Spring!

I've been watching ole' man willow for some weeks now. Last week he started putting on some green, the first sign of spring coming. Today the daffodils are up, the dogwoods and cherry blossoms are in full bloom, in general an all around beautiful spring day. By afternoon the sun was out and it was warming up. A wonderful day to be doing ceremonies in the cemetery.

I had two funerals today. My first was a full honors ceremony with a fly over by 1st Heli out of Andrews. I always enjoy hearing their birds come over as they practice their runs up and down the Potomac. Today was the first time I've had them do a flyover for a ceremony. This ceremony was also quite special not only because of the noble character of the individual we were honoring but because of the privilege of doing the ceremony with our Air Force Chief of Staff.

This afternoon was a much smaller ceremony but no less important, as a daughter and her children laid to rest a beloved mother and grandmother.

My time at Arlington has taught me and reminded me of many things: service, valor, honor, sacrifice, memory -- but not least among the things I've learned is that at the end of the day, when labor is done and recognition is past, ribbons and medals have faded, and time calls for us to journey onward -- that which is greatest the testimony of all is the love that shines in the eyes and remains in the hearts of our family and friends.

I will miss Arlington and the incredible privilege it is to serve these heroes and their families of our great nation when it comes time to move on.

I will be moving on. Soon. I am in my last months here. New challenges and new places of service await, but who I am will always be shaped in part by my last two years here.

Humble Ground

Thursday saw me driving through the beautiful hills of Pennsylvania toward Pittsburgh to attend a conference on utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

It was a rainy day off an on with fog winding its way through both valleys and tree tops along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I took an intended detour toward Shanksville, where I visited the site of flight 93's crash that fateful day on 11 September. It is a quite rural place. The last leg of the journey travels an unassuming gravel road past a rather large eyesore of a salvage yard to crest a hill where one looks down upon a humble temporary memorial. From the hill top one can gaze 360 degrees around at the golden fields and surrounding tree lines.

There were two volunteers there, but no one else. I had the site to myself with the rain and the cold wind. The crash site itself is located in a field some three hundred yards distant, marked by a lone American flag.

Perhaps it was the cold or the wind driven rain, but nothing visible generated a sense of awe or wonderment. Nonetheless, awe was there. What is rather humble ground is wrapped in meaning -- the meaning of story, the meaning of memory. Here a plane crashed that was meant for somewhere in the capitol of our nation, a target located but a few miles from my home and from where I work. Ordinary Americans took back that plane and surrendered their lives to save others. Ordinary Americans achieved the first victory in the war on terror, a great cost, but it was a total victory. This particular band of terrorists was thwarted. It was worth a moment to stop, reflect, and pray - a prayer of thanksgiving for Americans such as these and a prayer for their families and friends. A time to remember why this war must be won for the cost of failure is far too high.

I made my way into Pittsburg which quickly became quite a contrast to the beauty and serenity of the Penn countryside and the charming small towns. I found my hotel even though my GPS kept telling me I was somewhere else. I suspect the overwhelming jungle of metal was interfering with its signal. It has been awhile since I've stayed in a convention focused hotel so should not have been surprised by $3.50 for a diet coke. That turned out to be good for me, as I drank more water than I normally do. The seminar itself was one of the best seminars I have attended. It accomplished its goal without being too much or too little. It was more than worth the time and effort.

My return trip was enjoyable as well. The rain had lifted and the sun was shining in a cloud filled with fluffy cumulus clouds. The views as the roadway rises and descends through these upper Apalachian mountains was soul refreshing. That and traffic was fairly light without a sign of an infernal political bumper sticker on every car in sight (of course that changed once I came within range of the DC beltway).

Honor

Today is Medal of Honor Day.

The Medal of Honor is our nation's highest military award. Arlington National Cemetery is home to over 300 of these award winners.

SPC McGinnis is found in the infamous section 60 of Arlington. A fellow Lutheran and brother in Christ, he gave his life for the lives of his brothers in arms.

