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

Andrew was saying all along this was a religious problem. If you don’t address the religious malfeasance that’s going on there, it’s just going to get worse.

The Iraq Inter-Religious Conference was a key to reducing violence that took place in the months following the meeting.

Father, you smile when humanity seeks to live in peace.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

Soldiers on the ground are not the only ones who benefit from chaplain support. General officers do as well. In fact, because generals make high-stakes decisions, they need the ethical and spiritual encouragement a chaplain can provide.

From June 2006 to September 2007, CH Colonel Mike Hoyt served as command chaplain for the theater in Iraq, which meant he was the senior chaplain coordinating all religious support for all branches of the United States Armed Services in Iraq. He was also the personal staff chaplain to the commanding general for MNF-I, Multinational Forces-Iraq. He first served General George Casey and then, General David Petraeus.

“Often in recurring staff meetings like the BUA, the leadership looks to include a word from the chaplain. Generally, the chaplain’s role is to provide some level of refreshment for the audience either through humor, or through an uplifting verse or an ethical challenge,” Hoyt explained.

The Battle Update Assessment was one such meeting. This daily briefing provided an update on everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours and projected operations over the next seventy-two to ninety-six hours for the commanding general’s staff. Usually coalition nation members, Embassy personnel, the Iraqi government representatives, and sometimes the Secretary of Defense or the CENTCOM commander participated in these meetings through video conferencing.

Hoyt or the Multinational Corps-Iraq Command Chaplain brought a sixty-second message of encouragement at the BUA each week.

It provided a spiritual and ethical outlook on soldiers, on lifestyle, on professional ethics, on the uplifting things of life so that you aren’t drug down in the monotony and the routine and the gore of what’s going on day to day. It’s that one moment to take a break and reflect.

After reading Lamentations 3:21–23, Hoyt offered up this prayer at the BUA on July 2, 2006.

“We thank You for the Mercy shown to us in delivering our forces through many missions. We appeal to Your loving Presence for those hurt by the thrust of evil. In this sad time of war, grant us a portion of Your strength of character and Spirit that we may not grow weary in well doing. Keep us humble in our successes, diligent in our duties, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness so that evil may be silenced and we may join the chorus of Your message Joy to the world, and on earth, Peace to all men of goodwill with whom You are pleased. Amen.”

Father, your loving kindnesses indeed never cease. Your compassions never fail, and you provide ways to encourage the great and the small.

“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’S loving-kindnesses indeed never cease. For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness!” (Lamentations 3:21–23 NASB)

The United States military leadership in Iraq had a responsibility to provide spiritual and ethical encouragement to the American military force and its leadership, who were making indescribable decisions. This proved delicate because America was leading a large coalition of religiously diverse nations and assisting a new government in Iraq, where religion influenced the conflict.

“We have to be true to our religious integrity as Americans. We are not a non-religious nation. Just because we don’t want to offend anybody doesn’t mean we need to reduce ourselves to no belief. That was one of the challenges,” Multinational Force-Iraq Command Chaplain, Colonel Mike Hoyt explained of the discussions he had with the commanding general’s chief of staff about how to approach the word from the chaplain at meetings such as the Battle Update Assessment or BUA.

They concluded that a weekly prayer was an appropriate measure of encouragement at these meetings. The prayer had to be as inclusive as possible. It couldn’t tick anybody off and had to also encourage our Iraqi and coalition audience from a variety of faiths or no faith. However, because prayer is a method all faiths share, these simple BUA prayers proved a welcomed path for encouraging the war weary hearts of people.

Here’s Hoyt’s BUA prayer from Nov. 19, 2006: “We thank You this day Lord, for leaving the windows of heaven open to us through the gift of prayer. We confess to You our world’s experience sometimes dwarfs our awareness of You and things appear insurmountable.

“But You have set eternity in our heart and planted wisdom in our innermost being and given understanding to the mind.

“We pray for insight into the illusive goals of peace so we may cease the perplexities of war. We pray for a graceful approach with each other so we may practice the lessons of love. We pray for Your enduring mercy and comfort so our wounded may be relieved from the suffering we cannot touch.

“And we pray to You, the God of our Universe, so our vision will exceed the horizon of the here and now and our heart will, in purpose and in faith, be lifted to hope in You. Keep us in prayer this week so we may hear Your voice of triumph in the tasks before us each day. Amen.”

Thank you for prayer and its power to encourage and keep us from losing heart.

“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray, and to not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1)

The enemy often accused Americans of being religious crusaders. But such false rhetoric did not erase the need for people of all ranks to receive ethical and spiritual encouragement. The challenge of the commanding general’s chaplain was to find a way to provide that nourishment despite the enemy’s provocations.

Discussions about having a prayer at the BUA, the daily Battle Update Assessment, inevitably led to questions about whether or not America is a Christian nation. As plain as he could, Hoyt made the case that America was expecting the Iraqis to be what they are: Muslim. They expected America to be what America is, a place embracing freedom of worship.

“We at least espouse Christ-like principles. And we allow Christianity to occur unfettered and unbothered and their view of us (the Iraqi) is that we are a Christian nation. So I don’t think it’s wise for us to stop being Christian while we are the lead nation for this coalition. We ought not to deny our heritage or our history when we’re expecting everybody else to step up to the plate and be what they are. Let’s continue to be what we are,” Hoyt said, adding that he sought to be as inclusive as he could with the theology that he owned.

Here’s the BUA prayer Hoyt offered on July 28, 2007. “Lord God, we are in that most difficult of jobs to win a war without loving it. We do not shirk the battle. We ask wisdom to keep our balance. Teach us O Lord, to live both of these truths. We serve in Iraq leaving behind our ‘real life’ so we can work in the ‘real life’ mission we are trained to conduct. We pursue our craft with a genuine selfless attitude, yet we do not overlook Your ceaseless Grace.