*BEST OF DTB #114* The Catholic Defender: The Immaculate Conception

It was 27 January, 2007 I had been out with the Scouts as we went to a number of villages looking for weapons.

That had been a long day that was very beneficial to us as we were able to find weapons and get some key information.

Once we returned back to Base, I was able to take off and go to a scheduled class I was prepared to give.

The following is what I wrote on the Defenders of the Catholic Faith Message Board:

Beginning this morning, I was outside the wire on mission and didn't get back until after 18:00 hours. I was in full battle rattle when I got to my room and grabbed my computer and speaker system and made my way to the Division Chapel which was about a mile away. I had to go by foot. I got there to find Father was there with the RCIA class which was real glad I was able to get there. Even though I was 45 minutes late, everyone stayed the whole time to watch the DVD on Mary. That was so cool. A non-denominal preacher happened to be in another room became interested in the subject matter so after I dismissed the class we talked for another hour. It was a good night of RCIA action!!!

As I walked back to my unit, it was night time, very dark. I heard the explosions in the distance, the gun fire. I reflected on some of the questions I covered at this evenings class.

I have Soldiers who were raised as Mormons, Church of Christ, Lutherans, Anglicans, Seventh Day Adventist, Baptists, Non-Denominational, Pentecostals, former Catholics, and non-believers.

They had various opinions based from what they were raised so their questions are very interesting as they were all sharing their journey to the Catholic Faith.

In one way, it reminded me of the first Christians who were Baptised that first day (Acts 2:41) St. Luke writes, "Those who accepted his (St. Peter's) message were baptised, and about three thousand persons were added that day".

I thought it was cool that we were continuing the work that Christ commissioned the Church to do.

The teaching on Mary was tonight's main discussion and the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was a main issue. What a great reflection of the love of God and I continued to walk along my journey back to my room.

I thought of Genesis 3:15, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heal".

I thought about that for a while, certainly God knew who this woman was when he said this. This woman can not be Eve as I've heard some think because her offspring did not conquer the serpent.

It was Jesus who conquered sin and death, St. Paul wrote, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38).

I felt that the Virgin Mary was the only one who could be the Woman of Genesis 3:15. This is the belief of the Early Church Fathers and the constant teaching of the Catholic Church.

Resting in this truth, my heart just came alive. I continued to reflect on the Immaculate Conception remembering that Gabriel was sent to tell Mary that she was this Woman.

This is very important. Compare the appearance of Gabriel to the Virgin Mary with when the Angel appeared to St. John. Revelation 22:8, St. John writes, "It is I, John, who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, 'Don't! I am a fellow servant of yours and your brothers the prophets and of those who keep the message of this book, Worship God".

I thought about how St. John was with Jesus for three years learning and hearing the Lord's teaching first hand. He was one of the Twelve, yet he lost himself with the appearance of the Angel.

Compare this with Mary's response to Gabriel, an Archangel. The Angel first greets Mary with "Hail, Full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28). I recalled the original Greek "Kecharitomene" means "having been" or "have already been" graced, Mary is "Full of Grace", a past perfect participle.

Because God knew who the Woman of Genesis 3:15 would be, at the appointed time, God prepares the Virgin Mary from her very beginning to be the Mother of Jesus.

This does not mean that she didn't need Jesus, she absolutely did, it is when she was free of Original Sin. It is a singular grace by God to the Virgin Mary that benefits all mankind.

She was protected by God from the Devil from the moment of her conception. St. John writes, "When the dragon saw that it had been thrown to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child (Jesus). But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where, far from the serpent, she was taken care of for a year, two years, and a half year. The serpent, however, spewed a torrent of water out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current. But the earth helped the woman and opened it's mouth and swallowed the flood that the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus" (Rev 12:13-17).

The Virgin Mary appears to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830 giving us the "Miraculous Medal" that shows Mary standing on the moon and the Devil under her feet.

St Augustine said (354-430), “Since the devil is the head of original sin, this head it was that Mary crushed: for sin never had any entry into the soul of this Blessed Virgin, which was consequently free from all stain”.

As I kept thinking about this, I just wanted to reach out to God and thank him, even in this place. He has given us so much.

