Adopt-A-Chaplain

Today's post is a tribute to the Adopt-a-Chaplain organization. These folks have taken on the task of supporting deployed military chaplains all over the world. Their ministry is growing daily: in their first 18 months, they mailed 1000 care packages; in the next 6 months, another 1000 packages; package #3000 came 6 weeks later, in February 2007; this morning, they mailed package #4000!



That special package is being sent to the head chaplain who coordinates all chaplain services for the 4000 Marines and Corpsmen serving in western Iraq. The commanding general (and a publicity crew) will be on hand when package #4000 arrives in Iraq, and Kelly, Kevin and I were there to see it mailed. Kelly was photographed handing box #4000 to the supervisor of the Saratoga Post Office! It was an exciting, heart-warming, and greatly encouraging morning. Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone at Adopt-a-Chaplain for your devotion and service to the Lord and to our troops.












Dave's chaplain, Lt. Charles Johnson, is now among those being supported by Adopt-a-Chaplain. This morning's packing included boxes for Chaplain Johnson and even a special box for our own Dave, and we were blessed with the opportunity to write letters to include in these boxes. Wow, what a day!

"Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."
Philippians 4:6

Lizard breath and bridal shower

First the bridal shower . . .

Kelly is on a "battery recharge" trip to California, and as I write this she is driving from San Diego to our part of the state to visit family. What a blessing it is to us to now be part of her family! Wow!

Thursday night part of our church family is hosting a belated bridal shower for Kelly. Party time!

As to the lizard breath . . . .

Dave was able to squeeze in one more phone call to Kelly yesterday, and related a fun story. While he and I talked on Thursday, I was outdoors and encountered a lizard on the sidewalk. I told him about it, with fond memories of him & Scott both chasing lizards when they were kids. A day or so after our phone conversation, Dave saw a lizard poke its head up out of the sand, and he grabbed it. He was carrying it around the camp, showing it to the other guys. The lizard bit one of the Marines, who got mad, bit the lizard's head off and spit it out in the sand. Eeeewwww . . . .

On a more serious note, Dave is part of an advance party that will soon be heading to their assigned AO to check things out and get set up for the rest of the group. As corpsman, he has the "honor" of setting up the designated latrine areas. Trenches must be at least a certain distance from the sleeping area, farther from the eating area, and a specific number of feet wide/long/deep. Another eeewwww from mom!

Yesterday, this same advance party was ordered to a tent to watch a 2-hour video on IEDs, and instead they were shown the new movie "300," which was just released to theaters. Not my cup of tea, but a nice treat for the guys. :-)

There's no running water where the guys are headed, so if anyone out there is sending care packages, please include wet wipes and hand sanitizer. Thanks!

Kelly and Dave are grateful for your love and prayers. They both know it's important to put their trust in the Lord and rely on him for strength, and your prayers are a huge encouragement to them.

Getting ready to move out . . .

What a blessing from the Lord! David called yesterday morning and we were able to talk until his phone card ran out (about 45-50 minutes). It was almost noon for me, past bedtime for him.

He’s doing OK, except for lack of sleep. There are 50 guys to a tent, sleeping on small cots. Dave says he can lie on his back on his cot, extend his arms, and touch the two guys on either side of him. It’s past midnight when things quiet down, and by 0400, the noises begin again.

Chow is good, in spite of the long walk. In addition to “regular” food, there’s a salad bar, a pasta bar, a pizza bar, and a freezer full of ice cream desserts.

As a security measure, the base is kept dark at night. It is constantly being watched from outside the walls, and the civilian workers on the base also present security challenges.

His battalion’s current focus is on getting ready to move out of the base into their designated Areas of Operations (AOs). Dave can only say that they’ll be in isolated areas (very likely without running water) that are known to be high danger areas. An advance party went to one of the AOs a couple days ago and hit a roadside bomb. We’re grateful that they were in a super-armored Humvee, so there were no casualties.

When Dave’s group arrives at their AO, he and several other corpsmen will be setting up a mini Aid Station for treating casualties. For significant injuries, they call in the med-evac helicopters, which are only a few minutes away, so casualties can be transported to the regular Battalion Aid Station.

