Military Chaplain Stories

A Quiet Reality:

A Chaplain's Journey Into Babylon, Iraq with the 1st Marine

Expeditionary Force

Author: Emilio Marrero Jr., Copyright @ 2009

A Quiet Reality is a heartwarming and hopeful story that invites you to join Chaplain Marrero in this exciting journey through Iraq as he ministered to US Marines. Join him through an exhilarating tactical convoy during his first night in Iraq, through the painful ministry to the wounded and dead. Reflect with him as he ponders on this quest as a man in uniform and a pastor. Walk with him through the ancient ruins of Nebuchadnezzar s Palace in Babil and join him on an exciting quest to open biblical history to his Marines while he seeks to care for the Iraqis around him. A Quiety Reality is a hopeful commentary on a selfless quest to be true to one s faith and one s calling in the most trying of times. A wonderful story that provides deep insight into how Americans and Iraqis touched one another in conflict and in peace.

A Soldier of God Remembers:

Memoir Highlights of Career Army Chaplain (Colonel) John W.

Schumacher, Retired

Author: Chaplain John W. Schumacher, Retired, Copyright @ 2000

A Table in the Presence:

The inspiring account of how a U.S. Marine battalion experienced

God's grace amid the chaos of the war in Iraq

Author: Lt. Carey H. Cash, Copyright @ 2005

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

–Psalm 23:5

There are some places where you just don’t expect to find God. For the men of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, downtown Baghdad was one of those places. Moving into the heart of Iraq and ever deeper into enemy territory, they found themselves face-to-face with the ruthless Iraqi Republican Guard and Fedayeen militia. But when the smoke cleared, God’s touch was clearly visible.

Serving as a chaplain to the U.S. Marines, Lieutenant Carey Cash had witnessed the miracles that began in the desert of northern Kuwait, and found their culmination in one of the fiercest battles of Operation Iraqi Freedom. With vivid detail and gripping emotion, Lt. Cash gives a firsthand account of this amazing story–how the men of an entire battalion found God in the presence of their enemies.

Faith Under Fire:

An Army Chaplain's Memoir

Authors: Roger Benimoff, Eve Conant , Copyright @ 2010

“Running away from God doesn’t work. I had tried.”

—Roger Benimoff

As he left for his second tour of duty as an Army chaplain in Iraq, Roger Benimoff noted in his journal: I am excited and I am scared. I am on fire for God...He is my hope, strength, and focus.

But not long after returning to Iraq, the burdens of his job–the memorial services for soldiers killed in action, the therapy sessions after contact with the enemy, the perilous excursions “outside the wire” while under enemy ﬁre–began to overwhelm him. Amid the dust, heat, and blood of Iraq, Benimoff felt the pillar of strength he’d always relied on to hold him up–his faith in God–begin to crumble.

Unable to make sense of the senseless, Benimoff turned to his journal. What did it mean to believe in a God who would allow the utter horror and injustice of war? Did He want these brave young men and women to die? In his darkest moment, Benimoff wrote: Why am I so angry? I do not want anything to do with God. I am sick of religion. It is a crutch for the weak.

Benimoff’s spiritual crisis heightened upon his return home to Fort Carson, Colorado. He withdrew emotionally from wife and sons, creating tensions that threatened to shatter the family. He was assigned to work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he counseled returning soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder–until he was diagnosed himself with PTSD.

Finding himself in the role of patient rather than caregiver, connecting as an equal with his fellow sufferers, and revisiting scriptural readings that once again rang with meaning and truth, he began his most decisive battle: for the love of his family and for the chance to once again open his heart to the healing grace of God.

Intimate and powerful, drawing on Benimoff’s and his wife’s journals, Faith Under Fire chronicles a spiritual struggle through war, loss, and the hard process of learning to believe again.

For God and Country:

Four Stories of Couraeous Military Chaplains

Authors: John and Bonnie Riddle, Copyright @ 2003

As U.S. soldiers battle terrorists around the globe, Americans--from Main Street to Hollywood--are viewing the military with a renewed respect. Now comes an exciting biographical collection of a vital, but often overlooked, member of the military: the Christian chaplain. Featuring the stories of Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathan Edwards and Revolutionary War chaplain; E. M. Bounds, the famed theologian who served as a Confederate army chaplain; George Fox, one of the "Immortal Chaplains" of the U.S.A.T. Dorchester; and Robert Preston Taylor, who willingly suffered with his men in a Japanese prison camp, For God and Country will stir readers with the courage of these specially called ministers of the gospel.

Gateway to Iraq:

A Chaplain's Story

Author: Rachel Coggins, Copyright @ 2009

...the compelling and poignant account of one woman's experience as a chaplain on the edge of war. When Dr. Rachel Coggins received the call to serve overseas, the Army Reservist left a comfortable Georgia home to live in a harsh environment filled with challenge. Assigned to a base called the Gateway, she welcomed military members entering the war zones of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait and then bid them goodbye when it was time to return stateside. In between those times, Chaplain Coggins listened to the warriors-to their fears, their worries, their heartaches, and sometimes, their joys. She became a confidante to some, a comfort to others, and a friend to still others. Chaplain Coggins offers a glimpse into a world few civilians ever see. In retelling her experiences, Coggins reveals the struggles that confront today's war-zone Soldiers and their loved ones, struggles that are often hidden from most Americans.