I make it my habit if I am anywhere near his grave in section 60 for ceremonies or otherwise, to detour to his grave and render a salute.

Likewise, if I am near to SFC Smith's grave, I will stop and render a salute. These two gravesites and the gravesites of those active duty casualties in the war on terror are the most special of ground to me personally at Arlington. I have buried veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and some serving in more than one of these wars. I guess when my time comes, my war will have been the War on Terror. I pray that once it is finally won, it will be my last one.

there is...
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

NIV Ecclesiastes 3:8

_________________________________________

Private First Class Ross McGinnis

a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Knox Pennsylvania

Our Bible tells us that God gave up his only son to die for us so that we may live. But Romayne and I are not gods. We can't see the future, and we didn't give our son to die, knowing that he will live again. We gave him to fight and win and come home to us and marry and grow old and have children and grandchildren. But die he did, and his mother, dad and sisters must face that fact and go on without him, believing that someday we will meet again. Heaven is beyond our imagination and so we must wait to see what it's like. -- his parents
(from Arlington Cemetery.net)

MACRO & MICRO

between emptiness and meaning
between despair and hope
between surrender and faith
____________________________

This was a week of contrasts. One starts a week orientated toward expectations, as one readies for a storm observed flowing in from the west. Monday was a beautiful day which saw me doing a long run early in the morning in the pre-spring coolness. I was looking forward to a number of morning and evening runs in what was shaping up to be a spring like week, but was not to be as a particular "nasty critter" (my doc's words, not mine) decided to a make a home in my innards.

This week I had the opportunity, indeed a most rare privilege for a chaplain of my position, of sitting in and providing logistical assistance for the COCOM Chaplain's conference this week. COCOM is military jargon for combatant commanders. Their senior chaplains conclaved this week. I had the opportunity to hear their discussions and the briefings from the various flag officers and our Chief of Chaplains to them concerning today and the expected future.

I have spent many weeks, months even, in formal military education since coming on active duty. I believe the last few days was the most horizon expanding learning I have received of them all. Of course having all that previous education, and SOS just recently which explores all the various interchanges of military organization, prepared me to make sense of all that was put forward. But wow. Comprehension blooming to some degree of the macro scale of military chaplaincy throughout the world, today and tomorrow.

Leaving the Pentagon in the afternoon of the final day, it was nice, warm and sunny. Walking tends to relieve the symptoms of my particular nasty uninvited guest to whom I am playing host, so I walked back to my vehicle parked at my designated spot at Arlington. With thoughts of grand strategy still echoing through my head regarding chaplaincy in the face of grand national strategy, I happened upon one particular grave in the infamous section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. Perhaps it was the bright contrast of reds and yellows against the pure white marble, that drew my eye, but looking downward my attention was captured by a short line of script on a weathered card attached to still bright flowers.

"Happy Birthday honey. We miss you."

Encasing my new macro orientation was this reminder: this is what a chaplain's ministry is about.

As the soldier stands in the breech between murder and peace; mayhem and security, so a chaplain stands in the gap between emptiness and meaning; between despair and hope; between surrender and faith.

Questions

I was asked several profound questions today. First, I spent some time working with some JROTC cadets at a local school as I had a bit of open time this morning. One very bright young lady approached and after asking how dangerous serving in the military truly was, asked this question, "why is there a big war any way?"

Wow. She is probably about 13 or 14 which means she was probably five or six when Sept 11th happened. I started talking to her and the kids with her. They were for the most part not aware in any way of the cultural differences between the western world or the middle east, did not comprehend the nature and size of the threat presented by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations nor did they really seem to have given much thought to the fact that the United States is only part of a much larger wider world. But... they were starting to be aware of greater realities, and perhaps of the great challenges facing their generation as the world continues to shrink due to globalization and other factors.

