A new Chaplain spoke at church on Sunday. This was the first week that Chaplain (CPT) Rodgers led the service. I was a couple of minutes late for the service and did not hear what unit he is with. I did not recognize his unit patch. Mugs would point out that I could actually talk to him and ask him that information. But as Mike Miller says, “that’s just the way we roll in MAO”.
Chaplain Rodgers spoke from Matthew 10, so I was reminded once again that the very hairs on my head are all numbered. At the end of the service he announced that a soldier had accepted Christ as his Savior recently and wanted to be baptized as a public profession of his faith. What do you do when you don’t have a baptistry and you can’t get to the river? You improvise. Soldiers are well known for finding field expedient methods for solving problems. I’m sure the Chaplain’s Assistant was given the mission of finding somewhere to conduct the baptism. All he needed was a bathtub and a little wood.
Today was a day like most others I’ve see during the past 9 1/2 months. Now that I think about it, there was one big difference, I went for a morning run. At about 0555, I headed out the door to hit the road for my run in the nice cool (70F) morning. One security team was lined up ready to go on a trip to the Erbil office. I stopped and talked to Andy the team leader for just a minute, then we both hit the road. My trip lasted about 45 minutes, while his wouldn’t end until about 6 hours later.
Just like any other day, I spent too much time on the computer. I tried to get things on my to-do list checked off. It seems to take me twice as long to accomplish anything here than anywhere else I’ve been. Maybe I need to get a pill organizer and put a daily dose of ginkgo biloba in it!
For dinner this evening, I went to the DFAC on Diamondback with Mike F., Sarah, Tiffany and Alda. Tiffany complained that she would have to watch her language since she was eating with “Saint Manry”. Sarah commented that she had better watch what she said because it might end up as a blog post for the next day. I guess she was right. Tiffany is due to go home in July. She says it’s time because her 3-year old son has started calling her “Tiff”. Here’s a picture of me, Tiffany, and COL Pfenning from last month. Apparently, COL Pfenning and I didn’t realize that we were supposed to strike a pose!
I think it’s appropriate that today, Memorial Day, was like every other day. We shouldn’t let a single day pass where we don’t remember those that have paid for our freedom with their lives. Every day should be Memorial Day.
