Hails and Farewells

It has been a nice relaxing week as I have been on leave all week.

Last Friday the staff at Andrews had a going away party for myself and another departing chaplain. We had an Italian themed lunch and a chance to visit together for some time. I will miss working with these fine individuals. As I shared with them, it was a great time, but I could not have accomplished the ministry and work without them. I have greatly appreciated the leadership of my seniors and the dedicated assistance of our enlisted staff as well as working on the team with our fellow chaplains.

The Sunday before, my worshiping congregation bid farewell to me and my family. I will be back to visit though and do occasional preaching. I'm already headed back the 23rd of this month. These are just a fine bunch of folks, quite a diverse group, all united through a history of military service and a love and appreciation for the Gospel.

Monday I'll be jumping into Arlington. It will be a fast paced week. Lots of learning to do and I suspect I'll be spinning up fast. Hopefully my uniforms will be ready by mid week. I don't relish the though of doing funerals in wool dress uniforms in this heat wave we are having. The ceremonials are a bit more friendly in such an environment. But you do what you have to do. I admire the honor guard because they are out there every day all day in the heat, rain, or cold always rendering crisp honors for their fallen comrades. Truly admirable service.

Transitions

Ok, I'm beat. Tired. We moved this week. As of tonight, we are about 98% unpacked and settled. Our movers packed us up Monday and moved us Tuesday. Starting Wed morning we pushed hard to get it all in place.

I took leave Wed - Fri, but wound up going in to work anyway on Wed and Thursday because of a big project I am working for the CAIB. I'm serving as the exec this month pushing through the Community Action Plan. This is my last major project at Andrews. Plus I had another report to work that was coming due. I shared this with my chaplain candidate: if x is due on a certain day, it is due, leave or not leave, sick or not sick etc... the mission must be done.

This is the first I've sat down to just sort of veg out for a few minutes. The week before I moved I was working 12-14 hour days and still making the gym after work. I'm on a profile for my knee which was a bit sore (feeling much better now) so I've been working my upper body. Saturday a week ago was very busy. I had a funeral for a Navy Chief (retired) who served in the North Atlantic, the Med, and South Pacific in WWII. That evening I attended the 70th birthday party of one of my parishioners, and incredible man I look up to. He was a POW for 7 years in Vietnam. He is an incredible man to learn leadership from. The party was a hoot. His wife hauled me out on the dance floor. I was so embarrassed. But it was a good time.

Last week I was finishing up paperwork and training for the Chaplain candidate that I was assigned to supervise. I had training at Arlington. Some of the tricks of the trade for wearing the uniform struck me as a bit odd, but they do make for a sharp look. The marching elementals are somewhat different: slower and more deliberate.

Sunday will be my 2nd to last Sunday at Andrews. I plan to preach on followership. After the service I am going to take a couple of hours and do the final tweaks on the CAIB meeting for next week. I don't normally have to work on Sunday afternoons, but since I was on leave to move and some folks needed a bit more time to get their ducks in a row, I decided to wait until Sunday to finalize the product. Besides it will be fresh in my mind. I am briefing the Wing Commander early Monday morning on the meeting. Sunday night I'll celebrate my 42nd birthday with my family. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was sitting in Montgomery doing field training on my 40th birthday. Time really flies when the pace is quick.

Next week my major tasks are taking care of the CAIB meeting, completing my outprocessing checklist, my continuity binders (so my replacement can be fully spinned up), and hopefully getting off my profile so I can run my PFT on Friday. The week after I have 3 days at Arlington for training and then a final day of outprocessing.

I'm learning the drive to Andrews for the next few weeks will be a bit of a stressor from here. I'm close to my job at Arlington, but it took me 45 minutes to drive 18 miles tonight back to Andrews. Traffic for the bridge going over the Potomic is at a crawl. I was thinking to myself I could run the bridge faster than I can drive it. Gotta love some things about DC!

