Wellness Training Retreat

Sunday

29 March 09

We just got back from a three-day trip up into the mountains of North Carolina (south of Ashville, near Hendersonville) to the Kanuga Retreat Center. Even though it rained most of the weekend, it was still a beautiful location near a small lake up in the forest. We were there to learn the Family Wellness material that will be taught in the Army's Strong Bonds retreats. Over the last 10 years, the Army has developed this curriculum (for families, marriages, and singles) to help the family members as well as the Soldier. It has been extremely successful for the Army, and swelled to a $40 million annual budget that we, as Chaplains, can tap into. This is the last of the overall training modules to prepare us for leading our own retreats someday as a Chaplain for a Unit or Battalion. That's the goal, anyway.

Did I mention that my wife and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary this past week? It was sad not to be together, but you do the best you can with what you got. She is a wonderful, beautiful, and supportive wife and I am blessed to be married to her. And, did I also mention that she will be here tomorrow for the Spouse's Seminar that helps conclude the final week?!! It's amazing to think that it's almost over. (By the way, please pray for her. She is pretty stressed to get everything done before heading to the airport). Next Friday I will graduate from the Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course. My wife and kids, other family members, and some close friends will be here to celebrate with me, and then we're going to spend some quality family time (i.e., vacation) together before returning home. Talk to you more this week!

TAPS

Wed.
25 Mar 09

Ysterday was an intense day of training. The theme centered on ministering to the families of Soldiers killed in action (KIA). We spend time overviewing grief counseling, then spent the afternoon learning our role in a Casualty Notification Team (which goes to the home of the next of kin and notifies them that their Soldier was KIA). No Chaplain enjoys this role, and yet we all will probably get tasked to accompany the Casualty Notification Officer on numerous occassions throughout our careers.

The day ended with a powerful session from a group called T.A.P.S., which stands for Tradegy Assistance Program for Survivors. (Check out www.TAPS.com). They have a great ministry to the families of Soldiers KIA. They even have special programs for the children who are also affected when their mom or dad does not come home from war. They actually brought in two widows and a mom of Soldiers killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan in the last 5 years. It was powerful to hear their stories about their loved ones and the role the Chaplain played (or did not play) in their grief / memorial / notification, etc. There were definitely lessons to be learned for us rookies on what NOT to do as a Chaplain in that situation. The mom made the point that no one reached out to the parents when her son died, and she needed the Army to do that. Unfortunately, that Chaplain absolutely ignored the rest of the grieving family except the wife. I think that's tragic. But maybe that's the point.

As for today, we started new curriculum from a book called "How to Not Marry a Jerk." (No lie). It's all about teaching relationship skills to single men and women and learning how to recognize the "jerks" out there in the dating world before it's too late. So far it has been good stuff. We continue this tomorrow and then go on a Wellness Retreat this weekend (Fri - Sun) up into the hills of North Carolina. This is our last weekend of the Program, so they want to end it with a bang! Should be a good weekend of training ("Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day").

Happy Birthday, Dad

Monday

23 Mar 09

We have a little over 1 week left in the Program. The excitement to get this over with is growing, and everyone here is excited to see their family and graduate next week. They gave us training today on what is called "BattleMind." It is all about helping Soldiers and their families understand what can and will happen to the Soldier while he/she is deployed, as well as what to expect when he/she gets home. This includes things like anger/aggression, withdrawal, poor sleeping habits, giving orders at home, and even driving fast and ignoring traffic lights because that's what everyone does in Iraq). The Army is working hard to educate families now more than ever, and they have many special programs designed to assist families and the Soldier before, during and after he or she deploys. I think that's pretty cool.

The last two main aspects left to go are Single Soldier Relationship training and more Family Wellness training. Those are both multi-day programs and will take us up through the weekend. Yes, the weekend. We'll go straight through to next Friday (which is graduation day)! I don't care about the weekend work anymore, since my wife will be here Monday night to attend the Spouse's Seminar next week. She going to get a ton of information about being an "Army Wife!"

Anyway, I did make it home last weekend to be with my dad for his 76th B-day. It was good to be home and great to spend time with family, especially my dad. The pictures were taken at dinner with the family. As you can see, my 6 yr old likes to ham it up for the camera.

Capstone Complete!

