Jane Cook - Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

First Peter 5:8 calls us to be alert. However being alert in our society for most people means simply to be awake. That is not what is being communicated in the passage of this verse or the intent that God has for us as people of faith. Situational awareness captures that concept better for me. It is not complicated. Situational awareness is being aware of the situation that you’re in. It’s a simple concept. It involves knowing what risks are around you, your circumstances, your capabilities, and resources that you can bring to bear if that situation changes, and an unspoken intensity of focus on each of those factors. Situational awareness is to an extent, hypervigilance it’s not just being awake. What an indispensable concept for a soldier, especially one who is a Christian!

To have situational awareness in a convoy means you are visually and mentally engaged. Your eyes are constantly scanning for threats and resources. If something happens to change the situation, then your awareness of that situation will help you survive. I’m scanning, looking for threats both big and small. They can be intentional threats, such as people trying to hurt us, or they can be unintentional threats such as a pothole in the road, telephone wires that we might fly into, children nearby that we would have to avoid if they darted in front of us suddenly, or a brewing disturbance or distraction. Situational awareness allows me to focus my energy at preserving my role in the mission.

Father, help me to be aware of my circumstance. May my focus be on you instead of the situation. Help me not to be distracted from noticing what you are doing around me and when and where I should act.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

On November 12, 2004, a Blackhawk helicopter from the 1/106 thCAB was shot down in one of the first aerial ambushes in Iraq. The right side pilot was hit by an RPG and lost her legs and had a severely damaged arm. The two crew chiefs were both wounded. The left side crew chief was wounded when a round came up through the floor of the aircraft and penetrated his seat and hitting his buttock. The AK-47 round did not penetrate his pelvis but it did crack it. The right side crew chief lost a portion of the bone in his lower leg.

The only one not to be wounded in the initial flurry of explosions and small arms fire was the left seat pilot in command, Dan Milburn. In the disarray that followed the initial explosion, his mind switched over to the training and years of experience that instinctively told his muscles what to do. Blackhawks without hydraulics are very hard to control, and he was losing hydraulic pressure fast. In a miraculous feat the warrant officer guided the falling rock out of the kill zone and landed the aircraft upright. Without communications, he was unable to initiate a call for help, so he reflexively got out of the aircraft and began helping everyone else out. His crew wounded, his aircraft destroyed he did not lose composure in the midst of the emergency. His personal courage and the ability to act despite fear saved the lives of his crew.

Personal courage is displayed in many ways and in many circumstances. Stories of courage while facing extreme personal danger are motivating examples of the inner strength we all hope to have. The hope is solidified when we face the stress and do the right thing despite the fear.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.”

“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.”

Lord, I want to throw off any entanglements, fix my eyes on Jesus, and run with perseverance. Please strengthen and perfect my faith in the weeks, months, and years to come.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2)

Post-traumatic stress disorder has a long history. Moses directed the commanders of the returning Hebrew warriors to encamp the army outside the Hebrew camp for the required cleansing period of seven days (Numbers 31:19). He also directed those who had slain or come in contact with a dead body to purify themselves according to the Hebrew laws on the third and again on the seventh days. Only then could these soldiers who had seen and tasted battle be allowed into the camp amongst their families once again.

Why? Not only because of the blood-borne disease they potentially came in contact with but, according to Jewish rabbinical clarification, it was because of the mental and emotional anguish the army had been put through in combat. God knew and knows the emotional pain soldiers feel when they see a comrade cut down before their eyes, or when they, who have been raised to respect human life, are now in a position to take life. These events traumatize the emotions and the psyche of the human being. God, in his wisdom, set forth the purification laws to counteract these traumas.

Now fast forward to American military history. In the Civil War, the condition Soldier’s Heart was recorded as shock-like symptoms along with mental and emotional symptoms. In World War I it was called shell shock. In World War II and Korea the problem was known as battle fatigue, and in Vietnam, combat stress. PTSD was finally recognized as a mental/anxiety disorder 1984.

Those with PTSD have severe problems trusting anyone and sharing that they have PTSD (if they even recognize it). But church laypeople can be trained to identify the outward displays and the internal feelings of a combat veteran. This basic training can be enough to help identify the problems:

• Get prayer support

• Make referrals to support systems

• Be able to support as a concerned layperson within the community.

Lord, make me more sensitive to the needs of returning veterans and their families; show me how to support them.

“The LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

Mark returned home in the spring. It was the end of his second deployment. He and his wife had discussed the toll on their young family, and he was exiting military service. Although they were both committed Christians, the deployment had been very difficult. He had been involved in combat operations in Ramadi and Fallujah. But the combat wasn’t the only stress that tore at them. A year of separation and the stress of a young marriage and new baby were weighting both of them when he returned. There were signs that coming home would not be as easy as either had imagined. They expected the stress level to decrease, but instead it increased on his return.

Whether stress is combat or noncombat related, the signs are going to occur in the same way. The marriage relationship is often one of the first red flags. The husband may not feel needed. The wife may not be handling the return of the husband very well. For months she has handled the day-to-day needs of their family. There may be unique characteristics and a personality that was not present before he or she left, like temper outbursts or bouts of depression, anxiety symptoms, a pattern of withdrawal from social situations that were not there before the deployment. The couple may have difficulty connecting emotionally. If either spouse is having trouble adjusting to a return from deployment, primarily it becomes evident within the marriage relationship.