Why does feeding faith matter in combat?

Why does faith matter in combat?
by
Chaplain Kathie

Holding onto faith is never easy. With all the stress people have in their daily lives it often becomes hard to believe anyone cares. Fractured families drift apart and some may feel it was no great loss considering their family was never close in the first place. Marriages started off good but then reality set in, stress increased and the glowing faces in the frame on the wall seem more like strangers. There is an empty place inside of them. They wonder, "is this it?" as they begin to think their lives at the moment will never be any better.

When you think about everything civilians go through it becomes a tiny bit easier to understand what the men and women serving in the military are. Just humans like the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, they have to worry about combat.

Living in Central Florida there seems to be a church on every major street. Some of them have thousands of members packing the pews every week. There is a reason people give up a couple of hours a week to show up as just one more face in the crowd. They believe they will be seen by the eyes that count the most. God's eyes. Their souls are fed enough to face the rest of their week with all the stresses that may come their way. Can the troops be expected to be any different than the rest of us when it comes to their own need to feed their faith?

There are some about to read the following and they will not be able to understand the need for Chaplains as they scream "separation of church and state" simply because they don't understand anyone needing to go to church. What they fail to accept is that being in the military "state" should never be allowed to separate them from their "church" just because they are not on this soil.

Baptism at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan
Riazat Butt visits the US camp in Afghanistan's Helmand Province – and notes the differences between the American and British military's approach to religion
Posted by
Riazat Butt
Tuesday 23 August 2011

Members of the US and UK forces attend a baptism service for three serving soldiers in Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Padre Mucha leads the congregation in prayer before moving to the baptism area outside the chapel. Photograph: Sergeant Alison Baskerville RLC

It is often said America and England are two nations separated by a common language. The same could be said about their religious practices.

On the corner of Echo and 5th Street in Camp Leatherneck - the US equivalent of Camp Bastion in Helmand - is a building identical to the others surrounding it - mass-produced and military. Its interior, however, is nothing short of a revelation. It houses the chapel for US Christians in the armed forces, laying on standing room only services on a Sunday morning, prayer squares, guitar solos from its resident praise team and a lavish beverage station featuring two types of cookie and flavoured syrups for your freshly brewed coffee. Satin, fringed banners hang from the walls bearing phrases such as "Lamb of God" and "Lion of Judah".

"We named the chapel the oasis, we are in the middle of a desert and it is a physical and spiritual wilderness," says Padre Mucha ("like run amok"), chaplain to the US Navy and US Marine Corps. "There is a perception that we are a Christian country because of the Founding Fathers. But it is a great challenge to stay focused on the Lord in this day and age when you are around so many people who aren't."

Four servicemen - three US and one Briton - are being baptised in the chapel's custom built tank. Before this occasion, there is the not so small matter of evening worship. Padre Mucha is on stage, while before him a congregation that is multi-racial, young and mostly but not exclusively male rocks out to songs such as All Those Who Are Thirsty and We Want to See Jesus Lifted High. Hands lift, eyes close and feet tap.
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Military Chaplains are vital in all of this. The only issue I have is when they are used to replace mental health workers and some manage to tell soldiers they will go to hell unless they convert to the "right" group.