04 September 2007

DIGIJOURNAL 026--3 SEPT 2007

DATELINE: 3SEP07 PATROL BASE PALIWODA

Dear Friends,
It seems like the days fill up with activity but pass too slowly as our hearts yearn for home. The weather is still incredibly hot, but we have finally seen some clouds in the sky…a reminder that fall is coming, bringing with it much needed rain.

A couple of weeks ago we had our new division chaplain, CH (LTC) Tom Wheatley, down to speak at our prayer breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of soldiers who showed up at 0700 in the morning. Our schedule, what we call our battle rhythm, usually has our soldiers staying up late into the evening, so it was a real effort for them to come so early. I am easily shamed by their devotion. I have had a soldier come to our Saturday afternoon Bible study soaking wet after enduring an 18-hour patrol. There are so many faithful men here.

CH Wheatley is a great guy and true mentor. Sadly, there are many chaplains who identify too much with their rank and not enough with the cross. I am always trying to find veteran chaplains to guide and direct me, but it is hard to discover them....fortunately for me, CH Wheatley came our way.

CH Wheatley was an inspiration to our soldiers. Years ago he completed Ranger school as a chaplain and has served in the Ranger Regiment and the Ranger Training Brigade. Not going to Ranger school has always been one of the great regrets of my military career. I have a tremendous respect for anyone who wears the Tab. And, because of his Ranger Tab, CH Wheatley had "instant" credibility with our guys.

I took him on a tour of Patrol Base Paliwoda. Both he and his assistant, MSG Holliday, enjoyed speaking with our soldiers. I left them for a moment, as they spoke with some of our tower guards, to watch a patrol of Bradleys and humvees leave the base. The dull, repetitive, clunking noise of a Bradley as it rolls into battle will be one of those sounds of war that will always be in my mind. No matter how many times I have watched it before, I still get emotional watching our “Joes” plod off to go one more time into the breach. What great men, courageous men, they truly are.

Gratia et Veritas,
Warhorse Archangel


FROM THE CHAPLAIN’S BOOKSHELF

On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace
By Dave Grossman

This is the follow-up book to the national bestseller On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by LTC (Ret) Dave Grossman. LTC Grossman began his look into the psychological components of killing on the battlefield while he was a professor of psychology at West Point. In this book, he places the focus on what is needed to produce effective and professional warriors in society. While a little plodding at times and heavy on the examples taken from law enforcement, it is nonetheless a valuable study on how people experience the stresses of combat.

The Five Love Languages, Men’s Edition
By Gary Chapman

Mr. Chapman has developed an entire industry around his five love languages concept. The book and the concept highlights the basic differences in how couples communicate love. This men’s edition is a very easy read with summaries and questions at the end of every chapter. This would be a good book (with wives reading the original edition) to read prior to redeployment.

Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar
By Adam Nicolson

A very interesting book that does a great job of highlighting the personalities, leadership styles, and ethos of the British Navy, the world’s most powerful military force at the time. Centered around the historic battle of Trafalgar, Mr. Nicolson brings out the drama, suffering, and heroism of all the classes of individuals serving on the most complicated war machines of their day. Interspersed in his narrative are several primary source accounts of what took place and what the major players were thinking.

Cannery Row
By John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck produced this novel in response to his soldier-fans in WWII wanting him to write something funny and not serious. Loosely based upon the life of his close friend, the biologist Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck uses the real town of Monterey, California as the backdrop to the lives of his colorful characters that prowl and party on cannery row. An entertaining, heartbreaking, and nostalgic look and a slice of pre-WWII America.

Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley’s novel of the future is the foil to George Orwell’s 1984. In Huxley’s world, people are not dominated by an aggressive police state but through methods of eugenics, narcotics, and entertainment. 1984 has come and gone, but, sadly, the Brave New World looks like an ever more present option for those who wish to take away man’s liberty.

The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
By Wilfred Owen

Some believe Wilfred Owen to be the greatest poet to have penned from the battlefield of World War I. His poems tell the story of the futility, horror, and heroism that the British “Tommies” faced in places like the Somme, Ypres, and Verdun. Owen, a Victoria Cross winner who was killed a week before the armistice, paints a realistic view of battle that is still relevant today.

Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War
Andrew Carroll, Editor

This collection of letters from the Civil War to the War on Terror highlights some of the spiritual struggles our military face on the battlefield. A touching chronicle that is both timely and timeless, Carroll uses the letters to form a narrative that traces the highs and lows of faith.

Shoot to Kill: From 2 Para to the SAS
By Michael Asher

Michael Asher has written one of the better military non-fiction books I have read in a long while. This should be a must-read for junior military leaders who want to see a preview of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Asher traces his movement through the British Paratroop Regiment, our equivalent of a Ranger Battalion, the Special Air Service (SAS), equivalent to Special Forces, and finally the undercover police of Ulster. He makes several deployments to Northern Ireland in the 1970s as “the Troubles” reached a crescendo. The type of warfare he and his fellow “paras” encountered is not much different that what we face today. Also of note is how the IRA, heavily funded by sympathizers in the United States, exported its terror tactics to the Middle East. A chilling and truthful look at one man’s descent and ultimate redemption as a modern warrior.

Flags of Our Fathers
By James Bradley

This excellent book, the source of the recent Clint Eastwood directed movie, tells the stories of the six men whose effort to raise the American flag was captured in the most popular photograph of the 20th century. Starting with their childhoods, then boot camp, and then their landing at Iwo Jima, Mr. Bradley, the son of one of the flag-raisers, shares the broken dreams, haunting memories, and not-so-happy lives that followed this battle. Three of the Marines would later die on Iwo, and only the corpsman, Jack Bradley, would go on to live a fulfilling life upon his return from the war. The only criticism I have of the book echoes GEN Patton, who, as he was racing across Europe, complained the American press’s infatuation with the Marine Corps made it sound like they were single-handedly winning the war. Mr. Bradley has a couple over-the-top statements about the "Naval Infantry" (said the Army officer), but it is an otherwise very moving book.

The Pearl
By John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck originally intended this short novella to be a movie script. Ultimately he crafted a morality tale where fate can take even the best and most noble intentions and turn them for evil. He based his work in coastal Mexico.