Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

by Jane Hampton Cook

  “I’ve seen his X-rays, the entry and exit wounds,” Van Antwerp noted.

  Doctors had to remove a portion of his frontal lobe that supposedly controls one’s emotions. Yet, Smiley has made a remarkable recovery.

  “I believe God rewired him. He’s absolutely the same guy as before the injury, except that he can’t see. When he was injured, it was pretty early in the war and we were trying to figure out the policies for handling wounded warriors. The Army hadn’t really solidified what we were going to do with those injured this severely. Could he even stay in the Army?” Van Antwerp relayed.

  The general became a personal advocate. “I called the Human Resources Command, requesting that they move Scott Smiley into my command. I told them I knew he could contribute and that I want to bring him in to watch over him as ‘Support to Wounded Warriors’ matured,” Van Antwerp reflected.

  Smiley and his wife moved to Fort Monroe, Virginia., where Van Antwerp was serving as commander of United States Army Accessions Command, responsible for recruiting and training thousands of young patriots. Smiley recruited for the Army, became an inspirational speaker, and took on life’s challenges, giving God the glory for his recovery. After climbing Mount Rainier, Smiley received ESPN’s 2008 ESPY and is an inspiration to us all.

  Van Antwerp also intervened to help Smiley reach his dream of teaching at the United States Military Academy. After contacting a longtime friend and dean at the Academy, the deal was done.

  “I’m able to do some good things for others because of my position in the Army. In the case of Scotty, I was in a position to help,” Van Antwerp explained.

  Advocacy is much more than just advocating policies and positions. Moral leadership requires personal advocacy as well.

  Prayer:

  Provide me an opportunity to be an advocate on someone’s behalf.

  “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

  April 26

  UNSEEN RECOVERY

  Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp, United States Army

  Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp’s is the father of three sons and two daughters. All of his sons have served in the United States military.

  “I’m so proud of them,” Van Antwerp said, noting that one is a major and one just made the major’s list. “For me, it is a family business. I want to get things right because of my boys, their friends, and all others who serve.”

  For about a month in 2005, all three of his sons were in Iraq at the same time.

  “We were on our knees a lot,” Van Antwerp said of how his family responded.

  Van Antwerp’s youngest son and namesake, Robbie, was injured while driving a Humvee in Iraq in 2005. The explosion threw all five soldiers from the vehicle and two were killed. Robbie spent thirteen months recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Recovering physically is one thing, but overcoming post traumatic stress syndrome and living with the loss of his soldier friends is a different kind of recovery.

  Physical recovery is difficult, but the war within is often the tougher and more challenging part.

  “We’re just trying to be very faithful in helping and encouraging him,” he said.

  Churches are becoming more aware of the challenges facing soldiers, veterans, and their families. Van Antwerp cited Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Bob Dees’s work with “Bridges to Healing Ministry,” part of Campus Crusade for Christ’s military ministry. Van Antwerp described their work as “a full court press to help counselors and churches minister in this hidden battle.” The ministry has published a basic guide for churches, the “corps of compassion,” to begin equipping them to understand and restore PTSD sufferers and their families.

  “You can talk about the power of positive thinking, but that does not do it. You have to come back to the idea that God does have a plan for your life. The essence is that God loves you. These momentary trials will work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to his purpose,” Van Antwerp reflected, referencing Romans 8:38.

  In the end many who have suffered in this way will be able to comfort others in the same manner that they’ve been comforted. This is “another godly principle” that works.

  Prayer:

  Father I pray for those wounded warriors, as they recover both physically and emotionally. Bring them complete healing that they may both comfort others and fulfill your plan for them.

  “My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God.” (Job 16:20)

  April 27

  AURA

  Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp, United States Army

  Why do soldiers fight? Why do they risk everything?

  “In the most basic sense, they do it for their fellow soldiers,” Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp said, noting the high-level of patriotism he has seen in soldiers since Sept. 11, 2001.

  “In Accessions Command, we brought new soldiers into the Army. The Army has to recruit about 175,000 soldiers every year to maintain the strength. What is remarkable is that our young people have responded to the call knowing they’re going to deploy,” Van Antwerp explained. Prior to commanding the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Van Antwerp led United States Army Accessions Command, which is responsible for recruiting and training soldiers.

  “Our obligation to these volunteers is to provide them the best training and equipment possible.”

  Getting it right means conducting drills in body armor and convoy live-fire training. It also means shifting away from a confrontational, adversarial drill sergeant mentality to a leader, mentor, and trainer role model. And that means: AURA, an easy-to-remember leadership principle for making the “Army Strong.”

  “You would know one of our soldiers because there’s a special AURA about them. The letters mean something. The A means they know that they’re accepted into the unit,” Van Antwerp said.