I couldn't help thinking of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous identifying herself, "I am the Immaculate Conception".

I thought of the wonders God has worked at Lourdes that even today miracles are happening.

I understand that several thousand people go to Lourdes France everyday from around the world.

God promised us signs and wonders through his presence among his Church. As I walked into our Orderly Room, I checked in so they would know I was accounted for. I stopped in talking with the duty personnel and I was overjoyed from all that I was involved in this night.

I could still hear mortar fire in the distance, machine gun fire sporatic, every now and then a real loud explosion, yet it could not dampen my spirit. I dedicated my prayer for those who were in the midst of the fight.


Looking back, what a blessing it was to paticipate in the journey of so many people wanting to become Catholic. Despite the danger we lived, I was consoled with this truth: "You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).


Recently, Islamic Terrorists have attacked Catholic Churches in Baghdad killing many. Please pray for the Church persecuted today.

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The Catholic Defender: The Longest Air Assualt

It was 1991 during the Gulf War. I was with a small Band of Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division (3-187 Rakkasans).

I was among the early ones to go into Iraq to cut the head off of the snake. While waiting, I was the only member of the Battalion Aid Station that did not catch any major disease.

I thanked the Lord for this favor.Late at night, while keeping radio watch in the Battalion Aid Station, I would pray the Rosary.

I had my trusty New American Version of the Catholic Bible, which has great pictures, to help me meditate. Using my flashlight, those pictures would seem to come to life. By Day, we were always working on our defensive positions, digging in, filling sand bags, and training for war.

I would keep myself in shape by doing push ups, working out with a sledgehammer, sit ups, what ever I could do at the time. Running was out of the question.

That was one giant sand box. There was a particular Captain at our Battalion Trans, boasted of doing 600 push ups in one day. Because I couldn't let an officer boast of a record, the next day I did 700 push ups and that was never challenged.

When we would be camped out somewhere along the boarder of Saudi Arabia, we would have all our camouflage nets set up, the latrine screen set up, and a makeshift shower point.

Because the temp was 120 plus, we didn't have to worry about hot water.
Sometimes helicopters would fly low carrying water brevets and other supplies. When they did, the nets and tents would come to life.

A lot like those huge sand storms we would get from time to time. There was this one time our Brigade Commander happened to be visiting our area when one of these helicopters came flying overhead very low.

Everything was flying everywhere and everyone was diving for cover. The Brigade Commander went running out of the tent screaming and pointing to the pilot to land the helicopter. As he kept pointing to land that bird now, the pilot hovered above kind of watching for a few moments. Finally, he did land and he got reamed. We never had that problem again.

Those sand storms would be so thick you couldn't see a foot in front of you. We always had something going on that would be interesting.

Back at Tent City (right near King Fad Airport), one night we were awakened by the loud noise of plane engines. They were in the airport idling awaiting orders to fly as you could hear them for miles. This night officially began the Air War.

We were no longer Desert Shield, but now Desert Storm. Hussain failed to leave Kuwait and when he missed his deadline, President Bush Sr. was ready to go. We were quickly on alert. Each day we kept up with the news. We were flying over 2200 sorties a day hitting targets and weakening the Iraqi defenses.

Our air superiority quickly took control over the skies and we were thankful that we did not get hit by enemy planes. To this day I'm thankful for our Air Force. Our helicopters were another great advantage in hitting our enemy.

By the time the ground war began, the Iraqi defenses, communication, travel, support were greatly impacted.

Just before the ground war. on the eve of the greatest Air Assault mission, we were preparing to move out when Mass was being offered for us.

I attended the Mass and found myself before TV cameras when leaving the camouflaged tent.

I was given an opportunity to answer questions, I was seen on all the major news stations and ultimately placed in the CNN's Documentary of the Gulf War narrated by Bernard Shaw.

Mr. Shaw refereed to my prayer as "an answered prayer on the eve of battle".

We ultimately flew over four Iraqi Divisions who were fortunately bogged down by severe rain.

Rain that is very rare in that area. With the Rakkasans, if it were not raining, it wasn't training!

At Fort Campbell, we trained extensively using Black Hawk helicopters flying low just above the trees.

