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

Thomson noted the mission was done at night, which is always dangerous because of sandstorms and other visibility hazards. The helicopters had to fly low enough to stay under Iraqi radar but high enough to avoid deadly power lines.

“A few hours later on April 2, 2003, we got the word that the rescue had been successful. She was safe. There was a feeling of great joy and satisfaction among all of us who played a part.”

Although the mission started as a secret, the whole world soon learned Jessica Lynch was safe. Many cups were overflowing with joy that day.

Thank you for the abundant joy that comes with a victory and a successful mission.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalm 23:5)

“The final event during the war that brought the presence of God close for me was in April 2003,” Commander Rob Thomson explained. “Our Marines had pushed through Southern Iraq and were now approaching Baghdad. It had become impossible to properly supply them with food, water, and ammunition from the sea, so we needed to set up a supply depot ashore. I flew by helicopter with a few others to a place called Jalibah that is in the desert west-northwest of Basrah.”

Because Jalibah was mostly just abandoned buildings, it was a good location for a supply depot. After surveying the area, Thomson and the others began to plan the logistics of getting supplies there and coordinating their dissemination. One of the most obvious challenges was the sand itself.

“There is a difference between the desert there and those here in the United States. The sand in Iraq is very fine. There’s always sand in the air, and at night the sky can be pitch black,” Thomson observed.

Because of the United States invasion, lights were out in Iraq and electricity was spotty. As Thomson took stock of the sand and the pitch-black horizon with only the stars and moon providing light, he realized how similar these primitive conditions must have been when Abraham lived in the same region.

“As I lay there at night on my cot in my tent, I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if Abraham slept here?’ We were very close to where archaeologists believe was once Ur of the Chaldeans, the original home of Abraham,” he said.

God’s omniscience and omnipresence took on a new meaning for Thomson in that moment. “It struck me that the same unchanging, all-powerful God who had watched over Abraham in this very spot 4,000 years before was now watching over me.”

And he slept soundly that night in the dark desert taking comfort in God’s permanent hand. A tent may have been his temporary shelter, but Thomson knew his ultimate dwelling was in the eternal house of the Lord.

Thomson left the Middle East in June 2003. He became a physics professor at the Naval Academy and retired in September 2007 after twenty years of service in the Navy.

May I dwell in you today. Your permanency throughout generations gives me hope for eternal life with you.

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

Lieutenant Sean McDougal started 2003 expecting to retire from the Navy. “I was up for PCS a permanent change of station and going into what we call retirement orders,” McDougal explained.

When he enlisted, McDougal began as a nuclear powered machinist mate working on a submarine nuclear power plant. He then went through an officer-training program to become a Surface Warfare Officer.

“I was a jack of all trades, master of none. We’re tasked with everything Intel, antisubmarine warfare, antiterrorism, pretty much everything,” he explained. He was in Hawaii directing a Navy Schoolhouse training program. In the summer of 2001, they enacted anti-terrorism and force protection courses, “the very thing we needed for the war in Iraq, so I knew a lot about that going into 2003,” he continued.

Operating under his orders to begin March 1, 2003, McDougal moved his family to Pensacola, Florida, in February. But at the last minute, during the final week of February, McDougal received new orders.

“It’s funny because orders, once you execute them, you have to get other orders to negate them. It all had to do with timing. I had volunteered for anything going forward. No one knew for sure if there was going to be a war (in Iraq), we just knew something was coming up,” McDougal said.

Then he received new, overriding orders to go to Tampa, the location of United States Central Command, which was led by General Tommy Franks. McDougal arrived in Tampa on March 1, 2003.

“From there I was immediately told that I was going forward. I had no idea at the time what ‘forward’ was. What they meant was that I was going to Qatar to be part of the Central Command (CENTCOM) unit that was going to physically fight the war. But I didn’t know that at the time. All I knew was that I was going forward.”

He was only in Tampa a few days.

“And I got more shots, more vaccinations than anyone could imagine. Eight in one day. Anthrax, really hurt the most. Three days later, and I was on an airplane going to Qatar going forward finally had a destination. It wasn’t time for me to end my Navy career. God had another plan.”

May I develop a flexible heart, one that is able to nimbly adjust to changes in timing and seasons and new directions.

“He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them.” (Daniel 2:21a)

“I arrived in Qatar March 11, 2003,” Navy Lieutenant Sean McDougal noted. His job there at CENTCOM was to take night watch at the Navy desk, which meant anything dealing with Navy assets and friendly forces.

“Someone would turn to me and say ‘Navy desk, tell this country to send this ship here,’ or ‘what is the status of that ship there?’ That sort of thing,” he said.

McDougal became friends with Major Randolph Winge called “Troll,” who had the same job at the Air Force desk. And because they shared the same twelve hour shifts, they spent a lot of time together, especially mealtime. They had something in common; both prayed before eating.

“Didn’t make a big deal of it,” McDougal said of his low-key approach. He simply bowed head and said grace silently.

“I noticed that when Troll and I would start praying, other people who sat down with us, they would pray also.”

The habit caught on, an unexpected leading by example. But the custom also brought out cultural differences with America’s allies. A British captain told McDougal he would never fit into the British Army because they “don’t display such things in public.”

The openness of Americans verses the privacy of Britons was soon strikingly apparent. At the beginning of the war, an American reporter gave away a location of troops on LIVE television. Something similar happened with a British reporter regarding an amphibious landing.

“The British put that reporter in a fighter jet and flew him out. They told their newspapers they couldn’t print some stuff,” McDougal said, noting that the Brits don’t truly have freedom of speech and press the way Americans do.

“If a helicopter goes down, we (United States military) are trained to give away information immediately. If we don’t know the answer, we say we’re working on it. The Brits won’t tell you anything until they have the whole story. They hold everything until they have all the facts,” McDougal said.