  “The U means they’re understood. They’re treated like people. We know their names. We know that they have a family. We know what they like to do for recreation. A good unit leader knows that about his people,” Van Antwerp continued.

  Getting to know them helps soldiers understand that they are cared for and are not just a number. Van Antwerp noted that Jesus’ model of leadership was one that called people by name.

  “The R, we recognize them for what they did well, very specifically,” he explained. A leader’s job was to identify things they did well and correct mistakes.

  “If you’re doing recognition to correction about five to one, you’re getting it about the right way. The final letter is the A, appreciation. Our soldiers need to know that we appreciate them. I am grateful that they would volunteer to come into this army during a time of war.”

  Through great training and AURA acceptance, understanding, recognition, and appreciation we can change volunteers into soldiers.

  Prayer:

  Strengthen my desire to truly get to know the people in my circle of influence: To accept, understand, recognize, and appreciate them.

  “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)

  April 28

  REMOTE RUNWAY HOMECOMING AND A NEW YORK REUNION IN TEXAS

  While compiling stories for this book, I (Jane Cook) had the opportunity to travel from my home in the Washington D.C. area to Texas for speaking opportunities. Because I was sans family, I was not in my usual mom role on the plane. This freed me to do something I don’t often do: Talk with the stranger sitting next to me.

  On my mind was this book. My flight was two-legged, with a stop in Memphis before final wheels down in San Antonio.

  Even though the plane was the same, my seats were different for each leg. Both times brought special opportunities. I was able to sit next to someone who had a loved one who had served in Iraq.

  On the first jaunt, I sat next to a woman who was returning home to Memphis. As we talked, I learned s
he was soon expecting an even better homecoming. Her stepson was expected to arrive home from Iraq within the next week or two. She told me how proud she was of him, how much he had grown up through his service in the Marines.

  “He was just a kid when he went over there the first time,” she related.

  Her stepson was not out of his teens when he went to Iraq as part of the invasion in 2003. She explained he had looked forward to returning in 2007, because he had grown up so much. Now in his early twenties, he wanted to share what he had learned with the guys who were young like he was when he first left.

  Then she shared the frustration many military families experience. She and her husband knew he was coming home, but the window of his return was more than two weeks. Their son had contacted them, alerting them he was scheduled to return, but couldn’t tell them when or where. He wasn’t allowed to contact them any more until he was wheels down in the United States. They lived in an uncertain “hurry up and wait” mode.

  When our plane landed in Memphis, she called her husband from the runway. He had wonderful news. Their son had just called him. He wasn’t yet in Memphis, but was in Maine.

  This woman, who was traveling with a group of her colleagues, started telling them he was on United States soil.

  I won’t forget the tears that welled in her eyes. She wasn’t crying, but her deep blue eyes were simply moist. Moist with relief. Moist with comfort. Moist with peace that returning home can bring.

  The second leg of my trip from Washington D.C. to Texas in April 2008 brought yet another opportunity to witness a homecoming. I had about an hour in Memphis before flying to San Antonio. I pulled out a copy of my book, Stories of Faith and Courage from the Revolutionary War. I wanted to skim it, reflecting on my speech the next day.

  The woman sitting next to me asked me about it. I explained the book was a devotional incorporating stories from the Revolutionary War. Not knowing her background, I simply shared that many of the stories have a connection to today’s military families, who, like our founding fathers, have given up their quiet lives to live loudly for liberty.

  She then shared her story. A hospital administrative clerk, she was from Buffalo, New York. She had four children, three boys now in their twenties and a twelve-year-old daughter, who was traveling with her. Then she told of her excitement. On her way to the airport, she stopped by her son’s favorite pizza place. She bought him a New York style pizza and Buffalo wings. She wanted to make this reunion as special as possible.

  She explained her son was in the Army and had been in Iraq. On his departure, he had prepared her the best way he could for his deployment.

  “Mom, I know it’s hard, but I’m going over there to relieve someone else, so they can come back to their family,” he had said.

  He returned from Iraq in 2007, but she hadn’t seen him much since he first arrived. He had found a civilian job was going back to work for the military at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

  Her life had been affected by the war on terror in another way. She lived across the street from the former home of one of the Buffalo Six, a group of Yemeni-Americans who were convicted of providing support to al-Qaeda.

  “I don’t understand how people who were born in this country and grown up here can become so hateful,” she said dismayed over her brush with terrorists in her own neighborhood.

  We talked a little while longer. Later I had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of her reunion with her son. I didn’t notice what she was wearing on the plane, but at the baggage claim I saw her taking pictures with her son. She and her daughter wore white T-shirts with big black letters that said, “I love New York.”

