Compassion

Dear Friends;

It's time for me to update this record of my deployment. We just completed a visit to Al Asad and Balad Air Base. This completes the sites we will be visiting on this deployment. From this point on we will be revisiting sites beginning with Afghanistan. During the second round I am offering a course on communication based on Marshall Rosenberg's, Non-Violent Communication, A Language of Compassion. This is to facilitate communication among deployed members and deployed members and their families both while they are deployed and as they return home. A significant lesson I have learned on this deployment is the anguish military families suffer due to extended separations due to deployments. I am involved in a long tour for the Air Force which in all will be 7 months. Most Air Force tours are 4 months. However, the standard Army tour is one year which includes two months of preparatory work in the United States for a total of 14 months of service. Much of my work is working with individuals has to due with back home relationships.

Karl Menninger once said that the mentally ill are like everyone only more so. I think deployed military members are like everyone else only more so. The divorce rates in America continue to soar due to what I believe is a loss of faith. Faith is trust in the transcendent power of GOD. For a significant majority of military members faith in a matter of indifference. My perception of the national scene in America the practice of authentic faith traditions seems to be a matter of indifference for most American. Many have a religious affiliation but few practice the disciplines that are a part of most faith traditions.

So how can we help military families move into authentic faith practices? How can we strengthen the blessed ties that bind hearts together in LOVE! The key is for people of faith to practice their traditions; pray daily, study spiritual writings, worship in community, support the community in prayer and service and to serve the community of faith and the local, national and international communities. While people of faith are growing in these faith practices they are able to welcome others into their practice. St. Paul writes, "Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you." We share a life in community that flows to us through the power of the Spirit as a gift. Extending hospitality to people welcoming them, to share in our faith journey . I think we can find a way to welcome military families especially as they endure deployments so that the time of deployment can be a time growth.

In other words, the core processes of worshipping congregations are what all people need in order to experience peace in their relationships, and especially deployed military members and their families. I am posting a picture from our helicopter flight from Balad to Speicher.

Peace be with you!

DAVE

pictures

These are pictures that go with the following blog. He sent these separately. I believe that is Abraham's well in the background. These are taken from his current base. Thanks for your continued prayers.....Heidi

Travels

Friends;

Below is an article abut my latest location. It is quite an interesting place. It is a Marine base which is unusual since the Marines are not used to staying in one place long. Red Horse is building up the infrastructure here since it is one of the enduring bases for the US. The base sits in a wadi which is a wet place with reeds and palm trees. Abraham's Well is a place of great peace in the midst of warfighters. I am going to lead a quite tour to the place for the folk who are deployed here. I will post some pictures in my next blog. This time I am at our TOC using the computer and the pics are in my room at our living area. GOD bless you and keep you in peace!

DAVE


Al Asad Airbase is the largest US military base in the largely Sunni western Iraq (Al Anbar Province). It is currently home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Other major tenants include the Regimental Combat Team 7, 67th Area Support Group, and the 593rd Corps Support Group. It was formerly an Iraqi Air Force Air Base.

The base was initially secured by the Australian SAS and was turned over to the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment in May of 2003. 3d ACR was relieved by the Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in March of 2004. Al Asad has become the largest Coalition base in western Iraq and the equivalent of Baghdad's Green Zone out west.

Al Asad is a major convoy hub hosting hundreds of fuel and supply trucks every day. Huge shipments of fuel are commonly run along the dangerous routes coming out of Jordan and despite insurgent attempts a majority of these convoys arrive at their destinations untouched.

Unlike most bases in Iraq, Al Asad offers amenities including a recently opened indoor swimming pool, Post exchange, Burger King, Pizza Hut, a Subway restaurant and a Green Beans Coffee Shop. The base theater is undergoing renovation and is expected to open soon; meanwhile its lobby is the home to the Subway and Green Beans retail locations. The base is a common destination for celebrities and politicians visiting American troops in Iraq much like Camp Anaconda. While the towns and routes near Al Asad are as dangerous as anywhere else in Iraq, the base itself is rarely attacked due to its secluded location.

The oasis located on the base is known as "Abraham's Well", and is purported to have been a stopping during the journey of Abraham recounted in the biblical book of Genesis.

Friends;

AS I write it is just 4 days until September 11. The day has greater significance for me as I have been to Afghanistan and am in Iraq which are both outcomes, for better or for worse, of that event. I am posting a picture of Janet and myself in an empty C-17 we flew on from Al Udeid to here. After spending most of the day for our broken aircraft to get fixed we got lucky and flew directly here.

The mood here is improving as the weather cools down. It was only in the 90s today and actually cool this morning as I went to make a phone call. It is also a mellow time as our tour of duty is over half way done. I know the second half of my runs are always more relaxing than the first half. Next week Janet and I will be traveling to Al Asad which is a Marine Base in the western section of Iraq. After Al Asad we will head over to Balad Air Base where we have a good number of Red Horse members building up that base. Following Balad we will come back here before heading out to Afghanistan again. GOD bless you and keep you in grace and peace!

DAVE