Arlington is already growing on us. We went shopping today for a few items for the house. Every major chain store was on a strip not to far from the house and for once I didn't feel like I was running a risk of getting mugged. The neighborhood is very quiet with many retired folks, some of them military. Quite a few of our neighbors have stopped by to say hello. It's going to be quite cozy, but I told the family not to get too attached. In two years we'll probably be doing this again.

Blessings!

New day dawning

I feel as if I am standing on the edge of dawn with the sky starting to lighten in the east. In a month I will move to Arlington National Cemetery. Yesterday, circumstances actually had me participating in my first funeral there. An airman from one of my squadrons had passed away after a long battle with cancer, one I thought he had won, but it came back upon him and God called him home. I had gotten to know him before I deployed while he was taking his first round of treatments at Walter Reed. A very brave, strong willed young man dealing with some very difficult challenges, he tackled each one with gusto and a not give up attitude. I had met his parents a year and a half ago when they came to visit. Yesterday I saw them once again as I spoke with them about their son.

The presiding chaplain was kind enough to allow me to participate in the service. It was a true privilege to render honors to him there at Arlington. I got to know some of the honor guard I'll be working with a bit more. I already know the chaplains as they just came from Andrews, and have known the chaplain assistants from prior working with them at Andrews.

I expect to be running as I leave out the door. Lots of things to do from preparing for the quarterly CAIB meeting, IDS items, wrapping up the supervision and mentoring of one of our chaplain candidates, out processing Andrews, continuing to get our records in order for an upcoming unit compliance inspection (I have a great NCO who is shouldering a big share of this task), a dozen other smaller items to complete and as always counseling and unit presence. And OAS (my terminal illness) has interfered slightly.

OAS??? -- Old Age Syndrome. Sorry... have to laugh at myself sometimes. But old men shouldn't go from running 3 miles to trying to run 12 miles, something I used to do weekly, but haven't done in a good six years. My left knee has stiffened up on me, forcing me to postpone my PFT that I was planning to do tomorrow, but now will likely have to push off a couple of weeks.

Top half great so far

It has been a great week so far. It started with my chaplain candidate coming in. He is a seminarian who is finishing up his education. Chaplain candidates do two month long tours for training and exposure at various installations. The one I am supervising is off to a running start, largely because he is experienced already being prior service and having some time as a candidate already in place. I am going to truly enjoy the experience of mentoring him.

My endorser stopped in for a few days as well. We were able to spend some time talking over ministry yesterday evening at dinner. Today he met with my Wing Commander and my supervising chaplain. It turned out to be a very nice visit that I hope was as much a source of encouragement to him as it was to myself and the folks I work with.

I have a special briefing on Friday as the Air Force IDS Chief is here to hear what our IDS team is doing at Andrews. And Saturday looks to be great fun as a bunch of DC area AF chaplains are going deep sea fishing together. I hope to catch one this big: <:-----------------------------<

Hopefully not a <:----^------<

LOL

Blessings

Kicking up the pace

This week turned out to be one of fairly high tempo. I anticipate the next month and a half until I transfer to Arlington to be more demanding. Our staff has shrunk by two people and I have picked up additional duties. Plus we had some unexpected items pop up this week.

Our staff was a little thin as our Wing Chaplain had just transfered and the next ranking Chaplain was TDY. We had a request to provide support for a funeral for Sen. Craig Thomas. I serve as the chapel's coordinator for funeral services. With the help of our team stepping up and rapidly making things happen along with some excellent above and beyond help from other Andrews folks like our 316th CES squadron, the chapel was ready and shining for the event. My wife even had the privilege of playing for the service.

I will be supervising a Chaplain Candidate for the next month for his annual tour. I'm looking forward to this opportunity to further expose and mentor a future minister.