A bit later, as I was working through various medical channels to begin to clear my path for my change of duty station that is coming later this summer, I had the opportunity to speak with an airman as I was an hour or so early for an appointment. He asked me a poignant question during the context of my encouraging him to pursue his college degree and dream to be a doctor. He asked, "how can I made sense of medicine which is supposed to be about saving lives, but I may be ordered to take the life of an unborn child or use a treatment created from an unborn child --I just can't see an embryo as so many body parts?" Wow. More deep thinking by a young man in a generation that is wrestling with huge questions brought about by capabilities from our increasing technological prowess. Then he asked me a profound question, "Chaplain, if you or someone you loved were sick, would you use a treatment that required me to harvest an unborn child from someone?"

If he doesn't make a doctor, he'd make a great philosopher -- or minister. The beginning of wisdom is the asking of questions, for beliefs come easy, but truth -- that is most difficult of all - but also the most easy, for truth is what is.

All this in light of a question I've been pondering for the last week after learning that only 4% or so of the current generation sees value in going to church and reading story after story following a a study that the number of folks who find value in religion is shrinking. That question is how can I as a person of faith and how can the Christian community share the value of religious insight in a way that is respectful and will gain a hearing, that can help people not only value our Creator and Redeemer but also find value in each and every other person.

I feel like Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings as he stands in the cozy abode of his friend Bilbo's home looking off into the distance, but in truth looking into the accumulated wisdom of his life and mumbles to himself, "riddles in the dark".

In some ways I believe our nation is like these young people, one a bit younger than the other. Waking up to the greater possibilities and challenges to life in this world. And as the young airman, wrestling with question of what kind of person (or in the case of a nation: people) shall I/we be. These are all questions about belief. Even the decision to not believe in God for instance is a decision about belief. Belief systems. Whether I listen to commentary on NPR, Fox News, MSNBC (which I avoid because being a philosophy major the plethora of logical fallacies gives me heartburn in most cases depending on the commentator), CNN, or read the major news papers or even just scan comments posted by people on controversial topics, one thing jumps out at me. Competing belief systems. Name calling, labeling, all the tricks and trade of amateur and professional rhetoricians come into play in a great battle of competing belief systems. But common to most of the arguments I read, even the ones that most fit my own belief system, is a lack of humility, a lack of openess to being wrong, and even a lack of willingness to take a stand at personal cost when one is right.

It is not going to be an easy world for our young people to live in. They have substantial questions to answer, substantial challenges, probably many yet anticipated, to face and resolve. And perhaps the greatest question of all in the face of merging cultures, ideas, and increasing technological power over our environment and our own physical bodies - what sort of people shall we be. What will it mean to be "human"? Will we surrender the view that we are special, created in God's image, with each individual having value and potential upon which our nation was built for some Darwinesk battle for survival of the fittest with the weak and defenseless utilized as a resource for those who are stronger?

Our race does not have the best of track records when it comes to respecting and fostering human values consistently over the long hall. Our history if full of war and conquest, rape, and slavery.

In many ways the questions that face human beings today because of the possibilties brought about by technology in the areas of global engineering and even human bioengineering are similar to the questions our nation faced 100 years ago - and even continued to face in the struggle for civil rights - do we believe "all people are created equal" or are some to be considered as tools, raw material, resources for use by the strong.

Will we follow the way of Jesus or Nietsche or some course leaning one way or the other?

But no matter the course, in the end, for every individual person our destination is the same. As seen in the shrouded markers of Arlington above, we came from dust and to dust we shall return. Humility and perhaps gratefulness mixed with grace and kindness is the order for the day.

Smoke, Fire, Freedom, Memory

Boom. The dread smell of gunpowder filled the air just west of Washington DC this past Sunday afternoon as men and boys lined up and took fire at one another.

Authentic re-enactors fought a mock battle at a Civil War fort here, but simulated a battle from the Revolutionary War to mark the birthdays of President Washington and President Lincoln. With some imagination one could feel as if he were observing a small skirmish in this long war from long ago that established our nation and in many ways changed the course of the world.

