interrupt this cycle of violence that was spinning out of control and destroying the fabric of Iraq along religious lines. This was an attempt to engage at the clergy level. The conflict in Iraq is religious. It’s criminal, mercenary, and Al Qaeda as well. It has an unmistakable religious quotient to it that when you don’t deal with it, it escalates out of control. That is exactly what happened in 2006.
It took sixteen months, but the first meeting took place in June 2007 with the approval of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. The conference was the broadest representation of religious leaders (by sect and geography) held in Iraq in thirty-seven years. After intense discussions, the leaders signed a final statement denouncing violence and terrorism and demonstrating support for democratic principles and the Iraqi Constitution. They pledged to actively work to reduce violence as well as to protect and restore holy religious sites. Most importantly, the accord was the first religious document publicly renouncing Al Qaeda by name and declaring the spread of arms and unauthorized weapons as criminal acts.
Canon Andrew White was the central figure of the effort. Appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Anglican Bishop for Baghdad in 1998, he is the best known Western minister in the Middle East. Although threatened and beaten near death, Canon White survived the Saddam Hussein regime. He founded the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle-East.
“Because of White’s tenacity in Iraq, he became the best connected Western cleric in the Middle East. The guy’s contacts were amazing. There isn’t any head of state in the Middle East that he doesn’t know. He is known and accepted by the senior religious leaders at the highest levels,” Hoyt said.
Andrew was saying all along this was a religious problem. If you don’t address the religious malfeasance that’s going on there, it’s just going to get worse.
The Iraq Inter-Religious Conference was a key to reducing violence that took place in the months following the meeting.
Father, you smile when humanity seeks to live in peace.
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)