I will be running point for the IDS and CAIB. IDS is composed of representative of selected offices specifically directing resources to enhancing the lives of our airmen. The CAIB is a higher level commander driven organization which is briefed by the agencies of the IDS, but ultimately sets the direction and policy. The IDS then serves as the action arm carrying out the plan. The Chapel is in charge of facilitating the CAIB at the moment, which will give me busy few weeks getting ready for our July meeting.

On top of this there is housing privatization for Andrews. We were planning to just stay and I was going to take the Metro to Arlington. We like having neighbors who share a common lifestyle with us coupled with the convenience of the commissary and BX. But we found a house in Arlington that has twice as much space, is 4 miles from the cemetery, and whose school systems runs circles around the schools we would utilize here. So we will also be moving in July.

So I a full and fruitful six weeks to come.

Memorial Day Remembrance

Remember. Who we are and who we want to be grows out of who we have been.

The war against evil has been waged as long as history has been remembered. Those who seek to harm others for selfish gain or sometimes out of pure desire for power or even as pure manifestations of hatred seem to always be with us. Between the forces of evil and destruction stand those who put on the uniform of service who apply force as necessary but always with honor and integrity obedient to higher values and in service to all people and to peace. Evil must never be tolerated. It often cannot be reason with. Compromise with evil has never proven effective. Often the price is great.

2500 years ago a huge force of Persians (from the area of modern day Iran) sought to invade and destroy Greek civilization (the cradle and birthplace of western civilization and western values of liberty). A small force of 300 Spartans and some 700 Thespians stood in the gap at Thermopylae to slow the advance and allow the Greeks time to muster for defense. They were slaughtered to the last man. But their sacrifice was key to the preservation of Greek culture from destruction by Persian forces. It has made all the difference. For out of the long tree of history planted in Greece arose the values of liberty and freedom. Buried in the words of great Greek thinkers, concepts such as these would spring to life as they were rediscovered and developed during the enlightenment and would give birth to the founding principles of our nation.

Remembrance. Why have we fought? Why do we fight? And what is worth fighting for? And what can happen when a civilization is unwilling to pay the price for its own defense?

Very soon I will transfer to Arlington National Cemetery where I will place many brothers in arms in their final resting places. It will be a profound privilege to honor those who have sacrificed of their lives to defend our nation and the principles upon which it is founded. Most of those funerals will be veterans of the greatest generation which fought against the tyrannies threatening the world in World War II. And perhaps there will be fellow warriors from this generations struggle to lay to rest. I am grateful for them all and for the sacrifice of all, living and dead, for their country. I am honored to counted amongst their company in some small way. They remind us of who we are, who we have been, and most importantly: who we should be.

Air Show 2007

F22 Raptor


Sheeeew! The Airshow is over! And the base heaves a sigh of relief, for a great deal of very hard work goes into preparing for the Andrews Airshow each year. This is my second time running point for the Chapel staff for the Airshow here at Andrews, and we ramped it up this year. Our team worked to prepare for disaster response in case of an accident, which thankfully was not called upon. We worked to host representatives of the various Chaplain Services as they were present to visit with show attendees. And our team put together a worship service on the flightline. Then closing out, up bright and early reporting at 0600 this morning for a FOD walk picking up debris from the flightline so that the various aircraft could safely depart. I have a day of rest tomorrow, for which I am truly thankful.

Once again the Airshow was a great success. Friday was somewhat chilly and threatened rain, but it never developed. Saturday and Sunday were perfect. Sometimes cloudy, but very temperate. And the performances were top notch once again.

Several highlights stood out to me. This being the 60th anniversary of the Air Force, there were many vintage aircraft flying, some pictured here. The best was the new F22 Raptor demonstrating its phenomenal maneuverability. Truly an impressive aircraft. Andrews was the second base to have this flying demonstration. The Thunderbirds closed out the days with their impressive acrobatic maneuvers. A must see if you ever have the chance.

