notes on the first week

wow, a lot to say...one week of actual chaplain duty under my belt.

In an attempt to be low-key, I'm pretty encouraged. I felt very comfortable counseling the soldiers who came (a lot of marital stuff). I loved the chance to address the soldier formations (I did this twice). I endured the times where I had to just "butt-in" to soldiers hanging out and introduce myself to them.

But overall, I did a good job and have a number of ideas brewing about the future.

One of the cool things was that I was able to lead a soldier to rededicate his life to Christ on my second day there. It was so cool. At the end of the session, I told him that we should pray, but that I wanted him to pray. He was uncomfortable, but I did feel led by the Holy Spirit that this was an appropriate task.

On Friday, I addressed one of the companies before PT. tangent-----I am chaplain of the 2nd chemical battalion. The 2nd Chemical Battalion is about 800 soldiers. The battalion is divided into 7 "companies", all with an identifing number (where the number comes from I dunno): the 13th, the 46th, the 44th, the 172nd, the 181st, and HHD (headquarters). Each company has around 100 soldiers. The companies are divided up into platoons (abut 20 soldiers). And the platoons are divided up into squads. The army pretty much stole John Wesley's class system in organizing their soldiers. (I know thats not true, I can't even believe you thought I was serious..)

So I was addressing the HHD company before PT on Friday morning (6:30AM). tangent--My first day of PT we did a 4 mile run. I was unable to keep up with the main group and ran the last half by myself. The bright side is that I did finish and that I was not the first person to fall out. I'll do better and better as time goes on. On Friday I ran with the C group. We all had to finish together. There was one soldier who was HURTING about 1/4 of the way through and it really slowed us down, almost to a quick walk. So I was able to finish quite easily. The solider toughed it out and did finish, which was a major accomplishment for him cause he was really struggling. I did the chaplian thing after the run and went up and gave him a good pep talk.

So I was addressing the HHD company before PT on Friday morning. It was an opportunity for me to allow the soldiers to see me, more importantly, it gave me an opportunity to set the tome for my ministry among them. My words were very important cause this was to be my first impression. What I said had mixed reviews among the Souza family, but I think was recieved very well by the soldiers (after they got over the shock). I counseled one of the soldiers later on that day and he said he liked it a lot.

Well, ummm, I'm kinda sheepish writing this, but.....on the way to PT that morning, I was NOT even thinking of saying anything but as I was driving I realized that the run this morning was gonna be extra challenging because I did not fully umm, er, uh,....get rid of all my poop before I left. I.e., I was gonna be running while holding it in. I knew that I'd be focusing on that instead of the run and it was gonna effect my overall performance at PT. Than, the Holy Spirit put it all together and told me to share my lesson. We all have stuff that we are holding in...sometimes it is indeed in the stomach (or intestines, or whatever), but sometimes it is in the head or the heart. And we end up focusing on that instead of the mission we have been given. We're less effective and at risk of failing. In the army, failing mission is not an option cause that means people die. I went on to say that the answer can be as simple as "taking a dump" and I invited the soldiers to think of my office as a toilet where they could take take that dump. The soldiers were laughing. My hope was to disarm the soldiers in such a way that they felt comfortable around me. I outrank them all and there is always this distance between officers and soldiers. A good chaplain perfectly balances the line between the two. It's kinda like being in the world and not of it.

At the end of Friday, I did close out formation with the 44st company. I wasn't sure if I broke any rules or not, but I brought my entire family to the motor pool and lined them up before the soldiers. I told them that I bet that many of them thought that we had a perfect, squared away family. After all, my wife and kids are good looking, they seem well behaved and I am the chaplain and the chaplain MUST have everything ideal. I told them that that was not the case at all, and that we had problems and issues. To Keris dismay, I told them that we had a big fight the night before (true) and that there were even times that we had to find someone else to talk to cause we couldnt fix things ourselves. The point was that life is not about being perfect. It was about working on and working out your issues and, if need be, going for help when you needed it. I told them that I was here to serve and help them when they needed it. When I was done they all applauded and a 2lieutenant ran up to me and asked me for my number. It was cool. Then we went out to Mexican food with one of our neighbors. Her husband is currently in Iraq.

