Easter In Iraq At Camp Happy
11 April 2004
FOB KMTB, Camp Caldwell
Iraq
Today is Easter at Camp Happy. The skies are clear and the temperature is moderately hot. This morning at 0600 we had our last annual Easter Sunrise Service at the New Iraqi Army (NIA) Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) Academy Parade Field at Forward Operating Base, Camp Caldwell. It was 0-dark-thirty when soldiers and a few civilians from all over this base walked and rode in vehicles to the service. I was definitely beginning to question the wisdom of one of my chaplains who set the time of the service. A hint of light somewhere on the horizon would have been a welcome sight. So, into the Iraqi darkness we converged on the place where we memorialized one of our own and where we baptized eleven last Sunday.
We began singing, (the rest of this paragraph is as stated by LTC John Frank, commander of the 230th Support Battalion) beginning with ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today”, “Holy, Holy, Holy”, “Come let us worship”, and “He Lives”. The Scripture read today was Matthew 28:1-10. LTC Goodwin (our brigade chaplain) delivered the message for the service. During the sermon, he spoke about the difference between living a good life and living a great life. He used Hollywood as an example for people living the good life. A lot of people live what they call the good life but they have the highest rate of divorce and suicide rate anywhere. They live the good life but it is short lived. He concluded the sermon by stating that to live the great life, you must live it with the Lord. CPT Brumfield (our chaplain for the 230th Support Battalion) and several other chaplains presided over Communion, which concluded the service. An interesting note, the New Iraqi Army was doing Physical Training (PT) during the service. That added a little reality to the location of the service. If you remember, the parade field is a gravel area with stadium style seating that stretches a few hundred yards. We had 200-300 soldiers come to the service this morning. Several members of the brigade and a US Contractor brought their guitars and a banjo. Emmit is the contractor and has been active in other worship services we have had within the brigade. We also had a 10-member choir from various units within the brigade. During the service, one of the soldiers performed a solo that was great.”
LTC Frank continued: “I never would have thought that I would attend an Easter Sunrise Service 20 miles from the Iraq-Iran Border. I have enclosed a picture of the sun coming up over the Iranian Mountains. That was the backdrop for the service. Long deployments will cause you to re-look what is important in someone’s life. I have learned over the last several months, you cannot sweat the small things in life. They will consume your existence. The most important things in life are your family, your church, your friends, and the Lord. Everything else comes second.”
Sunrise over the Iranian Mountains
“We are very fortunate in this brigade to have very talented chaplains that provide an incredible service and ministry to the soldiers of the 30th Brigade Combat Team. They have one of the toughest jobs in the brigade and we would not be successful without them. They are critical members of the “Old Hickory” team. We are blessed to have them.” – LTC John Frank
Thus we began Easter Sunday in Iraq. I walked the ½ mile or so back to our area with a member of the choir who is also an NCO in our JAG section. I dropped my Bible off at my room and went to breakfast. The day is almost seeming normal until we walk up the five steps into the Mobile Kitchen Trailer (MKT) and go through a cafeteria line of sorts getting a fairly normal breakfast of sausage, eggs, grits, French toast and a small cake of some sort. MREs are piled outside as we descend the five steps back onto the stone covered ground. I carry my own insulated coffee cup, which is the kind that cost way too much money ($19.00), but is invaluable to a confirmed coffee drinker. My stainless mug is already full but I pick up a packet of cappuccino mix to pour into my next cup of coffee. Round paper containers of cereal in four to five brands are available as is a small tin of fruit like children carry to school. One cooler is full of milk in four scrumptious flavors: white or regular milk, strawberry, chocolate and banana. I just don’t have a clue why anyone would want to drink banana-flavored milk. The writing on the outside is in Arabic so I guess it is a cultural thing. I carry my cardboard sectioned plate and plastic utensils packaged with salt, pepper and sugar into a large open tent with large picnic tables whose seats are wide enough for a medium-sized elephant. There is actually room behind where I sit to ground my gear and Kevlar helmet. The width of the seat is finally making sense. Occasionally a soldier will walk by and wish the table occupants a Happy Easter. It is Easter, our first real holiday in this country with few occupants who understand its meaning or that we especially miss our families on days like today.