Sunday morning, our team held a combined Protestant service in one of the Hangers. Our Senior Protestant chaplain preached and out newest team member put the service together and sang a great duet. It was truly a blessing to see many guests from the airshow and several service members here from other locations joining with our regulars for worship.

I also want to extend my thanks to the Army Chaplain Corp Recruiting service and to the Air Force Reserve Chaplain Recruiting service. We set up a booth representing the work chaplains do and these two groups had representatives there meeting people and describing the work of chaplains to those visiting the airshow. We had our own 316th Wing Chaplain display and gave out a pile of free books and literature that we had worked to secure. I have to thank the 316th CES squadron too for exceptional support in securing chairs for our worship space and the 316th Services squadron for loaning us a gator to remove our worship items following the service. Andrews demonstrates the meaning of "team" at every corner.






Flash and thunder. The birds are in the house - the Joint Service Open House 2007 that is.













The first Air Force demonstration teams... yesteryear still flies.











Nice example of precision flying. As much as I love jets, I grew up on stories of WWII prop planes. I love to watch these guys in action.











The Navy was in the house. F-18 Super Hornet buzzes the field.












Yes, those are people hanging from that helicopter.












Gotta love it. Watching this WWII bomber fly over Andrews, made me feel as if I had been transported back to our not so distant past. Here is a bird that helped liberate Europe from the Nazis. Inspiring as we fight a different kind of war for the same liberty.










Thunderboldts in a cloudless sky. Early WWII fighter. P-47













B-25 (Billie) Mitchel medium bomber. Another instrument in the defense of liberty in the hands of those who are named the greatest generation. May our own generation defend liberty with such honor and dedication.

This is the class of plane flown off the Carrier USS Hornet in the response bombing raid against Tokyo only months after December 11 showing the Japanese War machine it was not safe from US war power.




The P-51 taught us what can happen when you have Air Superiority and dominance.

I hope we don't forget it.

A True Honor

Sometimes, one is handed an opportunity that touches one's spirit in humility. Serving as a minister of God and as a chaplain offers many opportunities to serve. I am touched every time someone opens up to me and allows me to have some influence in their lives.

While I was deployed I remembering hearing of a fellow Air Force officer who was killed at my location some time in the past during a rocket attack. Yesterday, I baptized his grandson, who was named in his honor. Not only have I served with him here and in my deployed location, but the family is also from my church body, the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod. The day was a special day for me as I was able to meet many people in the family including his widow, his mom and dad, his daughter and other family. His parents had traveled from Minnesota and his wife's family had traveled from Washington State for the baptism. It was a true privilege and honor to provide this service to his family.

Reflecting on military service

My family's trip back to Tennessee, the first in two years, had us comparing our new lives in the military with the life of parish ministry. We found ourselves missing our friends and the area we lived in. DC has some great advantages in things to see and do, but the county surrounding our base is in a high crime area and there are serious doubts about the quality of the schools. We are blessed to have some great teachers for our daughter in school now, but I hear of concerns from folks with older children. But there are huge benefits too. Living on base is like living in Maybury on the Andy Giffith Show.

Last night our neighbors came over in mass to help us celebrate my wife's 40th birthday. A big surprise for her, as she thought I was too busy and had forgotten. One of our neighbors was conspicuously absent, and upon investigation, we found she is in the hospital with complications regarding her pregnancy. We were able to round up the calvary to support her family, even as the neighborhood is celebrating and rejoicing in the arrival at home of another child who a month ago was on a heart and lung machine. We miss our friends, but we have made some great new ones. The neighborhood is overflowing with children, a huge blessing for our own children to have someone their own age to spend time with.

Work continues to be a blessing. The pace is stiff. And speaking of stiff, we had unit PT Wednesday and I decided to see what I can do with a mile and a half. My time is down from last year and I was stiff and sore following, which tells me in the six weeks I have until my PT test I have some training to do. If Stallone can get in shape for his latest Rocky movie, I can do this too as an old man! ;)

I'm going to have to contend though we loosing a few days out from PT. I'm going to get to experience military medicine next week as I have wisdom teeth cut out. The down side is I still have stuff that has to be done, so I suspect I'll be making my way into my office to accomplish a few things, though on some good pain killers I hope. But it is all good.