Much more I could write, like my dealings with a Wiccan soldier (and a Muslim one too). But I'm going to bed.

.....

1st day on the job

After a week of moving in and getting used to these new digs, I finally had my first, somewhat, "official" day as an army chaplain. I think it went well. I was pretty nervous and insecure about my lack of military knowledge. It becomes evident in so many different places, in knowing how to do the stretches in PT (different here than in training), how to salute (again, different here than what I was taught), .......

Nonetheless, I do think today went well. I've already got a couple of soldiers I'm scheduled to connect with for counsel and I have three more I need to pursue tomorrow. I'm looking forward to those. I'm also doing a prayer at a change of command ceremony on Wednesday.

I spent some time in my office, which isn't the sexiest slice of the pie you could get but whatever....a little love and it'll have some character. The office will be the place I do a majority of my counseling, so I want it to be both disarming and comfortable. I'm sitting here wondering if Jesus would put pictures up if he had an office. I guess he'd hand a picture of mom. A pic of dad would be interesting. A pic of Jesus standing next to a bush on fire, with the caption underneath.... "me and dad"....

tangent...
I cannot believe the Pats lost yesterday. I was unable to watch it cause we didn't sign up for cable. Just glad I wasn't able to listen to WFAN and hear JETS fans gloat.....

I need to stop making the excuse of, "I'm brand new, so I don't know what I'm doing". It shows my insecurity. I did it to my command seargant major this afternoon. He was gracious but I don't think I left him with an "army strong" impression. Who knows. I do know that when the dust settles he'll be glad I'm on his team, I just want the learning curve to move quickly.

I was also issued a ton of army supplies today...helmet, battle armor and other stuff like that. I also went to the motor pool and saw my and my chaplains assitants vehicle this morning. My own humvee. Yipee,,,,,

Keri is now home from her ladies bible study. gotta run...

grace and blessings!!!

goodbye table saw :(

Some guy from El Paso just pulled out of my driveway with MY tablesaw and miter saw in the back of his pickup truck. For giggles I gave him my maul as well. I'm sad.

I used those things. Me and the maul spent more time together these past couple of years than me and my parents. I redid all the molding in the house with that miter saw. I thanked the Lord dozens of times as I cut a big piece of wood with that table saw.

And now they are gone. Kinda hit me that my life is different now. I do hope someday I will need them again....(daydream about retiring on a small farm...)

I spent this week driving around post (Fort Hood) having people initial a piece of paper called my inprocessing sheet. That enabled me to be an official Ft Hood soldier. Now that that is done, I have to do the same thing for the 2nd Chemical Batallion. This inprocessing helps me get all my documents in order as well as introduces me to some valuable army programs.

This week I met my chaplains assistant, my brigade chaplain, my "XO"--executive officer, and my "CO"--commanding officer. All seem cool and happy to see/meet me. This battalion has been without a chaplain for a while. I've also met a number of the soldiers. I have this week off and will start bright and early a week from Monday at PT.

Speaking of PT, I need to pick it up a bit. I've been slacking.

Our house is slowly coming along. We need to get rid of a ton of stuff (hence the table saw departure). Still living in an ocean of boxes which can be quite stressful. I did just hook up the wireless internet a few minutes ago--enabling me to sit outside here and watch the kids torment this humungous anthill outside my house.

Oh well, I'll try to take some pictures this week and in the future to give you an idea of what things look like here.

grace & blessings....

moving ft hood

well, we're here at fort hood....we have a house but our stuff isn't coming until Wed.. That means we've been living in an empty house since last week. Sleeping and eating off the floor (well, we do have plates).

I was so sore (and a little sick with the flu) I decided we needed to sleep in an in the night before I actually start my job (tomorrow). So I finally get to get on the internet, which I havent been able to do since early last week.