  With some buffalo wings, a New York-style pizza, and a T-shirt, this mom brought her son a little touch of his old home to his new home in San Antonio. She understood the value of a home-style gift, one from the heart.

  Prayer:

  Thank you for the meaning of gifts, and how they make special moments even more memorable. Show me how I can give a gift, even simple kindness, to someone today.

  “My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” (Isaiah 32:18)

  April 29

  BRING YOUR COURAGE!

  Former General Counsel, Mary L. Walker, United States Department of the Air Force

  In the Pentagon a shield hangs on one of the doors of the Vice Chief of the Air Force with a motto that shouts Bring Your Courage!

  No kidding, I thought, as I passed the motto.

  It takes courage to see that evil has made inroads so deep that a global war must be waged to deal with it and courage to step forward in a complacent world to wage that war. For a long time our citizens took for granted the security we provided them. After 9/11, some reacted by withdrawing into their homes and their communities.

  As Christians we often react in the same manner to the spiritual battle, the war against evil for the souls of men and women. Some fear that evil, and retreat to their safe Christian communities to their families, churches and Christian networks. But that is not what God has called us to do.

  When Jesus gave his last words to his disciples, he did not say, “Wait and see” or “stay together and comfort each other.” In Matthew 10:16, he said, “Go…” He directed them to engage the enemy and gain ground. “Go and make disciples. He sent them into the world ”as sheep in the midst of wolves.” When Jesus sent them out, into harm’s way, he also reassured them that they wouldn’t be alone when he said, “I am with you even to the end of the age.”

  The men and women I work with in the Air Force live with the possibility of death. Though they accept that they might die for the cause of freedom, they do not live without joy or happiness. But they live with this reality that their lives are committed to a higher purpose.

  As Christians we must remember that our purpose is to change lives to offer hope to the fearful and the lost to rescue men and women from eternal death, and to offer them true freedom in Christ. In this, we also need to live with the courage that moves forward in the face of danger.

  He has told us to “Go” but he has also told us, that he is with us. If those who fight in our military can live courageously in the face of death for the sake of freedom, how much more should we live courageously who go with God.

  Ask God what your part in His plan would be. And bring your courage!

  Prayer:

  God, give me the courage to go and fulfill your purpose of bringing others to you.

  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

  April 30

  LETTERS HOME

  Former General Counsel, Mary L. Walker, United States Department of the Air Force

  I was traveling through America on Air Force business one morning and had a few minutes to gaze at the local paper over breakfast. I saw a two-page spread on “Letters Home” from those who had died in Afghanistan and Iraq. The pictures captivated me… uniformed young men and women smiling from the prime of life.

  As I read their letters, I was struck by how many spoke of death. In the course of describing their challenges and how much they loved their families and missed them, they spoke of the important business that they were about in those faraway places. Their letters revealed that they did not regret their service. While they knew they might die, they wanted their loved ones to know they were ready. Many spoke of their faith in God and their assurance of salvation because of Jesus.

  Not long after that, I was back in the Pentagon and happened to walk past the chapel that serves the men and women who work there. I reflected on how unusual it is to have a chapel in a government building, although I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising for the Pentagon. The men and women who walk those corridors face death as a present reality no matter their age or health. And perhaps that is why so many of the young faces who looked up at me from the pages of the newspaper considered themselves ready to die.
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  The Bible tells us (Ecclesiastes 9:12) that none of us knows the day or the hour when our life will end. But do we think about what that would mean if it was today? And, what does “being ready” mean?

  In their letters, those young people spoke of their faith. Because of their relationship with God, they could go and serve in defense of others’ freedom. They risked their lives with the confidence that it was not in vain. They knew they might die and some did. They counted the cost and were ready to make the sacrifice, knowing that God was behind them. What a great thing it is to have an eternal perspective. These young men and women had wisdom beyond their years and they gave their lives so others could be free. They could do so because they were certain of their eternal destiny. How many of us can say the same?

  Prayer:

  Father, open my heart to accept Jesus as my savior that I may be ready to face eternity. Help me submit to your will and take delight in serving you as my God and Kiang.

  “Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.” (Ecclesiastes 9:12)

  May 1

  THE WAR AT HOME

  Andrea Westfall, Oregon Army National Guard, Kuwait and Iraq (2002–2003)

  When Andrea Westfall came home in May 2003 from her nine-month deployment to Kuwait and Iraq as a flight medic, she knew something had changed within her.

  “I reacted to loud noises,” she remembered. “I no longer felt safe and always watched doors. I didn’t like to be around people large crowds were awful for me. I thought I was going crazy, but it wasn’t until a year after I got home that it was bad enough to get help. I was self-medicating, getting drunk every night. I was miserable, and I wanted to feel anything different than the hell I was in.”