Friday

20 Mar 09

It's over! They call the final big field event CAPSTONE, and we just got back. They took us out into the woods for three days and made us run through a few more classes (including this one on memorial services and ranp ceremonies for Soldiers KIA). I got to be the Chaplain for that exercise! We also had a few war exercises. They had explosions and other fun implements of destruction and kept us up late acting like we were being bombed. It was not a whole lot of fun. They woke us up every night with explosions yelling at us to get up and put on gas masks and helmets and body armor and get into the bunkers. If you did not make it in time (with all your equipment), you had to pay dead for that exercise. Oh well. All of our dead comrads miraculously resurrected for breakfast the next morning.

Here are a few pictures of the FOB (forward operating base) where we stayed. Here is what the tents looked like. As you can see, I was exhausted. I have to run for now, and will write more later. Please pray for me... I'm going home again this weekend for a quick turn-around. It is my dad's 76 birthday tomorrow, and I plan to be there with him to celebrate!

"Run Like You Stole Something!"

Friday the 13th
(March 09)

It threatened to rain on us this morning, but it never did. Our drill instructor gave us those immortal words awhile back when discussing the PT test. He said that when you hear that whistle, you "run like you stole something!" It made sense, and lightened the anxiety. Overall, it was a productive morning, as I did very well on my final and official Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) here at CH-BOLC. Passing is a requirement for graduation, so I'm safe! I actually scored better this time on total points than I did three weeks ago on the diagnostic test, even though my sit-ups went down some.

Here's how it broke down: Push ups -- 75 total in 2 minutes (100 points); Sit-ups -- 53 total (76 points); and 2-mile run -- 15:23 time (85 points). The points are calculated based on your age and number of repetitions you do or how fast you run. (As you get older, the scoring gets easier!). My total score = 261 points. I am close to the STUDLY level (although that's not an official Army term), they recognize people who score over 270 total by doing at least 90 points in all three categories. I'll have to bring my sit-up reps up quite a bit, and run as fast as "Dash" from the Incredibles (above). If I succeed I'll probably puke. Maybe I just need to wait until I get older. Hummmmm.... Which one is easier....???

It may rain all weekend here. A good weekend to stay inside and watch movies!!

News

11 Mar 09
Wed

I wanted to share a few things that have been on my mind recently. The first is the death of our dog, and the second relates is my immediate future in the Army.

Our beloved Australian Shepherd, Ginger, passed away last Sunday night at our home. She was 11 and had lived a good long life. We noticed she was struggling recently. A vet visit and a few X-rays later confirmed something serious was going on in her stomach. I had been praying she would make it until I came home, but God had other plans. She was a good, sweet dog, and I will miss her terribly. It hurts to be away from home when bad things happen. And it's hard to realize that my wife had to deal with this alone.

The second issue is that I have received orders to deploy with my new Reserve Unit later this year to fight in the Global War on Terror. This particular unit did not have a Chaplain, and I was selected by the Chief of Chaplain's Office to go with them. It has been a mandate from the highest Chaplain in the Army (a 2-star General) that no unit will deploy without a Chaplain. No exceptions. Most of my classmates are in a similar boat, and many of us already know when and where we will be going. As for me, it means I will be gone a year from my family. That's another hard pill to swallow, but one that I accept. We knew this was part of the package deal when I signed on, and I have to believe in the ministry we're doing for the Soldiers fighting our wars. Men and women are dying without knowing the love of Jesus Christ. That's what God called me here to do.

Please keep my family in your prayer in the weeks and months to come. Thank you.

Victory Ranch

9 March 09

Monday

What a great day! We had a special treat today, as the cadre (teachers) split us up into our smaller platoons (about 25 people each) and took us out to a place called "Victory Ranch." It was designed to be a day of rest and retreat at a really neat place way out in the woods near Fort Jackson. This place is owned and operated by a Christian Ministry called Cadence International. They have Retreat Centers all across the country and also in Europe near major military installations. They only cater to the military, and open their doors to Soldiers and cadets for "get-a-way" weekends, and retreats from training. Here in South Carolina, the place is within minutes from Ft. Jackson and they welcome the Chaplain school every training cycle.

It is a large property with a log cabin and other buildings that can host about 30 people for a weekend. They provided us lunch and a nice place to relax and have some fellowship and fun away from the Chaplain school. It was cool. The timing was perfect because we have been going pretty full-steam ahead (they call that an Op-Tempo) for about 5 weeks. We will finish Phase 2 this week, have our final PT Test this Friday, and move into the final Phase 3 after that. Less than 4 weeks to go!

Next week we go camping for 4 days to practice what it's like living in a Forward Operating Base (FOB). This will simulate what it may be like in Iraq or Afghanistan (to some degree). I'm looking forward to it, and we're hoping it does not rain!