What readers are saying: "What a great book! I couldn't put it down. I laughed, cried, imagined, thought, reflected, prayed all at the same time" -Kathy Oldfield, seminarian "You bring the war home and make it a personal journey, rather than some far away experience in a country most of us don't even know." - Carol Glover, Chaplain's wife

"Compassionate, compelling and heart-felt! ...rare insight and much needed perspective." - Angela Marshall, Teacher

Rachel is an Army Reserve Chaplain and the wife of an Air Force Chaplain. She holds a Doctorate of Ministry in Women's Studies and is founder of Rachel's Well Ministry. She and her husband, Michael, and son live in Arizona.

Meditations from Iraq:

A Chaplain's Ministry in the Middle East 2003-2004

Author: Lance Kittleson, Copyright @ 2005

In January 2003, Lance Kittleson's army reserve unit was deployed to Kuwait and Iraq. For the next 14 months, his ministry was transformed. Instead of pastoring an Iowa congregation, he now served under harsh and sometimes dangerous conditions as a chaplain for a support unit on the edge of war. Yet even in this chaotic and challenging environment, his trained pastor's eye finds the presence of God in moments both mundane and exhilarating.

In this collection of e-mails sent to family and friends during his time in the Middle East, Kittleson shares insightful, poignant, and humorous meditations on faith and life. You'll get a firsthand glimpse of military life, as well as the remarkable ways of the spirit (both divine and human) at work. When the camp's altar suddenly disappears, you'll read about how Kittleson comes to understand that the crude replacement altar hastily assembled from discarded shipping crates is a better symbol of Jesus than any fancy altar in an ornate sanctuary. You'll also see how the sight of a superior officer offering a cup of coffee draws quizzical responses from servicemen accustomed to a rank-conscious army.

Whether you are interested in learning more about what some of our men and women in uniform are experiencing in Iraq, want thoughtful sermon illustrations, or just desire inspirational reading that highlights God's presence even in the worst of life, Meditations From Iraq is a fascinating volume for everyone.

Some of the illuminating chapters include:

A Baptism In The Desert

The Spirit's Honeywagon

The Rivers Of Babylon

Tikrit And Perspective (Or Dodging Bat Guano In The Desert)

Saint SGT Murphy

Eli's Christmas Tree (Or Someone In Iowa Loves You)

The Last Convoy

SRP Blues

Lance Kittleson has been an ELCA pastor since 1981. He is currently the pastor of Deer Creek Lutheran Church in Carpenter, Iowa, and St. Peter Lutheran Church in Toeterville, Iowa. Kittleson previously served parishes in Iowa and Oregon, and has been a missionary in Senegal. Kittleson's military service has included 17 years as a chaplain in the Army Reserve and 10 years as an infantry officer. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University and Luther Seminary.

Miracles and Moments of Grace:

Inspiring Stories from Military Chaplains

Author: Nancy B. Kennedy, Copyright @ 2011

In Miracles and Moments of Grace, seasoned author Nancy B.Kennedy brings together stories that touch the heart, with inspiring messages drawn from the day-to-day lives of our nation's soldiers.

This collection of compelling first-person stories comes from the many military chaplains who are eyewitnesses to amazing displays of divine intervention, whether in small moments of grace or through events experienced as miracles. Telling stories that range from the simple joy of a Christmas party for deployed service members tothe intervention of a chaplain talking down a suicidal soldier, this book makes it clear:military chaplains are tough, on a mission to face some of the darkest moments of thehuman experience and bring the light of faith with them.

Whether you are in the military yourself, a family member, or simply a reader seeking inspiration about the work God does even in gritty circumstances, this book will introduceyou to people worth knowing. These chaplains put their lives on the line to minister to souls all over the world; their stories can open your eyes and lift your spirits. "It is myprivilege here," writes Nancy, "to tell the stories of these dedicated men and women entrusted with the spiritual well-being of our country's armed forces. God bless them,and through them, you."

The Road to Unafraid:

How the Army's Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage

through "Black Hawk Down" and Beyond

Authors: Jeff Struecker and Dean Merrill, Copyright @ 2009

Jeff Struecker, a "Black Hawk Down" hero, the Army's Top Ranger, now an Army Chaplain, relates his own tales from the frontlines of every U.S. initiative since Panama, and tells how God taught him faith from the front in fear-soaked times. As readers go on-mission with Struecker through his harrowing tales, they will learn how to face their own fears with faith in a mighty God. Just as he told one of his charges in Mogadishu: "The difference between being a coward and a hero is not whether you're scared, it's what you do while you're scared."

Military chaplain books

Stories that tell of faith and God's grace in the midst of war