Here, there were no trees. It felt like a straight shot. This wasn't a joy ride like a roller coaster, this was the real deal. We jumped out of the helicopters and into the mud in the Euphrates river valley.

We quickly set up hasty fighting positions until we were able to set up our Battalion Aid Station. I was on the advanced party so we mapped out our position and maintained it until the main force arrived.

There was sporadic enemy activity but the action was limited as we routed any Iraqi troops in the area. I carried a 100 pound plus Ruck Sack during this time. I had an AT-4 (anti-tank weapon), my medical gear, and everything else that everyone else had.
Turmoil was all around us.

One mayor in a nearby town was hung because he supported Hussein, while in another neighboring town, this mayor was hung because he was against Hussein.

We began receiving civilians trying to seek refuge or needing some kind of medical attention. Once, we received a prisoner of war who was brought in to be checked out that had polio as a child. His leg was almost a walking stick. He was being used as an Iraqi officer's driver. I couldn't help but have compassion on him. He was part of Hussein's "Million man Army"?

We held this position for about 30 days when the BBC began broadcasting to the world that there were no American Soldiers left in Iraq. I was part of this team that was sitting at the most northern inward position in the Iraqi Theater of Operations. That was a bit chilling.

On the evening of March 5th, it rained terribly, a monsoon like rain. This was miserable. My foxhole had been swamped, all my things were soaked, the wind was bristling, my poncho was just popping. Water was standing everywhere around us. There was not a dry place to be found as everything had been packed up to leave the next day.

I just sat on an MRE box and waited it out. On a lighter note, after the ground war was officially called off and we had won the war, our Battalion Sergeant Major went throughout our perimeter informing us that we had to conduct police call (clean up the area around us before we left Iraq. That struck us all as odd.

It would be hours before we would leave the area and head for Camp Cobra, which was still in Iraq near the boarder with Saudi Arabia. During these times, it is easy to forget the times when explosions would sound off and we would all jump into our foxholes or cover.

I remember encouraging our Maintenance Officer who was certain we were all going to die. I was able to share the love of the Lord with him.

I remember celebrating Mass with the Catholic Priest who was assigned with us in this place. We would walk the perimeter praying the Rosary together.

There were no buildings in site, no vegetation, it was a miserable place to stay. What made it special for me was my faith. That helped me through this important period of my life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WYv4KsUAPY&feature=related

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The Catholic Defender: Jesus triumphant Entry

"Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass".

The Old Testament Prophecy comes to life every year as the Catholic Church commemorates Holy Week beginning with the Lord's triumphant Entry into Jerusalem.

Matthew 21:1-11 States, "When they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, The master has need of them. Then he will send them at once. This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

Say to the daughter Zion, behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying:

Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.

And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, who is this? And the crowds replied, This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee".

As we grow in our knowledge and wisdom of our Faith, may we allow the King of Kings to enter into the gates of our hearts.

The one who stands knocking says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his Throne " (Revelation 3:20-21).

The Lord Jesus quickly moves into Holy Week which leads to his passion and death. Sometimes, because of our own weakness, Jesus triumphant entry into our hearts can be marred because of our personal sin after accepting Him in our lives. Sometimes we may even loose our joy in the faith.

St. Paul gives us encouragement writing, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalitites, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38).

This is important because many of us will endure trials and tribulations, many of us will endure terrible passion and we are not left orphans. Jesus endured his passion for all so that we can offer our own suffering and tie it to Jesus.

St. Peter writes, "Now who is going to harm you if you are enthusiastic for what is good? But even if you should suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. Do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil" (1 Peter 3:13-17).

During the Gulf War, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, I would have people come to me for support from both superiors and subordinates.

I remember our Maintenance Officer was so afraid that we were not coming home because of his fear of the build up of Desert Shield. People truly feared the coming war.

Iraq at this time had the 4th largest Military in the world, their threat of Weapons of mass destruction was a real concern to us. I am so thankful that my faith was strong and could be a support for others. I was teaching people from my foxhole how to pray the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, reading the bible, encouraging them about the Faith.

What a blessing it was for me to find later that some of them did convert to the Catholic Faith as a result of our foxhole experiences.