So Dave is spending most of his time during these few days in training classes, learning things he’s mostly not allowed to tell us about. He sends his love to everyone back home, and really appreciates your prayers. He said it was possible that this could be the last phone call he'll be able to make for months. We pray that's not the case, but we're constantly reminded that "no news is good news."

"This I declare of the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I am trusting him. "
--- from Psalm 91, "The Soldier's Psalm"
(See the link to the left for a good article on this Psalm.)

Mission Training

David was fortunate to be able to call Kelly again yesterday. (I think it was yesterday - with an 11-hour time difference, it's sometimes hard to tell.)

The entire battalion has arrived at Al Asad now, and they're being trained in the specifics about their mission, how to spot IEDs, and numerous things he couldn't discuss on the phone. Within the next 3-4 days they will head out to their various AOs (areas of operation).

The guys were told about a new kind of boot that's more comfortable and better for your feet than the standard issue. Uncle Sam allows them, but doesn't provide them. So Kelly went to one of the numerous military supply stores in town and bought a pair to ship to Dave. Hopefully, they'll arrive within 2-3 weeks, before the weather gets too awful. Right now it's only in the 80s.

The Marine Corps has a new type of mail service available to anyone who wants to write letters to Marines or Sailors. You go to www.motomail.us and sign up for the service (using the address information I provided in email last week), then write your letter online. It is then sent to the military facility nearest its destination, printed out, sealed, addressed, and delivered with regular mail call. All within 24-48 hours. Regular snail mail takes 2-4 weeks.

Call from Iraq

Dave was able to call Kelly today from the big American base at Al Asad, Iraq, where he is spending 4-5 days.

There were travel difficulties getting from Kuwait to Iraq, and the battalion is traveling in groups, so they're waiting for the last ones to arrive. A number of his Marines are suffering from food poisoning. They went to a McDonalds in Kuwait, and everyone who ate a certain (unnamed) burger became very ill.

Security on the base is very intense, and a buddy system is strictly enforced. Sleep is at irregular intervals on a dirty concrete floor with bright lights blazing all around. The closest chow hall is a 15-minute walk, and some days he's gotten only one meal, but is glad they're not having to eat MREs yet.

Tomorrow they begin classes regarding their mission, so Dave is glad to have something to do besides taking care of barfing Marines.

Deployment begins . . .

The latest news from our end is that David left Wednesday on deployment to Iraq, because as a Navy Corpsman, he is attached to the Marines and goes where they go. He's with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines in Charlie Company, so he'll be going out on patrol with them in the 7-ton trucks.

David called us Friday morning from Camp Virginia in Kuwait. They arrived there Thursday night somewhere around midnight Kuwait time, which is 11 hours ahead of California. Lights didn't go out until 3:00 a.m., and even though there was no reveille call Friday morning, he was up at 7:00 for chow and a much-appreciated shower.

They had flown from Cherry Point, North Carolina, to Bangor, Maine, where they were met by a group of WWII and Korean War veterans, along with the Freeport Flag Ladies. Check out their web site for pictures: http://freeportflagladies.com

On the left side of the main page, under "Meeting the Troops in Bangor", click on "March." At the bottom of that page are numbers representing pages of pictures. Dave is on pages 4 & 5.

The Freeport Flag Ladies are a group in Freeport, Maine that drive two hours each way to meet & greet the departing & returning troops. The reason there are so many pictures of Marines talking on phones is that these ladies provide the cell phones. The Marines & Sailors can temporarily turn in their ID card in exchange for a few minutes of phone time. In the two pictures of David, he's talking to Kelly. On page 4, he's in the eighth row down. Four guys in the foreground are playing cards, and David is sitting in the background, leaning against the wall. On page 5, he's in the second row down, picture on the right.

After an hour or so in Bangor, they flew to Germany, and from there to Kuwait. About 28 hours of travel, with their only sleep being catnaps on the planes and in airports. They'll be in Kuwait for a day or maybe two, then fly into Iraq on C-130s.

Pre-deployment pics of Kelly & Dave at their apartment in Jacksonville, NC (click on a picture to see a larger version):