There's No Place like HOME

Friends;

I have been home for a week and a half and am adjusting to the pace of life here in Kansas. The Wichita Eagle did a fine article on my return, you can find it at: www.kansas.com and if you click on the front page link on the left side of the website you can see a wonderful picture of yours truly. It has been good to reflect on the past 7 months and I feel it was a meaningful investment of time and resources. I appreciate all who followed my blog and remembered me and those whom I served in our journey of service to this great country. I am following the political discussions with great interest and praying for justice and peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. God Bless this fragile earth and grant us a willingness to pursue things that make for peace.

Blessings!

DAVE

thanksgiving

Friends;

It is Thanksgiving Day in Iraq. It is a bittersweet day for those of us deployed with the 557 Expeditionary Red Horse Squadron. Yesterday we learned of our date for departure home. (a little under two weeks from now) It is also a significant family day. One of our deployed members was in line behind me for our Thanksgiving Luncheon (which was outstanding!). She had a Styrofoam box for her food which folk use to grab a quick bite. I asked her if she wasn't going to stay and eat. She said thanksgiving is for family and since she wasn't with family she was going to eat alone. This is something of the heartbreak that many of our deployed members feel.

My heart especially aches for those who have young children or young marriages that will be much stressed when they arrive home. And so I am thankful this day for family. For my immediate family and my extended family. How wonderful they have been these past 7 months. I am also thankful for my family of faith, brothers and sisters who have supported me and those with whom I serve in prayer. I could actually feel the spirit wind in my sails as I served here. A wind born of prayer. I thank all who have followed this blog over the months; your interest and engagement in this journey are something I deeply appreciate. I am also thankful for Janet's friendship and support during this deployment. We managed to accomplish a significant ministry on this deployment.

I am attaching a picture that I took at sunset at Al Asad. It captures much of the depth I feel about this land as I prepare to depart. Iraq has a mystic beauty, the beauty of the desert. It is a beauty that is cherished in the American Southwest. The beauty is underscored however by an abiding anguish. The anguish expressed by the little girl I met in Mosul who said all she wanted was to be able to go to the playground without fear of a bomb going off or of getting shot. It is the anguish of American military members weeping at the memorial service of a young lieutenant killed in Mosul.

It seems that American policy makers are taking a hard look at our involvement here. This is a good thing. I hope the discussion will include the heroic progress that has taken place here. People, there is much, much more to Iraq and Afghanistan than you read in the paper or view on the news. The breathtaking accomplishments of the American military in this Area of Operations are making history. To ignore these contributions is to ignore the best America is accomplishing in this place. My hope is to tell this story with passion and precision when I return. And yes, I am thankful for this experience. It has been difficult at times. Frustrating at times. Risky at times. And glorious at times.Overall, it has been an enriching journey, both here in the AOR and in discussion with those back home. GOD bless you and keep you grace and peace.

From Iraq

DAVE

Bahgdad

Friends;

I greet you this day from Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). BIAP is home to over 70,000 American military members who are deployed to bring Baghdad under control. BIAP is huge. I estimate that it is 60 or 70 miles around. Lt. Gomes, the commander of the Red Horse Detachment here took us on a tour yesterday of BIAP. It was a memorable event. We toured Saddam Hussein's palace which is huge. The picture of Janet and I is taken on the "throne" that is a classic picture for deployed military members here. The palace is set in a series of lakes and canals that is incredible to behold. I am also posting a picture of this sight. The arrogance of power that is evident in this place is staggering. Apparently Saddam and his friends could hunt, fish and carouse in this paradise which the vast majority of Iraqi's live in grinding poverty. It certainly rubs the democratic soul the wrong way.

Most deployed members here had a bemused attitude about the recent elections. The so called "war" in Iraq really isn't a war, it is what is referred to in military thinking a "Military Operation Other than War", MOOTW. The political debate is really about whether we want to continue peace making operations in this part of the world. The vast majority of deployed Americans believe we are doing some good over here and departing too soon would be a disaster. To say that our operations over here are a disaster is to attend only to the heart break of our sojourn in this place. The massive amount of good we are doing is ignored to support a particular political perception. Whether or not we should have come over here is a pointless discussion, its like discussing whether or not you should jump off a cliff after you have jumped. The idea is to find a safe landing spot.

It is tempting to think that Iraq is where all the terrorists are located. Terrorists use technology to instill fear. There is a terrorist in Topeka, Kansas who torched St. David's Episcopal Church. The community is heart broken. I am convinced there is a power stronger than terror. It is the power of the gospel. The good news of GOD's love for the world erupting through Jesus Christ. The power of the gospel enables us to see the possibility for doing justice in Iraq. It is also the power that will sustain St. David's as they rebuild their house of worship. GOD bless us and keep us steady in the gospel, alive to the power of the SPIRIT and joyous in our service to our LORD. GOD BLESS YOU!