Two soldier encounters occurred today that I find significant. The first occurred after the Easter Sunrise Service when a female soldier came up to me and wanted to know who is allowed to take communion. I assured her that none of us are truly worthy to receive communion but somehow, by the grace of God it is offered to all of us in spite of our unworthiness and maybe because of our unworthiness. She still looked perplexed until I told her it was like being invited to someone’s home to eat and not eating. Christ sets the meal before us and desires all of us to share in it. She said she grew up thinking only certain people could receive communion and then asked if she could have communion now. So, she and I walked over to the abandoned containers of wafers and grape juice filled chalices and this woman received the body and blood of Jesus Christ for the first time in her life in the desert of Iraq. I think she finally began to see herself as a daughter of God who is highly valued by her eternal Father.
The next quick encounter happened after our 2000 service tonight. A young E-4 met me on the way out of the building where we hold services and wanted to talk. He shared how he had many questions and had not been to church for two years before coming to Iraq. I told him where to find me and that I would be happy to talk with him at any time. He seemed encouraged and asked me to pray for his wife before I left. I know I will soon see this soldier again although I do not know his unit or anything else about him. Something about the deployment or what is occurring in our services of worship have touched his life and he probably has a few unresolved issues from his past that have been bothering him for a long time. Maybe we are here to hear his pain and answer his questions as best we know and to walk this son of God back into the arms of his heavenly Father.
Our 1000 and 2000 hours Protestant services were full today. We need to order more chairs and I feel blessed to have such a wonderful problem. The Catholic priest, Chaplain (Major) Ed Kelley from the 1st Infantry Division was to have flown in today at 1430 hours. At 1645 hours he arrived, missing 105 Roman Catholic soldiers assembled and awaiting Mass. Their lay leaders or EMEs did what they could and I sent CH Kelley and his assistant to another FOB after coordinating their arrival and time of Mass. Men and women who are soldiers came searching for meaning and hope on this Easter and our Unit Ministry Teams worked hard to show them Christ. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
CSM Morgan says we are going to have an Easter Egg Hunt in the middle of a minefield outside Mandali. The heat has definitely scorched a few of his brain cells. When we move across post, I definitely need a new roomie. This one is about shot.
Tonight around 2200 hours BG Hickman concluded in his studies of portajohn rhetoric that it is only a few people doing the writing, that they write a lot and at least one suffers from low self-esteem and a negative attitude. These are the conclusions of a wise and discerning leader of men and women.
Other quotes of notoriety include: “They have been issued, they just haven’t been picked up.” – MAJ Tim Harrison, Brigade Signal Officer. This statement was made when questioned why certain units and individuals do not have the radios that they were supposed to have. I guess you could say communication is a challenge to our signal officer who coordinates all the communication assets of the 30th. Hmmmm. Did you really get this message?
The wisdom of one of our native-born Iraqi leaders shone brightly when General Nazim, commander of the Iraqi Border Police stated: “The shepherd always stands on the high ground so he can see a long way.”
The Division G-4, who coordinates all the logistical issues for the entire 1st Infantry Division is a man of extraordinary insight. He recently stated: “They wouldn’t be lost if I knew where the CONEX’s were.” Hmmmm. And some of you are wondering why our living conditions have been slow to improve.
Our Brigade S-1, MAJ Dan Marks, a man of remarkable clarity and insight recently stated: “Our larger units have more people in them.” I guess this gives the casual observer a clue into why the only certain count we can give for the number of soldiers in theater is somewhere between 100 and 10,000.
A few days ago a full-length mirror was delivered to BG Hickman. And this is the man who often quotes Thornton Wilder with: “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong love affair.” You figure this one out.
I will close with a question for you posed by one of our officers who is not especially well-known for getting up with the chickens. He asked me why we had to have Easter Sunrise Service at 0600 hours? He stated, “For all we know Jesus could have been resurrected at night. The women and disciples only found out about it the next morning!” Can anyone answer this one?
Our Brigade S-2, MAJ Ben Broyles is the intelligence officer for the 30th Brigade. He said this afternoon, ”Today, our analysis predicted they would shell us tomorrow, but instead they shelled us today.” His job is to predict what will happen tomorrow but it happened today, so what was supposed to happen tomorrow actually occurred today. Perhaps the one who was confused by the exact time of Jesus’ resurrection should ask our esteemed leader of intelligence.
CH(LTC) Dennis Goodwin
30th Brigade Combat Team
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