| Military
Chaplains Serve Diverse Role
Warrington Rabbi Jon Cutler will
soon be among those leading prayers in Iraq.
By MARION CALLAHAN
COURIER TIMES
When Chaplain Douglas Etter was assigned
to an 18-month mission in Iraq with the Pennsylvania Army
National Guard, he asked to be placed in a unit heading to
a danger zone, where he was needed most.
So he was deployed to Habbaniyah, a base
about halfway between Fallujah and Ramadi, where roadside
bombs, sporadic sniper shootings and rocket-propelled grenade
attacks were commonplace. Etter lost 15 soldiers in his unit
and watched a few of them die in his arms. Though he lived
in a battlefield, he never fought back.
Instead, he prayed. He prayed for the soldiers
and their safety. He prayed for the families back home. And
he prayed for peace.
“Chaplains are there to bring a certain
degree of compassion to a violent place; they bring a certain
degree of peace and serenity to a place where there is no
peace and serenity; they offer perspective of something higher
and greater, where there is so much that is awful and degrading,”
said Etter, a Presbyterian, who is the executive officer at
the state Bureau of Veterans Affairs in Lebanon County.
The role of a chaplain is diverse and extends
beyond the practice of a particular faith, as he offers counseling
and spiritual support to service members of all religious
beliefs and often serves as commanders’ moral advisers.
“Perhaps most interestingly for me
as a chaplain, we pray openly and honestly, on our knees before
each and every mission. Some hold hands, others make the sign
of the cross and still others just bow their heads in humble
submission to Almighty God. And this is not something I started
or suggested, this is born spontaneously of soldiers’
simple desire to seek God’s protection in the midst
of such danger.”
In war, chaplains offer troops a chance to
practice their religion or simply talk about personal issues
in confidence. They are “a voice of compassion”
for troops of all religious beliefs, said Navy Chaplain Jon
Cutler, a rabbi with Congregation Tiferes B’Nai Israel
in Warrington. He is deploying in November with a Marine unit
to Iraq.
Cutler, a Naval commander, said more than
90 percent of the troops he counsels are not Jewish. And while
Cutler will lead religious services where he’s based
in Iraq, much of his role will be to counsel service members
who are grappling with family issues.
“We have a lot of Marines who are dealing
with divorce, separations and breakups over long deployments;
it’s more common than you can imagine,” he said.
From Warrington, he’s already helped
a young woman in his unit, now in Iraq, who is battling custody
issues. Cutler has alerted the woman to a law that protects
parents in deployment situations.
Cutler has some experience comforting people
in combat zones. During Desert Storm, Cutler spent four months
as a chaplain in Saudi Arabia, when he was on active duty
in the Marines Corps. Before that he served in the Philippines.
While in Iraq in 1991, he ran into a friend who had been injured.
“He had been taken as an Iraqi prisoner
of war; someone threw a grenade at him and it blew off his
leg,” said Cutler. “I got to be with him right
in the field hospital before he went into surgery. That experience
was very profound. The most important thing we offer is presence;
they know they are never alone, and they are not forgotten.”
Chaplains, he said, are the human face of
the war.
“In a war, the human element is often
lost. You become so task-focused that in the midst of it all,
you lose the human side. That is why chaplains are there.
You need that connection with humanity.”
Cutler was called to duty at the Pentagon
in the days after Sept. 11, 2001, to help counsel grieving
families and then assist the mortuary team as they recovered
body parts.
“To see the Pentagon destroyed was
very eerie; it was 1 a.m. and everyone was working around
the clock. I was there with a Catholic chaplain and we offered
our prayers when we found body parts,” he said. “I’ll
never forget going in there. I was in shock myself. At the
same time, you have to understand the role you function in,
and you deal with it. Chaplains supported each other. You
never felt like you were out there by yourself.”
During such trying times, chaplains of all
faiths often unite to support each other. “Our goal
is the same, to bring the presence of God to the people. I
look to my fellow chaplains as being part of my support network,
and they are not Jewish. But we share the same common experience
of being in the midst of the war and we understand what needs
to be done to help people spiritually.”
Etter said that the dominant hardship chaplains
respond to in Iraq is the “hardship of being far from
home and the loneliness experienced on both sides of the ocean.”
“Relationship problems — without
any question — [were] the overwhelming struggle. Some
of our soldiers’ spouses decided they would start dating
again and spending money her husband’s making in the
combat zone on the new friend,” said Etter, who would
arrange for the soldier to set up a new bank account so that
money wasn’t misappropriated any longer.
From Iraq, he wrote a message to his family
and friends about this: “Few things are sadder for me
than when a soldier comes to the chapel, tears streaming down
his dust-covered face and he says, ‘She’s leaving
me. She’s given up,’ So please, don’t let
go. Don’t give up. Hold on. Endurance and perseverance
are often synonymous with victory in the Scriptures. Success
comes only to those who have the steadfastness of heart and
hand to hang in there. So please, keep holding on and we shall
do the same.”
Along with meeting with service members,
Etter reached out to the local Iraqi people, assisting with
the opening of hospital clinics and distributing donated goods.
Etter also reached out to Muslim leaders in surrounding Iraqi
communities.
“Chaplains historically meet with other
religious leaders simply because we have a common denominator
with them — recognizing and affirming God’s control
and power and humanity’s need for God,” he said.
“But they weren’t always cordial.”
Returning from one unsuccessful visit to
a mosque, his convoy was attacked.
The most unique challenge is being in a combat
zone without a weapon, said Etter, who is issued a bodyguard
for protection. Chaplains are considered noncombatants, forbidden
from carrying firearms, a rule spelled out in the Geneva Convention.
“Yes, there was a time when I thought
I might die, but I was prepared for that, to lay down my life
for my country,’’ he said.
Despite experiencing frequent attacks and
witnessing such widespread grief, Etter said his experience
was a rewarding one: “I baptized soldiers. One soldier
asked me to renew his vows for him over a Webcam with his
wife; having a soldier come share with you the birth of his
child and being able to meet my deceased soldiers’ parents
and sharing with them the final moments of their sons’
lives … these are all very special moments. It means
a great deal for the families to talk to someone who was there
and witnessed their child’s death and to have many of
their questions answered.”
Etter, back home now, hopes to return to
Afghanistan or Iraq, adding, “I still want to be where
people are having the greatest needs.”
Cutler said he didn’t volunteer for
Iraq but will go because it is his “calling.”
He realizes he will likely be in harm’s way as he travels
to bases across Iraq to meet with Jewish service members.
And he realizes he will not have a means to defend himself
if he confronts danger.
“I’ve been in the Navy for 22
years and never picked up a gun in my entire life and I have
no interest in them,” he said. “We are men and
women of God and, as such, we represent peace in the midst
of a war. Again, this is the role and the expectation. …
We’re there as a reminder that they’re not just
there fighting as objects. Each person is sacred and every
human being is sacred. The one thing I found out in Desert
Storm is: There is no atheist in a foxhole.”
Marion Callahan can be reached at 215-345-3166
or mcallahan@phillyBurbs.com.
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