As I took this last photo, I thought to myself how opponents of liberty have always been willing to kill in the name of tyranny and how patriots have always been willing to fight and even die if necessary for freedom.

p.s. Don't let the "redcoat" fool you. This young man was a drummer for the American side.

Escort Duty

I had the distinct pleasure of providing support for this year's Senior Statesman Symposium once again. Held at Bolling Air Force base, this symposium gathers the retired 4-star officers of the Air Force together. As I looked across the conference room, I could not help but reflect upon the magnitude of the gathered wisdom and heritage therein. These were the men who shaped the Air Force as we have it today. Most of them are still quite active in service and leadership to our nation and a plethora of roles. I was asked why it was that I volunteered to serve once again and the answer was easy. It is a rare opportunity to have an opportunity to interact with these leaders, not one to be passed up.

Bolling sits on the Potomac River. Looking north, one can see into our capitol itself, and across the river is Reagan National Airport. I took the picture to the right last fall standing on the bank of the Potomac.

It will be a cold day in...Alexandria

16 degrees. That's what my thermostat said tonight as I finished up my run this evening. Needed to be rid of some stress.

It was brisk this morning too for my funeral ceremony. But I've found that with the right type and number of layers underneath, the ceremonial uniform does just fine in the cold weather. It was bright, crisp, and quiet - a beautiful morning for a ceremony.

I've been reading the news this evening with interest. Some things that don't really surprise me and one that did. The economic news and the housing bust, I've been anticipating for several years, a key reason I didn't purchase a house when coming to DC. So, news about the negotiations regarding the economic stimulus didn't surprise me. I learned deployment history to be removed from promotion briefs.

And I learned that the charges were dropped against USS Cole bombing suspect.

________________________________________

Killed in the Attack on the USS Cole

Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
Signalman Seaman Recruit Cheron Luis Gunn, Rex, Georgia.
Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, Norfolk, Virginia.
Seaman Recruit Lakiba Nicole Palmer, San Diego, California.
Operations Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, Ringgold, Virginia.
Ensign Andrew Triplett, Macon, Mississippi.
Seaman Apprentice Craig Bryan Wibberley, Williamsport, Maryland.
Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class, Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, Mechanicsville, Virginia.
Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, Woodleaf, North Carolina.
Information Systems Technician Seaman Timothy Lee Gauna, Rice, Texas
Engineman 2nd Class Mark Ian Nieto, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class Ronald Scott Owens, Vero Beach, Florida.
Engineman Fireman Joshua Langdon Parlett, Churchville, Maryland.
Fireman Apprentice Patrick Howard Roy, Cornwall on Hudson, New York.
Electronics Warfare Technician 2nd Class Kevin Shawn Rux, Portland, North Dakota.
Mess Management Specialist 3rd Class Ronchester Mananga Santiago, Kingsville, Texas
Fireman Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., Rockport, Texas

_______________________________________________

Picture from www.arlingtoncemetery.net

I am quite sure history will record in great detail our triumphs in battle, but I regret that no one will ever be able to write a full account of the wars we never fought, the losses we never suffered, the tears we never shed, because men and women like those who were on the USS Cole were standing guard for peace. We should never ever forget that....

....To those who attacked them we say: You will not find a safe harbor. We will find you and justice will prevail.

--President Bill Clinton, USS Cole Memorial Service

Great News!!!!!

Great news. I just read a number of stories celebrate the elections in Iraq. It truly is something to celebrate to start reading headlines like this. It has been a long and in many ways difficult road for our nation and for the people of Iraq, but these stories indicate to me that we have turned the corner. It truly is amazing what we have accomplished in eight years since the attack on our nation on 9/11. I am thankful to have played some small role in this incredible moment in history.