I was also blessed this week to speak with a friend who is still serving in Iraq where I was deployed. I rejoiced in his promotion and his being able to come home for some time with his family. And O, if you read this, the fudge is on the way. My wife and I shipped him and his unit 15 pounds of homemade fudge. The fudge she sent over last fall left a lasting impression with some folks.

Trip to Tennessee

You can ask people who know me and they will tell you that I will speak of how proud I am to be a Tennessee hillbilly. I grew up in those beautiful mountains of East Tennessee. Opportunities to return home always recharge me and fill me with bittersweet memories of friends and place that I don't often get to visit. But this past week my family and I were able to return home for a short time. We traveled through Kingsport down to Dayton to visit friends from my former parish. I spent Wednesday with the JROTC at Rhea Central Highschool to say thank you for their phenomenal support for my work in Kirkuk during my deployment. They where instrumental in the collecting and mailing of thousands of cases of Little Debbie cakes to my deployed location for the troops and airmen manning the Airbase.

I spoke with all five classes showing them some picture of the places and people in Kirkuk and then spoke of the general mission and the work of chaplains in a deployed location. I truly enjoyed my time with them. There are some very sharp young people there, many of whom are planning to enter military service this summer and fall. I believe our military will benefit from having them.

I want to thank M&T for having us down. It was truly great to see old friends. I am very proud of Little T who is giving success a whole new definition. This young man is blowing college away and already is developing a reputation with certain government leadership as someone worth listening to and depending upon.

I stopped by and saw my friend Kevin at his cafe Jacob Meyers Deli. It was great when I left over two years ago. It has only gotten better. They have now installed a great cappuccino machine. I truly urge that if you pass through Dayton, to enjoy this stop downtown as one of the highlights that Dayton has to offer. It was sad though to see how Dayton seems to be in a time of downsizing. Many local businesses have closed up including our favorite place for dinner at the Western Sizzler. But word has it that TVA is bringing in lots of folks so property values are starting to rise and I suspect businesses will be coming back if so. Spring City has changed a great deal and is looking great. I am also proud of the work that Manny has down with the local YMCA. It is looking great too.

I think that one of the highlights of the trip was to visit with the Engel family. I was honored to do a baptism for one of the children in the family. I presented them with coins from Andrews AFB where I am stationed. I presented the couple who were most instrumental in starting the collection of Little Debbie cakes for Kirkuk with a flag flown during one of our medivacs from Kirkuk to Ballad. It was a special moment and bittersweet for I find that I truly miss these people. They were a blessing to my ministry in Rhea County, continued to bless my ministry in Kiruk, and are a true blessing to all they work with and who call them friends. I wish I could always have parishes filled with Christian servants like these.

Passing back through Tennessee, I spent a day with my mother taking a few hours to run an old mountain trail that I used to run in college. I miss that too. I'm still a bit stiff and sore. Being 40 isn't like being 30. Who knew?

We also made sure to hit the Super Walmart while in town. We have shopping in DC, but the stores are usually trashed and it is very difficult to find tasteful items that are not hanging damaged on the rack. Plus people are just rude to one another here. So we took advantage of good old fashioned southern shopping and laid in the clothes and some other things for the kids. All in all a good trip to the store.

Remembering the Blue Angels

I have had the privilege to twice see the Blue Angels in action. Some years ago, while I was in the Navy, I saw them perform in Tennessee. Last year I saw them perform here at Andrews during our Joint Service Open House. The picture to the left is offered as a tribute to their service.

My prayers and condolences go to the family of the angel lost today and to his teammates.

