Beneath the Air Force Memorial

These are fields of honor spread out beneath the Air Force Memorial.

There is a great deal of history here, a great deal of valor and sacrifice, stretching back through the corridors of time to the Civil War itself. The trees are peaking in their color and once again the seasons shift as time progresses. There is in the midst of the passage of time, something timeless about Arlington - the values that lead men and women to serve country even with the risk that such service may call forth the ultimate price. It is humbling to be part of what Arlington is about. Arlington is far more than the trees, and the green fields; the new crisp stones and the weathered ones; more than the view. As I share in each service, "this is hallowed ground, hallowed by the service and sacrifice of those who are buried here."

Hallowed is an ancient word, far older than Arlington, but likely not more ancient than war and struggle to defend oneself and one's loved ones against oppression and tyranny. Hallowed means to be set apart and above for a special and unique purpose. In religious though it pertain that which is sacred and of the realm of God. But there is a hallowedness to military service as well. For military service is first and foremost service. For the Air Force, this expressed in one of our core values "service before self". Arlington is ground set aside to recognize, honor, and inscribe in stone the remembrance of those who gave their life in that service. In my opinion, the honor is not bestowed through burial here, but recognized. The honor is bestowed in the faithful service of those who buried here.

I am blessed to work along side every day some of the most dedicated and honorable people I have ever known. I'll also admit than when I walk or drive through the pathways of the cemetery, I smile when I see the arches of the Air Force Memorial rising up over the treeline of this ground - for each arch reminds me of a core value that I truly believe are more than just words for the Air Force - but are truly lived by our service members every day: integrity, excellence in all we do, and service before self. Those arches remind me of why I am here. They challenge to rise and meet their challenge for service.

Profound Honor

There is a part of our honors ceremony that is most profound to me - the most profound 3 seconds of my day. It comes after I have presented the flag to the next of kin, and having risen, look down at them and execute a 3 second salute of that very flag in honor of their loved one's service to our nation.

Every salute, the same motion, the same honor - but a unique family, a unique pair of eyes that I look into, a unique story, a unique contribution.

Last weekend I traveled with our honor guard to Pennsylvania to pay that honor to young man who lost his life in Iraq. Irwin PA is a beautiful town full of beautiful patriotic people. All over town the flags were at half staff. Members of the Patriot Guard came from all over to pay tribute as well. Local law enforcement and fire were out in force. It was a cold crisp day and I am very proud of the job done by the young men and women of the Air Force honor guard. They were precise and incredible. I was honored to stand by their side to conduct the graveside services. After the service I stopped to grab a cup of hot coffee to warm up at a local convenience store. Still in uniform, I had a number of people approach and thank me for the service our team rendered. I was very moved by their loving words of support not just for the family but also for the troops and airmen who remain fighting the war. Sometimes I wonder if our people really get this war, what it is about, why it has to be fought, and why it has to be won. But I'm convinced the people I talked to in this small town get it.

Last Tuesday, I conducted graveside services for for another young man, whose family had come to Arlington to bury him here in these fields of honor. He died in the same blast as the man I buried on Saturday. He made the same sacrifice. Once again, it was a profound honor to serve his wife and children, to serve his fellow airmen who grieved his loss. I read with deep appreciation a comment the man himself had made not long before his death about the importance of his service and the job he was doing and how the tide turning and we are winning. I journeyed to Andrews for the funeral and rode back with the family in a motorcade to Arlington. Here too law enforcement had turned out in mass, the thin blue line showing tribute to one of their own who happened to serve in the military.

That is one of the big things I like about the Air Force. We are professional. We are good at what we do. We get the job done. He know about -- we live integrity, honor, excellence, service. But we are also family. We surround one another and care for one another. I shared with both families that today or years from now, if they need us to reach to us - their Air Force family - because we will not forget. And we will not fail.

These days I remind myself quite often when I listen to the news and comments of some various folks, the works of Rocky Balboa in the latest installment of the Rocky series: "It's not about how hard you can hit... It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward... that's how winning is done."

pacis ex victoria

Thanksgiving Day Interview

Thanksgiving Day Fox News radio is going to have an news special about troops and their life in forward deployed location including a segment with an Air Force chaplain. I look forward to hearing this, but I have to laugh thinking about it.