While I was deployed to Iraq in 2009, I was at JSS UR when we were attacked with mortar fire. We were in the middle of a Platoon Sergeant meeting when off in the distance, we heard an explosion. Seconds later we heard another explosion much closer and finally, we had a third explosion that landed right behind us.

Everyone dove to the floor in response, some even grabbing chairs as shields. My back was towards this explosion and it was so loud it caused instant choas, but I remember instinctively going down to one knee, believe it or not, the Tebow prose.

Thinking back at that, I didn't really know Tim Tebow nor his image other than he was quarterback for Florida and was an "enemy" to Alabama (lol). But that's how I responded to the direct explosion to my back. I immediately went out to make sure there were no injuries and praise the Lord, there was none.

I raise this because I hope that it shows how faith can have an impact during the most difficult times. May the Lord give us strength during times of trial and tribulation. So that in our own lives, we point to Christ in all we do. We are the Easter people, we know the victory is already won.

St. Paul writes, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order. Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming, then the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God even the father when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

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The Catholic Defender: PSALMS 23

Early in my first deployment with the First CAV Division, 2-5 CAV, serving in Iraq between October 2006 through January 2008, I went out on many missions.

As the Medical Platoon Sergeant, I was never one who sat behind a desk, I was out checking on my troops and supporting missions. I would be responsible for setting up all the Medical support for all our Unit's missions in our Theater of Operations.

This included all the secondary jobs I was responsible for such as Field Sanitation, the care of prisoners, JSS Medical Support, major offensives against the enemy, and Safety concerns.

There were many other odd jobs that I was responsible, but these were among the most important in my day to day operations. Anytime I would go outside the wire, I always would sing Psalms 23 as I remembered my Son's Nathan and Jason arranging it in our band "Final Hour".

That tune would come to mind and I would sing it as I prepared. One of the great blessings I was to learn was that some of the Platoons would stop and pray Psalms 23 before they would go out on missions.

That was awesome. They would go through their pre-combat checks and gather around for the recitation of Psalms 23. The Psalms states:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths For His Name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and Your staff - they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord My whole life long.
[Psalm 23:1-6; NRSV]

I would return to Iraq for a second deployment with the 2-5 CAV between February 2009 through January 2010. Through these two deployments, I was able to help many Soldiers and Civilian Contractors come to the Lord, Jesus Christ through His holy Catholic Church.

When I had the opportunity, I was very much involved leading bible studies, the Rosary Patrol, and RCIA. I was stationed at Sadr City where much of the war effort was concentrated.

We were inside walls right inside the City. Kind of felt like being in the Alamo, especially when a threat would come our way. We would not have a Priest but once a month, and that was more than a lot of our JSS sites out in the Theatre of Operations.

We had our Battalion, Brigade spread out all over and it was imposible for a priest to hit all these locations. I was given the great blessing from the Archdiocese of the Military to conduct Catholic Lay Services (Liturgy of the Word)in the absence of a Catholic Priest.

This was important because I was able to touch base and support our Catholic Soldiers. Promoting the Rosary and offering it was important for many as well as Psalms 23. It was a release, a chance to put behind the war for a little while, to give them strength and encouragment. The following is a live version of the song "Psalms 23" performed by two of my Son's Nathan and Jason.

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The Catholic Defender doing the Tebow

While I was deployed to Iraq between February 2009 through January 2010, I was stationed at some of the remote Joint Security Stations in the Baghdad area such as Sadr City, Ur, and War Eagle.Our Battalion was at several more outposts which I would be a part of because I was responsible for the medical support. While I was at JSS Ur, this was where our Forward Aid Station (FAS) was located. The United States were in the process of closing down several of our JSS positions including Sadr City where I had our Main Aid Station (MAS) located. So, for a time, I had most of my Medics located at JSS UR.

It was during this time, while at JSS UR, I was at our Platoon Sergeant meeting planning our upcoming events. Ordinarily, the Company Commander, the First Sergeant, the Platoon Leaders, and the Platoon Sergeants will come together with their piece of the pie. You have the Scouts, the Mortars, the Medics, the Cooks, S-1, S-2, S-3 and Maintenance.