Long hard week

Friday
6 March 09

It has been a long hard week for me (and most of my peers, I suppose). We spent much of the week concentrating on death and marriages. Hummm, interesting combination! They hit us hard with memorial ceremonies and services, as well as graveside services. We got to observe a few "mock" services of each kind, complete with honor guard and a 21-gun salute and flag folding honors. It's a pretty impressive ceremony when you think about it, and every veteran is entitled to full funeral benefits like this. Having a Chaplain lead the ceremony is part of that death benefit, so I may be involved in many of these over the years -- sometimes for Soldiers in my Unit killed in action, and other times for a WWII vet who died in the local community.

We also went to the morgue last night at the Univ. of South Carolina medical center. The object was to expose everyone to death and to help us get over initial fears of working with the Mortunary Affairs department of the Army, or even with a Soldier who is injured badly and dies in our presence. It was pretty cool, although it lasted too long. It had been a long and hard day to begin with , and then we spend 3 hours after class at the University (from 6 - 9 pm). I used to work in a morgue years ago, so that was nothing new for me. The smell alone brought back a whole host of memories! But I have never seen a cadaver, and these were in various stages of dissection by the medical students, which was kind of wild (and gross). One of my peers almost passed out and had to be helped to a chair. Most people were cautiously curious, and others were downright into it. They showed us a heart that still had the pacemaker cable attached to it. That was cool.

The marriage theme wame in the form of three days of training with a program called "PREP", which the Army uses for its Strong Bonds Programs (marriage conferences for Soldiers and their spouses after deployment). We were all certified to use the material and possibly become trainers and lead Strong Bonds weekends. That takes a little bit more training, but it is something I hope to pursue.

Today, however, started off on the wrong foot, literally. We went for another long foot march this morning at 0515. We covered over 4 miles in 2 hours, but I developed a blister on my left heel along the way. It was one of those mornings where I knew I was getting the blister, but there was nothing I could do about it (way out in the woods). So now I'm hobbled and concerned about my final and official PT test (the one that counts for graduation) a week from today. I hope this thing heals and does not cause me problems in that run.

Well that's about it. Sorry I do not have any new pictures to share, but they would not let us take cameras to the morgue! I do have good news however.... my family will be here in less than a month, and I graduate 4 weeks from today! That's exciting. I'm hoping it flies by from here on out.

Thanks Mom and Dad

1 March 09

My parents celebrated 45 years of marriage yesterday. Thanks mom and dad for your example, and your devotion to one another and to God. Your sons both appreciate and love you.

As for life here in South Carolina.... it's raining hard again today. There is a winter storm warning for tonight and tomorrow morning. They expect snow to hit tonight in much of the Carolinas and up the eastern coast. My brother in Boston will probably get pounded in a day or so. But as for us, we're all acting like school kids who sit around the radio hoping to hear if their school district is closed due to snow. But in our case, we're all wondering if Monday morning PT will be cancelled! If so, the staff will let us know later tonight.

Weather permitting, Doug and I will go off post and visit a local southern bapstist church again this morning. It's a local mega-church called "Shandon Baptist Church" that's located within a mile of Ft. Jackson. It's a big, beautiful brick structure with a sanctuary very similar to the very large Southern Baptist church where my wife and I used to worship. We went to the contemporary service last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Good music and a good message.

I forgot to mention a few weeks back that one of the unique aspects of worshipping on an Army training post with basic training Soldiers is that they are commanded to take their weapon with them everywhere they go... including church. So it was interesting to see a hundred young Soldiers file into a chapel with M-16 rifles in hand. No one has any bullets, and each rifle has a muzzle guard (a locking device of some kind on the end), so there was never any concern that a gun might go off accidentally. But it was still kind of weird. I suppose this is one of the only places in America where you don't fear when bus loads of Soldiers show up at your church with guns! They're here to worship the Lord (weapons allowed!).

Well, I've completed 2 months now. Only one month to go. The upcoming week will be very important. It's already been dubbed the "death week" because our focus will be on honoring the dead this week. They are teaching us that Chaplains have three basic job functions: Nurture the Living, Care for the Wounded, and Honor the Dead. This week we concentrate on the last aspect by working on Ramp Ceremonies again (when a casket is carried onto or off of an airplane), Funerals and Memorial Ceremonies, and followed up with a trip to the local morgue. They need to expose us all to the grim reality of death in this job, and that each of us may be called upon to give a final salute to a Soldier killed in battle.