Monday night I checked my email for the first time in several days. To my utter shock and surprise I had an invitation to be interviewed by Fox for this segment. I had read an article by one of their correspondents about how he was in the process of loosing half his body weight, something I myself had to contend with 20 years ago today. (Yep, believe it or not - I topped out at 320 when I was 22). I had written him a quick note to encourage him to keep with it and he had written back that they wished to find an AF chaplain for this segment. They were taping at 1400 (2pm) yesterday, so I informed and secured the permission of my supervising chaplain, and from Public Affairs in my chain of command. IN the midst of this I was attending a meeting for my supervising chaplain and a uniform fitting for cold weather over at Bolling. But everything came together like clockwork. My colleague having graciously took my funeral, and I was arriving at Fox having made my way through DC traffic, (almost as difficult as loosing the weight so many years ago) when I received a call from the Air Force Chief of Chaplains office explaining that they had arranged for a phone interview with the command chaplain who is currently deployed for CENTAF and that I didn't need to report for the interview. So I made my way back out of downtown and experienced once again the joy of trying to figure out how to get back to where you came from with all DC's one way streets. I finally wound up over on the east side of the belt way before I found something I recognized. That is one nice thing about the belt way - if you get disoriented you will eventually run into it somewhere. It was a hectic day. I had a nice cup of cappuccino once I got home.

I do look forward to hearing the segment especially to compare how things are going now compared to how they were going when I was deployed with the troops last Thanksgiving and Christmas. I recall Thanksgiving fondly, because that night we were being shelled. It was after the service and we were still locked down from the shelling and a handfull of us were still there, including some who have become my friends from the EMEDS unit. We sat around finishing off my wife's famous fudge and singing Christmas carols. It truly was a grand time. I was glad to have my friends with me as a box of fudge is a huge tempation to an ex fat guy.

Fall and the Great Generation

Fall has finally arrived at Arlington, though the recent drought has dimmed the color throughout the cemetery according to those who work here. Friday was our first cold and rainy day. By afternoon I think everyone was cold and soggy including the horses that pull the caisson. But that is part of the job knowing that we go in all weather - the mission will always be accomplished here - to honor those who have served their country in uniform.

I have had some very touching funerals in the past few weeks. There are so many unique stories. I have had a memorial service for a man shot down in Korea whose remains have yet to be recovered. A young man killed in a motor cycle accident. An 82 year old man killed in an accident with a car while he was riding his bicycle. Many unique ones. Almost all my services are connected to veterans or dependents of World War II.

As I hear their stories from their loved ones and sometimes read their stories through tributes and official military documents, I have come to see that perhaps the description of "the greatest generation" is not lost upon them. I would certainly rate today's soldier, sailor, marine, or airman up there with any warrior of that age. And indeed they are engaged in titanic struggle of huge scope and perhaps even more important consequence, but truly there was something special about the generation that saved the world from the tyranny and dominance of Nazi Germany and Japan.

Thinking of that generation, one too has to remember, that the men and women who went off to fight the war, and the men and women who remained at home, did not have the advantage of knowing they would win. They believed they could win. They knew they had to win. And they were committed to winning. But they didn't know, like we know, that they won.

I have a strategy game that reenacts WWII that I enjoy playing from time to time. But knowing how the war went makes it much easier to win the game. How much easier decisions and effort would be if we could someone jump to the last page of the book and ready how it turns out - or at least get some hints about how to reach a successful conclusion beyond the investment of will, reason, and perhaps plain and pure guts. But will, reason, and plain and pure guts is what they had for they didn't have the advantage of hindsight, the possession of the last page of the book. The outcome was far from certain in the early days and costs were high, but they did not quibble.

Costs were high. We have lost some 3,800 casualties in Iraq, and unless I am mistaken, not all that number is due to combat losses. Illnesses, accidents, suicides, and so forth are included I believe. Each death is one to be mourned and a terrific cost in defense of liberty. But the costs of the WWII generation were staggering. Sometimes the first day of a campaign's opening would bring more casualties than our 6 years combined in the war against terror. But they believed they could not afford the cost of loosing. They believed before they knew - before the last page was written - before the pictures - concentration camps, dead children, dead mothers, fathers, grandparents, entire families, emaciated bodies of the survivors. They believed before certain evidence of a desire by those who considered themselves superior in breeding and philosophy to the rest of the human race who considered they had a destiny to rule all others - that liberty was the enemy of human achievement and rule by the select to be our end. How the world would be different had the men and women of the great generation quibbled. But they did not. With penetrating insight they believed. They looked, considered, understood the tremendous price and sacrifice demanded, but understood the cost of not going forth, girded up their courage with with reason, will, and pure guts and went forth determined to not loose for the sake of liberty, for the sake of their children and grandchildren. I am one of those grandchildren. Perhaps so are you. Enslaved nations were liberated. Conquered nations were set free, rebuilt, and have become tremendous allies of liberty in the world.