You have your usual participants. This particular day as we were in the middle of our meeting, off in the distance there was an explosion, we all kind of looked at each other. Then moments later, there was another explosion much closer and it became clear that someone was trying to land a mortar into our JSS.

Then, just moments later, there was this huge blast that hit just right behind where I was sitting. Everyone around the meeting were diving under chairs, tables, hitting the floor.

What a scene this was as there was chaos. The explosion was so loud and the blast caused much confusion.

As I saw this happening in front of me, I instinctively went down to my right knee as there was little time to do anything else.

I took a few moments gathering myself when I began checking on everyone. I quickly went outside to check for anyone who might have been hit by shrapnel.

On this day we were very fortunate as nobody was hurt. There were some who were shaken up by the power of the blast. It shook me as my back was towards the blast.

In this environment, things can change very quickly. This is the way it is, but today, I just want to reiterate the importance that when you start off your day, leave a blessing when you part with your loved ones, family members, your friends.

You never know from one minute to the next what can happen. It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

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*Best of DTB #105* The Catholic Defender: The Lord led me to His Mother

On my way back to our Battalion area, I meditated on what I just told the young man and how thankful I was to the Lord for having His truth in my heart. With this I began to see the Faces of Mary.

It all started as a quiet day on the morning of 6 May, 2009. It was a sunny Sunday morning and I was given an opportunity to sleep in so I woke up about 06:30.

I got up and got myself together preparing to go to Mass at the Division Chapel.

I had to make sure that all our obligations were covered and that gave me ample time to go to Mass at 10:30.

It's about a 15 minute walk to the Division Chapel but this particular morning, I was excited about the news I wanted to report to the congregation.

For me, the news of Francis J. Beckwith's returning to the Catholic Faith was huge. He was among the highest Lutheran leaders and highly respected among the Protestant Evangelical academics.

His conversion to the Catholic Faith was like a shot heard around the world. Well, here in Iraq, I heard it and I was anxious to share the news about it.

So, I grabbed my weapon and my gear and I set off to the Chapel. By the time I arrived there, I was drenched, sweating profusely in this 100 plus heat, but it was worth it!

I guzzled down a quick quart of water and prepared for Mass. At the end of Mass, Father would give me the opportunity to announce the upcoming events for the week.
We had RCIA that was currently continuing for many people kept coming who wanted to become Catholic. We had just received about 70 Soldiers for the Easter Vigil earlier in April.

Now I had several more Soldiers who were coming forward to be received into the Catholic Faith. Many from my Battalion! We also had Bible Studies that I was conducting at our Chapel (Warrior Chapel) and at the Division Chapel.

It was at this time that I had the chance to tell everyone about Mr. Beckwith coming home to the Catholic Faith.

I had a number of them come up and asked me more about this when this young man came over to ask me a question. He had originally approached Father, but Father refer ed him to me.

I pulled him to the side and he asked me what an apostle was.

I responded that an apostle was simple one who is sent. That is the textbook definition.

However, I explained that Christ sent his Apostles out into the world after preparing them for three years for the Great Commission.

The Gentleman then identified himself as a "Nestorian" Christian who represented about 5% of the Iraqi Christians in Iraq.

He wanted to challenge me on why the Catholic Church refereed to Mary as "Theotokos" meaning "Mother God"?
I responded with a question of my own, "What is the difference from referring to Mary as "Mother of God" as opposed to "Mother of my Lord"?

I then quoted Luke 1:42-44, "Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, 'Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled".

Notice that St. Elizabeth refereed to Mary as "blessed" twice during this exchange. Notice also that she refereed to Jesus as "Lord" in her womb as well as the word of the Lord.

Adoni was the word used to illustrate "Lord" referring to God. By this time, my Nestorian friend understood my meaning and with that, he had no further questions. He was interested in our bible studies from this point on.

In this way, Jesus led me to Mary, then Mary, as always leads us all back to Jesus.

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The Catholic Defender: Day of the Morning Sun

One late night during the summer of 2007, I was abruptly awaken by a Currier with a message that the Battalion Commander wanted to see me ASAP.

I quickly got myself together and made a mad dash to the Battalion Headquarters where the Commander was awaiting.

