He Aint' Heavy
Leaving home was hard, but once I was on the ground, in the company of other Soldiers, things got a little easier. I was mobilized with about 40 other Senior Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers whose mission was to go early to Fort McCoy, WI, and prepare to receive 400 more 108th Division Soldiers later in April.
The first stop for me was Charlotte, NC, the HQ for the 108th Division. When I arrived at the Charlotte Douglas Airport, I grabbed my bags and waited in the “hold area” for other folks to show up. Soon guys started coming in one by one, flight by flight. It’s easy to pick army guys out in a crowd, so nobody got lost looking for the “hold area”. Plus, we all had the same depressed look on our faces, just having left somebody who loves us. When everybody in the group is heart sick, you make friends quick. Misery loves company, and for the next two days, the only topics of conversation among ourselves were all those things we couldn’t leave behind - those things I talked about earlier. By the time I left Charlotte Douglas Airport, I knew the names of every wife and every child in our five or six man group. It made me feel a lot better to learn that every one of these rough, tough guys were as emotional about leaving home as me. Some of those guys are police officers, DEA agents, and former Special Forces dudes. So don’t laugh, they might just come around and kick your _ _ _.
One of the first guys I met was Lieutenant Colonel Rich H. What a guy. Somebody said God has a way of putting the right people in your path. Rich was that person for me. Turned out he’s a Baptist preacher from LA (Lower Alabama). He has a way of picking you up no matter how down you (or he) may be. After we got to Fort McCoy, somebody realized we didn’t have a Chaplain. Although Rich is a BP (Baptist Preacher) he’s NOT an Army Chaplain. He’s a Chemical
Officer. No matter, we voted him Chaplain for our crowd, which soon grew to 400 Soldiers. Rich was up to the task. The poor boy ended up counseling and praying with just about every one of us. Rich also prepared and conducted at least two sermons a week. So what’s so special about that? Well, he was not exempt from any of the training we were going through. He did all we did AND all the preacher stuff too. Thank God for Rich Hayes. Rich, I love ya brother! Here’s a picture of Rich doing an impromptu service for some of my guys in the FOB (Forward Operating Base).
And, here's another of him giving Communion the night before we departed for Iraq. People get religion before they depart for a combat zone.
Leaving home was hard, but once I was on the ground, in the company of other Soldiers, things got a little easier. I was mobilized with about 40 other Senior Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers whose mission was to go early to Fort McCoy, WI, and prepare to receive 400 more 108th Division Soldiers later in April.
The first stop for me was Charlotte, NC, the HQ for the 108th Division. When I arrived at the Charlotte Douglas Airport, I grabbed my bags and waited in the “hold area” for other folks to show up. Soon guys started coming in one by one, flight by flight. It’s easy to pick army guys out in a crowd, so nobody got lost looking for the “hold area”. Plus, we all had the same depressed look on our faces, just having left somebody who loves us. When everybody in the group is heart sick, you make friends quick. Misery loves company, and for the next two days, the only topics of conversation among ourselves were all those things we couldn’t leave behind - those things I talked about earlier. By the time I left Charlotte Douglas Airport, I knew the names of every wife and every child in our five or six man group. It made me feel a lot better to learn that every one of these rough, tough guys were as emotional about leaving home as me. Some of those guys are police officers, DEA agents, and former Special Forces dudes. So don’t laugh, they might just come around and kick your _ _ _.
One of the first guys I met was Lieutenant Colonel Rich H. What a guy. Somebody said God has a way of putting the right people in your path. Rich was that person for me. Turned out he’s a Baptist preacher from LA (Lower Alabama). He has a way of picking you up no matter how down you (or he) may be. After we got to Fort McCoy, somebody realized we didn’t have a Chaplain. Although Rich is a BP (Baptist Preacher) he’s NOT an Army Chaplain. He’s a Chemical
Officer. No matter, we voted him Chaplain for our crowd, which soon grew to 400 Soldiers. Rich was up to the task. The poor boy ended up counseling and praying with just about every one of us. Rich also prepared and conducted at least two sermons a week. So what’s so special about that? Well, he was not exempt from any of the training we were going through. He did all we did AND all the preacher stuff too. Thank God for Rich Hayes. Rich, I love ya brother! Here’s a picture of Rich doing an impromptu service for some of my guys in the FOB (Forward Operating Base).And, here's another of him giving Communion the night before we departed for Iraq. People get religion before they depart for a combat zone.
posted by AWE, COL, USA | 1:43 PM
2 Comments:
Cool blog, sir. Stay safe and I look forward to seeing you on the high ground soon.
Starnes
Well, Brother Starnes. Back from the dead? Color in your cheeks? Meat on your ribs? I sure hope you're feeling better. Things will be better for us when you get here. You da man, bro.
LTC E
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