Assigned to Arlington National Cemetary

I have the official word. My nomination to Arlington National Cemetery has been approved. I'll be transferring there toward the end of the summer.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/

Lots of stuff is in the air these days. I'm to have a wisdom tooth out in a few weeks. One finally decided to move after sitting still for 40 years.

It was a sad week for us here. We bid farewell to a one tremendous commander who past away over the weekend. This man was truly an outstanding person, someone I looked up to as an example of leadership and quiet Christian confidence. My wife and I had his family, and several of our chaplains, and the man's commanding officer over for Easter dinner. These opportunities to get involved and make a difference truly make it worth while to be part of this ministry. Once again my wife did an outstanding job putting together a first class meal for 20 folks. We all have our giftedness and our vocations for service. Together, we make a difference to one another.

I just returned from the ASF, the unit in the hospital that takes care of the wounded returning from over seas. I had quite a bit of opportunity for visitation and counseling tonight. I truly admire the Red Cross volunteers who are always there. Some of those volunteers seem as if they live there.

There is a great deal I'll miss about Andrews. I'll miss the 5 minute drive to work, especially fighting DC traffic to get to Virginia. I'll miss the incredible team I work with here at Andrews from our chapel staff to the folks in the units. I'll miss the great diversity in opportunities to reach out to our servicemembers and rub shoulders with them. I'll miss visiting with the wounded and leading my worship service.

But Arlington opens up new avenues for ministry. It provides the opportunity to honor those who have served their nation well and to comfort loved ones as they bid the family member goodbye. As a Christian chaplain I feel that I and my fellows have something to say about death. O grave where is your sting? O grave where is your victory? There is reason for hope and that reason is tremendous.

Today, I was asked to do an invocation for one of our Master Sergeants who was retiring after 22 years of faithful service. Being a Christian, he asked me to share a Christian witness and prayer. I spoke briefly from 1 Corinthians about the giftedness of folks and then prayed with thanksgiving for how God has used this man and his gifts to serve his nation and asked God to bless his continued life with service. This man gave a bold witness to the role that his faith has played in his life and his service. It was a true honor to share this moment and to be asked to speak to him, his family, and his friends.

Holy Week at Andrews

This has been a special week for me. As a Christian, this week holds special significance as we celebrate the holy days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and tomorrow Easter. I conducted two Good Friday services. A shorter devotion at noon focusing on Psalm 22 and envisioning the cross, and later in the evening a Tenebrae service. The Tenebrae is one of my favorite services throughout the year. Tomorrow I'll be up early for our 6am sunrise service and will be conducting the Easter celebration for my regular morning service.

I spent quite a bit of time this week working on preparations for the upcoming airshow, the Joint Service Open House. We look to have a substantial chaplain presence there for the public to learn more about what the various Chaplain Services bring to the fight.

I've also been fairly engaged in caring for a family whose child has been very sick. We are celebrating that the news has been good this week.

Debbie, my wife, has been working very hard, especially today. We are going to have several of our staff over for dinner tomorrow afternoon including some family of one of our folks who is very sick in the hospital. My wife has an incredible spirit of giving and is hugely gifted in the art of cooking. She is a true support of my ministry in so many ways. She makes me much better at what I do that I could ever be by myself.

The week has also been a big one as I received some big news. I have been given a new assignment. While the assignment is official, I'm going to wait a bit to announce where and when I am going. But I've known about the possibility since even before I returned home from the desert because I was told I was being nominated for this particular assignment which only a few Air Force chaplains have the opportunity to do. Being a special duty assignment, it has its pluses and its challenges.

I wasn't looking for an assignment. My plan was to finally settle in without facing long TDYs or deployments for a bit of time so that I could invest some time in leading my congregation and interfacing with my squadrons at a deeper level. And I truly enjoy being part of this team. The pace is quick but it is a true joy going to work each day. However, as the saying goes, "flexibility is the key to airpower". I think this new assignment will be just as rewarding for a number of reasons including the big one of knowing and enjoying who I will be working with.