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

Don Richards, Psychologist Counseling Military Veterans

Another soldier shared this insight:

“I do not know how guys get through the experience of combat without an anchor to reality like my faith provides me. I had heard the saying that there are no atheists in foxholes but I saw a different picture. Sure, most of those I was around professed belief in God, but those that didn’t weren’t convinced of his presence after combat, many were just shocked they were numbed. The frailty of life is not lost on those who do not believe in God.”

The deploying soldier should prioritize their time and take advantage of the faith-based resources the military offers while deployed. Chaplains are a part of the military and their heritage extends all the way back to our country’s founding. They accompany troops on deployment and a vital part of the support base for soldiers deployed abroad. The enemy views them as morale officers. They do serve a vital function that effects morale, but beyond that they can also serve as the anchor to the faith that is so core to most of us.

Going into potentially traumatic events without a connection to your faith is no different than going into a combat zone without a weapon. You also wouldn’t head into combat without body armor. An active pursuit of a relationship with God, including dealing with doubt and the fundamental questions that arise when you’re in a situation like combat are as important as any other preparation of battle. For you to return home safe and of sound mind you must be able to ask those kinds of questions and seek help to find the answers. How could a loving God allow things that happen in war to go on?

These are significant questions that we know arise in most people. The ability to point the individual to a sovereign God who truly is above and over the situation is enabling. The structure of having chaplains conducting worship services and Bible studies along with individual counseling is imperative for soldiers of faith who are in perilous circumstances.

Body armor obviously protects the body. The armor of God protects the soul, your faith, and sometimes your sanity.

Thank you so much for the countless thousands of soldiers who have truly committed their lives to Jesus Christ while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please continue to bring thousands more to Christ. Give them Your full armor, God, so they can stand their ground against the Devil’s schemes.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm…” (Ephesians 6:10–14)

It was August 31, 2006. We had gone down to Anbar, the same city they had found Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole. It’s on the east side of the Tigris, about fifteen miles south of Tikrit. FOB Spiecher was on the north side of Tikrit so it was about a forty-five minute drive from the base. We made it down there by riding with another unit that I was not comfortable with. Part of our mission was to inspect the courthouses and determine whether or not they needed computers, a holding facility, or other infrastructure needs.

The insurgency was heating up all around us. Fortunately our convoy down to Anbar was uneventful.

After we arrived we began the meeting with the Iraqi judge in the courthouse. In the meeting was an Air Force JAG colonel I was working for, an interpreter, and a major from the unit that took us down there and myself. Outside, our guys were pulling security. After a while the security guys came up to remind us that we’d been there for about thirty to thirty-five minutes and said that we needed to be getting on the road. We wrapped things up and headed outside.

We were stepping back out to the vehicles to get ready to leave. The courthouse was set at one of the main intersections in the city. Here was a traditional Iraqi compound with a five-foot high concrete wall surrounding the courthouse complex. The guys had turned the vehicles around and were ready to head out. Another mission completed.

We had received a brief earlier that morning to let us know that there was another convoy approaching our area. It was a familiarization convoy to allow new unit commanders to see the area and get familiar with everything around them.

I opened the door to my truck to get into the Tactical Convoy Commander (TCC) position, put my weapon into the vehicle, and saw the first vehicle of the other convoy come through the intersection. As I put my gun down I heard what sounded at the time as a gunshot. In my experience in Iraq you would hear gunfire all the time. The police at times directed traffic by shooting AK-47s. Gunfire didn’t really send up much of a red flag for us.

What had actually happened was an insurgent had thrown a grenade at us. The grenade hit the top of the wall around the compound. It sounded muffled in sound, like a gunshot to me. I don’t know why it landed outside the wall instead of inside the wall. There was a lot that would happen that day I would not understand.

Lord, thank you that in everything, even war, you rule over all. Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

David Graves was an officer with a provisional reconstruction team in Iraq in 2006.

“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” (1 Chronicles 29:11–13)

After the grenade exploded, I grabbed my weapon and turned around and started looking. I couldn’t find anybody to engage. It seemed like a typical insurgent attack. Fire and run. There was nothing to shoot at, so we went ahead and loaded up in the truck. I again set my rifle down and climbed in. What we did not know was that the grenade was used to try to flush us out and push us into the ambush. They had set up on the Main Supply Route (MSR) about a block down from us. By now the other convoy was coming through the intersection and the lead truck was about a block down.

The insurgents threw hand grenades from the rooftops down onto the other convoy. There were two hand grenades that hit the last truck. These were not regular hand grenades. They were RPK-3 Russian antitank grenades with a shaped charge in the front end of the grenade. The first RPK-3 hit right in front of the Tactical Convoy Commander position and blew a basketball-sized hole in the top of the armored truck. It peeled the steel plate down with the full force of the blast and shrapnel going straight into the TCC’s lap.

The second hand grenade hit right above the right rear tire. When the explosion happened I could see debris flying up into the air. That visually stuck with me as the most vivid damage from that engagement. I could not see the vehicle when it was hit. The building shielded it from our view at the time of the attack. I got on the radio and ordered the convoy to get out into the intersection and help these guys out. Then we pulled out into the intersection. The convoy commander had turned around and come back through the ambush and was sitting at the intersection. He and I did a quick frequency swap so that we could talk from inside the Humvees. He confirmed to us that he did not have contact with his entire convoy. They had lost their fourth truck.