It is a true honor at the graveside of one of these airmen to manifest the honor and the debt that this nation has for them. But not for warriors alone. I do almost as many funerals for wives and sometimes the dependent husband. And this is where the generation that my uncle who past away last Friday, who fought at Bastone, truly becomes Magnus - (Great). It was not just the nation's men taking up the shield and spear of war and sallying forth into defense of liberty and justice but those who remained at home who committed themselves to winning the war. Manufacturing plants hummed. Food and other goods were shared and people went without that supplies could be sent forth. Even children collected scrap metal. The entire nation reasoned, willed, and went forward with determination to win. Of course I speak with hyperbole, for there were then, as always detractors, doubters, contesters. But that generation would have no whisper of doubt, no whiff of defeat, no weakness of knee detract it from the only reasonable path before it in the face of what was coming. Victory. For surrender was death, perhaps slow, perhaps in the future, but death for liberty to be certain. Death of a dream. Death of what our nation stood for. And this the great generation, this the Magni, could not stand - so forth they marched, at great cost, to great and tragically necessary victory.

Every year the seasons come and go. Summer if followed by fall and temperatures cool and colors bloom. But the winds of coolness remind us that time passes and winter will come. So we gird ourselves and prepare for service in the cold, the rain, the snow, and the ice because it must be done. But Spring comes too. New life. New hope. But even in the midst of spring one knows that to all things there is a season. A time for peace. A time for war. Soon summer comes again. Once again fall comes and winter will rear its cold head. We do what must be done in all kinds of weather - with the same dedication every day, every time heat or cold beautiful day or cold dreary rainy day - for each family, each servant has earned the gratitude and the honor that is our privilege to represent on behalf of the nation at Arlington.

The Serenity of Arlington

The family and I have settled into our new location in Alexandria VA. The area is night and day different from the area Andrews sits in. The schools are something to brag on. (Though I have to say, my oldest had great teachers last year, even if the school system Andrews sits in is challenged.) What is most noticeable is the attitude of folks here when you go shopping or out to a restaurant. They are friendly. People's attitudes are entirely different on this side of the Potomac. There is courtesy and respect. At Andrews, we tended to just stay on base to avoid the rudeness encountered when we tried to go shopping or out to eat. We do miss our friends from on base and our kids miss their friends, but we try to take them over periodically to visit.


I've been at Arlington for close to a month now. It is a most serene and profound place to serve our nation. It is a place where, as a chaplain, I have the opportunity to live out the vision of the Air Force Chaplain service to Glorify God, Honor Airmen, and Serve All. Already I have conducted funeral services for many families both of faithful wives and of dedicated warriors.

At Arlington, the flag honors those whose honored the flag with their service.

So what is it like. The cemetery itself is a very moving and serene place.

These pictures attest to the serenity and dignity that is Arlington National Cemetery. I admit I am very moved as I drive to work past the Air Force Memorial, because the shadow the memorial falls over the cemetery. There are few places within the cemetery proper that one cannot view the Memorial rising skyward.

People are most familiar with the rows of simple white stones arrayed in precision marking the resting places of those who have finished their course in this life. But the cemetery has much personality. There are many older areas where the stones are quite unique. Each has its special story to tell.

The service itself is an event to experience and treasure.

For a Full Honors service, I will meet at the transfer site with the Air Force Honor Guard and the Non-commissioned Officer in Charge or the Officer in Charge. As the family approached, the entire detail including honor guard and band snap to attention. As the hearse draws past, we slowly salute the flag that accompanies the remains, dropping the salute and moving to the position of rest as the hearse passes. When all is ready, all are called to attention and members of the honor guard carefully and precisely transfer the remains to the caisson, a horse drawn carriage. Then we march to the grave side in formation to the music of the Air Force band.

At the grave side, the chaplain leads the team bearing the remains to the grave, or if it is the columbarium, the the central pavilion. There the chaplain conducts a short service of tribute to the person's service. Sometimes an escorting minister will conduct the religious portion of the service. Often the chaplain provides this for the family. Then military honors are rendered. The flag, which has been held motionless over the body by the honor guard for the duration of the service, is now precisely folder and presented to the chaplain with a final salute, who then turns and presents it to the next of kin offering the final salute to this flag which is now retired from service in honor of the military member who is being buried. At this point, an Arlington lady, one of our fine volunteers, comes forward and offers condolences to the family members. Following this, the chaplain offers his personal condolences and comfort and the ceremony is concluded.

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.