I have heard the United States described as the greatest experiment in the recorded history of humanity, a grand experiment in democracy. Our own nation had many struggles forming a stable government following the Revolutionary War. Our first attempts met with failure in the Articles of Confederation. It took many years before we came together as a people centered around the Constitution. And it has taken 233 since our declaration of independence for the first African American to be elected president of our nation. 200+ years to get where we are. And countless lives. We saw major conflicts with major powers who tried to use military force to maintain their influence in this hemisphere from the war in 1812 with the British, our war with Spain and so forth. We fought our own internal cultural and political battles with a bloody and costly civil war. I walk the grounds where some of the first casualties were laid at Arlington as my duty station. We fought in and played an essential role in the world wide defense of liberty in two world wars.

On D-Day June 6, 1944 the allies landed 156,000 troops (50% of the number used in Iraq right now, landing in one small space in one short day). 11,590 aircraft provided support. (Interesting to know in light of the number of air craft the Air Force operates today and the number of aircraft we are requesting to continue to provide security.) In five days, 326,547 troops would land in France (about the same number as are in Iraq), and France was only one part of the entire war. Allied casualties for D-Day (one single day) are estimated to be somewhat over 10,000. In addition, in April and May 1944 in operations to prepare for the invasion the Allied Air Forces of the day lost 12,000 men and 2,000 aircraft.

Why the history? Just a bit of contextualization for what has been done in Iraq, to reflect upon what has been accomplished. I am proud to be a member of our Armed Forces and very proud of the work that these men and women, most of whom are much younger than I, have done. I believe that 2007-2008 will go down as a significant turning point in the history of our world. Our own nation has struggled for 200+ years to create a true society of justice and liberty. Now democracy and liberty is taking root among a people long under the thumb of tyranny, so long that for time remembered submission was bred into them. But a people are waking to justice and to freedom.

It would be amazing to be able to read our history books in 50 years. But I can anticipate a bit of what they may sound like, when I think of how our history books read now about World War II. There are many parallels. When the Japanese, a martial militant culture at that time, attacked us by surprise and dealt us a grievous blow, our nation was struggling with a huge economic burden with the great depression still lingering. Freedom and democracy was directly threatened by those who would enslave and dehumanize people. The world stood at a brink, as it has done before, as it will likely do again, and as I believe does now. Freedom loving people rose, committed, went forth, and did what had to be done that liberty would prevail.

Imagine what our history books would read today if we as a nation then had said, our economy cannot support this war, it is not our fight, we can engage in some reduced action to secure our own nation behind our oceans. I wonder what our world would have looked like had FDR not said "today is a day that live in infamy" but had said: "in light our current economic conditions, we do not believe there is a military solution to this challenge, but the way forward is through negotiation for we do not have the money or the time and we would loose". But FDR did not say such. FDR said this:

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

And a generation rose, commited to liberty and service -- and changed the world. I believe history will read in 50 years about this struggle in many parallel ways.

These two stories tell the tell.

In Iraq, free elections went peacefully

Iraqi polls turnout was 51 per cent

And the phrase "war on terror" is being phased out. I think this story misses another point that could be playing a key role. We are winning. The terrorists are loosing. Insurgencies are notorious throughout the time of recorded history for being long and the most difficult types of conflict to win. But our young men and women in uniform, a military of volunteers and professionals, are winning. I am humbled and thankful to have the privilege of wearing the uniform with them, for adding some small part to support them in what they do, for having some small role in what was accomplished. When I stood and looked into the streets of Kirkuk several years ago, I could see changes already. Construction, commerce, children walking the street playing, families celebrating key life moments. I saw challenges. We had some attacks. But it was heartening when quite often the Iraqi's themselves took custody of the terrorists hiding in their midst. Liberty and justice cannot be contained.

In addition, a huge point of celebration, the stories indicate that the Iraqi's were responsible for their own security. Huge gains in security and capabilities have been made in the last few years thanks to all those who left home to serve in Iraq. The surge worked. Again, I'm not surprised. The Iraqi people are a noble people and our service men and women get the job done whether it be liberate Europe or liberate Iraq. Tyranny cannot stand when freedom, justice, service and unwavering resolve are united. The key word in our nation's monicker is not states, but "United".