DAVE

chaplain's role

Friends;

I am headed into what appears to be my last month on deployment. I am writing my afteraction report and reflecting on the significance of this work. Janet and I have traveled over 11,000 miles between Afghanistan, Qartar, and Iraq. I have a fairly realistic view of what is going on here and I am encouraged, that we are doing the right thing. I believe that as we increasingly engage the civilian population here the prospects for peace will increase, not only in these countries but across the middle east. I am enclosing a wonderful article from the CENTCOM news. It is exactly what I believe Chaplains should be doing.


26 October 2006
By Spc. Mike Alberts3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div PAO

KIRKUK – Diversity is the mark of the Kirkuk province. Arabs, Christians, Kurds and Turkman coexist here with all their attendant cultural and religious nuances. Despite its many differences, however, there is a commonality among many of the region’s people, and that’s poverty. Coalition Force religious leaders and representatives from Kirkuk ’s Religious Unity Council met to discuss their joint, cooperative “mosque food-drop” for less-fortunate people here at the Al Rasheed Mosque Oct 12.The Kirkuk Religious Unity Council consists of local and regional Muslim and Christian religious leaders that formed an alliance after a diversity conference 18 months ago. Since then, the group meets regularly to discuss how the community’s religious leaders can positively affect Kirkuk , according to Chaplain (Maj.) Scott Sterling, brigade chaplain, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.“The council is a unique organization. Its membership includes all the different religious sects and ethnic groups of the area,” said Sterling . “Through this humanitarian program they are recognizing the need to come together in a show of unity amidst their diversity for the needy people of the city. They have set aside their differences to do something good for their community,” he said.


According to Sterling , the program was planned to coincide with Ramadan. For Muslims, Ramadan is a month of blessing marked by prayer, fasting and charity. For that reason, religious leaders were determined to give gifts of food to the needy members of their congregations. Coalition Forces assisted by providing the food, which everyone seemed to appreciate.

“Your involvement in giving food is a very good thing,” said Sheik Ali Khalid through an interpreter. Ali Khalid is a Sunni Arab and the Religious Unity Council Chief. “Because it is during Ramadan my people will see that coalition forces are helping people. For that reason, this holiday is the perfect time to reach our people,” he said.
50 food baskets including sugar, tea, rice and cooking oil are delivered to the doorstep of the Al Rasheed mosque, Kirkuk .
The religious partnership provided basic food staples like sugar, tea, rice and cooking oil, among other things, for 50 families per mosque. The program targeted 11 mosques here and five in the district of Hawija. While providing food to the needy is the primary goal of the food drop, Chaplin Sterling emphasized an equally important goal.“In this society, the people tend to listen to their religious leaders more than their political leaders. If we can empower the religious community, they could be a positive force in the city and for coalition forces,” said Sterling .



Let there be HOPE!!!

Dave

leaving afghanistan

Friends;

Janet and I just completed our second tour of Afghanistan. What and extraordinary country and beautiful people. This web address will bring you to the centcom website which details much of what we are doing in Afghanistan. http://www.cfc-a.centcom.mil/ If you go to Freedom Watch and click on Oct 16 you will discover the wonder of what America is really about in this part of the world. Please note the picture and quotation on the last page of this magazine. If you are interesting in what is really going on in this part of the world, spend some time on this website. I am also posting two pictures of Janet and I at KKC which is a good ways south of FOB Sharana where we traveled the other day. My last post dealt with our convoy to the south. Since then we spent a day on the road working with our Red Horse members (or rather watching them work) and living with them in their simplicity for 5 days. It was decided that it was too dangerous to continue on the stretch of road going north our of KCC, so our crew is working to the south of KKC. Roads in this part of the world are a huge advance for the Afghan people.

I have met several people who are involved with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams in both Afghanistan and in Iraq. They are passionate in their belief that what they are doing is decisive for the long term future of the part of the world. It is deeply discouraging to read the papers and watch the news that totally ignores the reality of the good we are doing. I am hopeful for Afghanistan . We are even now seeing the fruits of our labors. I believe this same approach, the PRT's, are the long term solution in Iraq. A young officer from the PRT at COB Speicher shared this with me as we spoke nearly a month ago now. I intend to make appointments with my federal elected officials when I return and share this belief with them.

I wish you well, we head back to Iraq early next week and will make a final round of visitations before we return home around the first part of December.

PEACE;

DAVE

children of afghanistan

These pictures were taken by Janet and emailed to me this morning. What an amazingly beautiful people, but you can tell in these pictures how desperately poor they really are. Keep up the good work Dad and Janet. We are all so, so proud of you! Heidi