My last week at training (Ft Jackson, SC) was training in marriage and singles seminars. Also saying farewell to many great folks I've met here...and preparing for the big move. There are 1 gazillion things to consider when PCSing in the army (permanent change of stationing). Outprocessing from fort jackson and inprocessing into fort hood. This on top of reuniting with the family and dealing with the sale of our house.

The move to fort hood went well. We stayed in hotels across the south and our house was waiting for us when we got to fort hood. We are living in a 4 bedroom house that reminds us of our place on Shawnee Blvd. As a matter of fact, there is a Shawnee Ct. right down the road from us, which we found ironic.

We were somewhat depressed when we saw the house. The yard is as big as our deck on buckery rd. No pond, no woods, no barn. All those things we were so blessed with were gone. The rooms are good size but it looks so empty and does not feel like home.

Then we met the neighbors on our cul de sac and were happy to see that they all have young kids and were very friendly. Our next door neighbor is a blackhawk copter pilot and left for iraq on sunday morning. I spoke to him and his wife and they are very nice. He is from Erie. So the nice community helped us cope with the sadness of all those things we miss.

Fort Jackson (SC) was a smaller army post. Fort Hood is huge, the biggest base in the world. I'm adjusting to the big city feel as compared to the smaller town feel of fort jackson which I came to enjoy. Both Keri and I say that Fort hood has a "southern california" feel to it. Its flat and not a lot of trees. I love trees. I love the woods.

I am now chaplain of the 2nd chemical battalion. This is a fairly new group and it kinda seems like I've been given the task of planting a church. Most other battalions are attached to an existing chapel and have established systems and schedules. Not so with 2nd chem. My assistant, SPC Brown (from Wooster, OH) showed me our building. It got a lot of..ummm...potential. It's basically an old building they gave the unit ministry team. SPC Brown has worked hard to get it up to snuff, but theres a lot more work to do. SPC Brown seems very committed and capable and I am excited to be working with him.

My main job will be....walking around. Yep, pretty much I'll be assigned the task of simply showing up at different places so the soldiers can see and get to know me. I consider it practice for when I start my life in politics. It will be a good exercise of stepping outside my comfort zone. As I get to know the soldiers, I'll have a better feel of how I can best be used at 2nd chem. I'm hoping to eventually establish some bible studies and maybe even a chapel service.

Yesterday, we got the kids ready and went to a church on post. It was a traditional protestant service with readings out of the KJV and singing out of hymnals....and no child care. About 100 people in a building that easily seated 400. As I sat there I couldnt help thinking they should blow this service up and let me put a new one together. I was thinking why am I here? Than during the meet and greet an man greeted me and introduced himself as the deputy chaplian of the 3rd corps. He, Chaplain (LTC) Keith Goode, was the 2nd most important chaplain on Fort Hood and a definite big wig. He was very nice. What was very cool was that he has 10 kids and they homeschool. Keri used her homeschool radar and identified them as homeschoolers as soon as she saw them. He invited us over his house for dinner last night and had a blast. I sat in his house picking his brain (and probably talking too much) for a few hours. I could not believe I was only days at Fort Hood and breaking bread with #2 on the totem pole. The fact that they homeschool and have kids the same age as ours means there will be more encounters. God is setting me up for sucess. How cool is that!

It also means that we will probably go back to that church, which isn't that bad. I can offer to help them out in some ways. It was also cool to chat with an older woman whose deceased husband served a couple of tours in Vietnam. I was happy to let her know that he service to our country was appreciated. She found pride and meaning and comfort in my words. Please do the same to those you meet who have served or are serving our country.

Well, my kids are getting out of control, and we gotta sign out of here or we'll have to pay for another night. I must report in uniform at 0845 tomorrow.

I'm sorry for lack of posts this last week. I should get internet tomorrow (or wed) and that should get me back on track.

I bump into many people and things that remind me of the folks at Solid Rock and places in the Lehigh Valley. I'm leaving the Kings and Schnecksville True Value customer cards on my key ring to remind me of those places.