The truth of the matter is this. People are people, each of us: black, brown, white no matter. Male female. We are every single one of us created in the image of God. People are people. People deserve to live in justice and in freedom. Responsibility to one another certainly. Individual liberty tempered with reasonable law administered with justice certainly. But free. The Iraqi's and other people I came to know who worked there from other lands, all wanted much the same as myself. To live my life without fear, to worship God, to provide for the needs of my family, and when life calls me onward to lay down with honor and be able to say my life was lived well. People are people. God bless them. I am thankful.

Sloshy Winter Day

It was a beautiful day. Early on, the sun was out gleaming on the snow at Arlington. The snow had turned to solid sheets of ice shrouding everything, making marching a bit treacherous early on. It warmed up as the day moved on creating huge pits of mud that had to be navigated around. I felt for one of our body bearers (casket team) who stepped ankle deep into the mud and lost a shoe on approach to a grave. But minus the mud, it was a gorgeous day here.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Snowy Winter Day

Cold. Ice. Snow. What a change from a few days before.

I found that my normal drive to work of 20 minutes took 90 minutes. People in DC do not know how to drive in snow. My favorite observation was of the lady driving along about 5 miles an hour on a cleared road while talking on her cell phone.

But the world changed completely upon entering the gate at Arlington. The hectic frustrating DC traffic gave way to the quiet solemnity of Arlington. The Air Force Memorial rose majestically through the snow fogged air, standing watch over sleeping warriors shrouded in the snow.


Resting under its blanket of snow, Arlington was a place for quiet meditation - honor - memory.





Rising over the silent resting place of so many who sacrificed so much for our nation - the steeple of a chapel - proclaiming the hope that many take comfort in

THESE ARE THE ONES COMING
OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION.
THEY HAVE WASHED THEIR ROBES AND
MADE THEM WHITE
IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.
--REV 7:14

But my brothers in arms do not slumber. Through this solemn air, marched a band of navy brothers, bearing a fellow sailor on his last journey, to wish him fair winds and following seas and commend him into the hands of the mighty God who created him, to bear up a family and honor a life of service.





Below, in the blowing snow stood an army band of brothers, frozen in tribute to honor a fallen comrad, to honor military service, to care for family, to inscribe another faithful veteran into our nation's memory.

A solemn day - as are all the days at Arlington.







Standing watch over those who sleep, a memorial gate upon which are inscribed these words

REST ON EMBALMED AND SAINTED DEAD, DEAR AS THE BLOOD YE GAVE,
NO IMPIOUS FOOTSTEPS HERE SHALL TREAD ON THE HERBAGE OF YOUR GRAVE.

Indeed.

Sunny Winter Days

There is beauty in the world all around us, even in the midst of a cold day. One only has to know where to look for it.


This is from the walking park a few days ago when the lows were down in the upper teens.






Today, a quiet sunny afternoon at the amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, were the tomb of the unknown soldier lies.

This is the chapel at Fort Meyer that we use for most of our chapel services in connection with Arlington.

The angel of January teaches us to look within, to take stock of ourselves and our lives.

The January angel keeps us company as we ponder over those long, cold winter nights, helping us to be honest with ourselves and to be patient at the same time. Conveying the wisdom of an elder, the January angel takes our hand as we seek to glean understanding from our lessons from the past year. With support such as this, we can give ourselves both recognition and admonition in their turn. With this help, we are able to chart a new course or alter our present one.

We seek and receive the companionship of the angel of January to warm us through the winter of our introspection.

--Unknown

The Big 3

Today, 22 January, on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, I am thinking of another key date in American history: July 4, 1776. On this day was adopted the United States Declaration of Independence with this key statement.

We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are
life,
liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.

These words are thought to have been strongly influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights which was adopted June 12, 1776 which itself stated:

That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

I hope to someday see American society become a place where these rights are truly enjoyed by all and to their fullest regardless of gender, race, or age for all our people -- including those who are yet in the womb. May God bless our nation with a deep appreciation that happiness flows from liberty, and liberty flourishes where the value of life is paramount.