My Platoon Leader, a young Lieutenant, just went on a 30 day leave so I was acting Platoon Leader, Platoon Sergeant, and because we were short of Medics, I would go out on missions with the Scouts (PSD) and who ever else needed support.

The Battalion had been given a late mission from Brigade coming from Division. It always seemed that we would always have short notice for critical planning, but, sometimes this is the nature of our business. We must be flexible especially in an environment such as in Iraq OIF 2006-2008.

It was my task to provide a plan for Brigade the medical support for an up coming mission that would require a main push of our Battalion assets. All the Company elements will play a role given areas of responsibilities.

This will be a door to door seek and find mission of enemy elements in an area where Americans had not been. This was going to be potentially dangerous. Of course, before I was to present my plan of support for this mission, I would have to give the plan to the Battalion leadership first.

That is a smart move because we all must be on the same sheet of music. Of course, before I shared the plan to Battalion, our Company Commander and First Sergeant wanted to know what my plan was before I did anything.

As you can see, this was very labor intensive and the plan had to be accepted up the chain. I had already a good plan of support at the Company level as my squad leaders were doing a good job keeping me informed of the missions they had been conducting. This upcoming mission was going to be a major push that would require the Division to move forward.

I had to establish a temporary Aid Station to move to a central location not far from the action.

I would have to ensure a good Evac route from all avenues of approach. I would need a good estimate calculating the supplies I would need to have on hand.

I had to ensure that the logistics supporting this mission was all in place. This would have to be briefed to all the leadership and I would be the one to present it.

Everyday there were the meetings, the preparation of the power point presentations. If your act was not together, it would not be good so everyone tried to stay ahead of the program. You are the subject matter expert and you were expected to know the questions and answers before you presented yourself.

You had to know backwards and forwards what your role was and to know what your team leaders of the other sections were doing. In other words, if the Scouts had a mission, I needed to know what it was and how I was going to support them.

I had to know from the point of attack how long it would take an Evacuation Black hawk helicopter to arrive at the scene and then how long it would take to get the casualties back the the green zone. I had the Golden Hour incorporated in the plan.

Whenever there are casualties, if you can get the wounded to the Green zone and on an operating table in an hour, you greatly increase the chance of survival for many of our Soldiers. We have the best Military strategy the world has ever seen and I am proud to have played a major role at the tip of the spear.

During all this stress and daily headaches, I was able to keep up with my commitment to the Rosary Patrol. Prayer has always been my shield especially going out in harms way. All along the way to completion, I presented my plans of action and I was able to answer any and all questions relating to the mission.

I was not usually one of the ones who was held back getting yelled at.

On the morning of the kickoff, I was supporting our Echo Company Elements who was building a JSS in the middle of enemy strongholds. We had three Companies conducting mop up missions which were highly successful.

As we were rolling down the road, we were attacked with small arms fire and IED.

I was riding in a vehicle right behind the hit vehicle. There was a large explosion and the debre, smoke, and dust litterally made it hard to see. The vehicle right in front of me was hit by an IED.

I was the first on the scene with my Aid Bag as the vehicle Commander gave support ensuring that I was protected under fire.

I had two critically wounded Soldiers and I treated their life threatening injuries first and packaged them at the scene.

I made the decision to Evac the wounded by vehicle to the JSS where I had a set Helicopter pad available. This was a short two miles away from point of impact.

I could have called for the evac to come to the location where we were hit, but the terrain was not the ideal place.

As far as the plan went, it was picture perfect. My plan worked as planned and the wounded were on the operating table within 45 minutes.

This showed the Command that we had the right plan in place and I was thankful that the wounded survived. Two of them did have to evac back to the States, but they went home alive.

It was another good day, when we did not lose anyone, that was always a good day. I would receive a Combat badge with a star that would make me the old man in the Battalion.

That is rarely scene, but once in a while you will see someone with the badge with a star. Besides myself, I seen one other but for me the most important thing was no body died.

I look back at this today and I am so thankful to God, I don't know what it would have been like for me without my Catholic Faith. For me, this was more than a healing.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbCzba31TE&feature=related

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*BEST OF DTB #39* The Catholic Defender devotes the Divine Mercy

"SFC Hartley, we have 4 wounded arriving in about 10 minutes, two gun shot wounds and two shrapnel".

