Hey Gang - sorry it's been so long since I wrote - more mess with computers and timing. This has been a very good and eventful week for me. I was able to work with 200 soldiers who were preparing to deploy over the next few months at something called a PDP (pre-depolyment somthing...) The first day I worked with another chaplain who treined me in what the event was and what our role in it was to be - mainly checking ID tags, signing paperwork and checking in with them on their basic emotional health as they prepare for this deployment to Iraq or Afganistan. It was a real blessing to be the pastor caring these men and women as they went through this event.
I was also blessed to be able to be a part of something called a CRC meeting (Case Review Commitee) which tries to intevene in soliders, dependants and civilians' lives when they get complicated on base - this is a stop gap measure desigend to help families before there needs to be more judicial/leagal involvment with the families. It was good to learn how the commitee (comprised of social workers, an MP, a Lawyer, a Doctor and the comander of the base as well as the chaplain) works and the types of things I can expect to get involved with once I'm doing this full-time. It's pretty mesy, but the light never shines so bright as when it's darkest.
I will be going on a field excercise this week (FTX) and have managed to get some gear together to prepare for it. It's a time of practicing how a unit (or batallion or brigade - different sized groups) will work when they are in a deployed situation. The group I will be going with will deploy in the next year, so this training, while in some moments will be fun, in many moments will be fairly serious learning as they prepare for real life stuff.
Personally, I find myslef again in between two worlds - not quite a civilain not quite a solider, though more one than the other (not sure which). I have manged to make some good connections with people here, so it feels a little saddening to leave, though I do miss friends in the states - thus, the two worlds thing. Please pray for me and my troups this week as we 'play' in the field - that we stay safe as we practice. Pray for me, too as I prepare to come back to CO for my semester of seminary. I return on the 24th. - love, Ter