"OK, I'll call the Chaplain, and alert the Battalion. Make sure that all the teams are assembled and ready".

"Everyone take your positions, each team assemble as already dictated, we are expecting 4 wounded, one gun shot wound through the back, another through the right arm.

There are two Casualties with shrapnel wounds to the face, back and lower legs". "As the Gun Trucks pull in make sure that the litter teams bring in the most severe injuries first and place them from this trauma bed on down.

Make sure that all your pieces are ready: I need your suction on hand, need IV ready to go, need plenty of supplies. Make sure the trauma chests are open and ready".

"Come on people, just as we rehearsed! SPC Jones, I need you to keep monitoring the radio".
"SFC Hartley, they are coming in"!

"Lets get them in now, bring the facial wound here, I need a line in and make sure you get an airway inserted.

CPT Wilson, here is your first Casualty. Place the Chest wound here in the second bed"

"Get started with him, I will be right back".

"What are the last two"?

"SFC Hartley, they are delayed"!

"Ok, take them into the last two beds and begin treating their wounds, Doc will be right there".

"SFC Hartley, this one has a high Blood Pressure of 180/120"

"Keep getting me the vitals every 5 minutes, yell it out. Where is the PA"?

"SFC Hartley, he is on the way, he should be here in just a few minutes"!

"I'm helping on the second bed, I'll maintain spinal traction and keep the airway open".

"Sir our second Casualty has a gun shot wound to the back, his vital signs are becoming rapid".

The above scenario is sometimes a daily routine in a war zone. Sometimes it can happen multiple times a day with many more casualties. Sometimes the result is we lose some of them. That is always a difficult situation.

Sometimes the only thing I can do for someone is pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet! There may not be anything we can do as the wounds were just too catastrophic.

In this scenario, there are so many things happening at once, I have been involved with CPR trying to keep someone alive until the Doc calls it. I would silently pray:

Eternal Father,
I offer you the Body and Blood,
Soul and Divinity,
of Your Dearly Beloved Son,
Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
in atonement for our sins
and those of the whole world

I would be looking around ensuring that all can be done, making sure that the Casualties are packaged and ready for air transport Medevac if the sky is green. If the sky is red that presents problems getting a ground convoy. Continuing in my mind I would pray:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.

I remember the promise Our Good Lord made to St. Faustina consoling her that for the dying, if someone prays the Divine Mercy Chaplet the soul would find peace.

This hits home for me literally as my Mother would be told she had two days to live. She developed a massive blood clot that lodged in her right lower leg causing it to turn blue.

Without circulation, her leg did not make it. When I arrived at the hospital, the Doctors did not believe she would survive the knife. They gave her two days to live.

My Brother and I took Mom home to die as she didn't want to die in the hospital, but at home with her family around her.

As soon as we got her in her bed, I elevated her leg giving some comfort, I placed a rosary above the site where it was dead, and bathed the area with holy water and prayer.

Mom's medication such as Morphine helped at times, but what helped her most was praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet with me.

She felt at peace with herself and she was able to rest. This went on for about 10 days when I had to get an extension on my leave as Mom was living longer that what the Doctors projected.

I was sitting next to her bed when Mom asked me,
"Do you believe that the Lord will receive me when I pass".

I told Mom, "Mom, you know He will receive you! You can trust in His word and stand on what He says".

That's when I began to sing to her a song we sing at Mass, "Be Not Afraid"!

Gigi, my wife, was standing on the other side of the bed when she saw Mom's rosary on her desk so she gave it to Mom to hold.

As we were singing the song together, Mom was holding her rosary. It was at this point I noticed the rosary change from silver to gold in her hands. What a sign this was for us and I will write here that the Lord gave my Mom another 18 Months.
 
Mom was finally taken by the Lord on 1 August 2006. I will never forget how the Divine Mercy Chaplet made such an impact for my Mom.

That would lead to the earlier scenario. In the absence of a Priest, without the Anointing of the Sick (Last Rites), the Divine Mercy Chaplet is an important devotion.

I have meet parents of Soldiers who have died that were consoled by me when learning of our dedication of the Divine Mercy Chaplet praying for their Sons.



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