Today’s day two of another wicked dust storm. Any day now I should start hacking up dust bunnies. The sky is filled with a gritty haze, and that smokey haze filters out the sunlight making everything have this “amber vision” look about it. When the wind kicks up, it’s like being in a thunderstorm except without the rain, or lightning, or thunder – ok, so it’s not like a thunderstorm at all, except for really gusty and both strangely active and still at the same time.
Instead of blue skies, this year orange is all the rage. Orange is the new blue. Baghdad is a trend setter like that. Speaking of blue, I’m pooped. Prior to leaving for Iraq I had the flash of brilliance to sign up for a graduate level on-line course called Fundamentals of Systems Engineering. Most Army courses can easily be knocked out in a few days at worst, which was my plan. As luck would have it, not so in this case. I’m 80 crazy hours into this thing and haven’t hit the half way mark yet. So last night I was up till 2 am trying to make some progress and stayed late again tonight to chip away at it some more. I think I have about 45 hours left. What was I thinking?
Also speaking of blue….one of my senior officers got the phone call we all dread. Two nights ago his wife called to say his father had fallen and broken his hip, and had pneumonia. By the next morning, he had an official message that his father had passed away. It was awfully sad. The Colonel himself is in his mid to late fifties and had been out of the Army a while but came back in when 9-11 happened. An officer’s commission is for life. You can retire but the President’s commission is for a lifetime. so he answered duty’s call. Can you imagine being at work when you’re eligible for retirement, half a world away, getting shot at on a decently regular basis, and then finding out your father died? He could have left immediately but refused. He didn’t even tell us. I had to go brief someone higher than us both. So he decided to stand beside me as I had to brief this senior officer. My Colonel knew this officer had never met me and he wanted to cover me to make sure I wouldn’t get chewed up and spit out. But this senior officer was a good man and said, “I’m sorry to hear of your loss. Do you have the papers you need?” “Yes, sir”, he responed. “Then why are you standing here. Go home and go now.” “All the way, sir,” and he excused himself with tearful eyes. He was still upstairs when I was done briefing. Good officers always have to be chased out. Bad ones disappear. And before he left, he personally came to each of us men under his charge and thanked us for sucking up the workload so that he could go home. What a soldier…what a man. So please pray for he and his family. As I wrote in “The Irreplaceables”, serving in the Army means there are days you sacrifice that you can never, ever get back.
Today he is gone and business proceeds. In the Army we say, “The sun’s coming up with or without you”, meaning no one is indispensable. Often that’s followed by, “Get some rest, sir”. Leaders often can’t sleep anywhere close to what they need to b/c so many responsibilities can’t be delegated and you never allow the personal comfort of sleep to keep a soldier from having what he needs, so often, even in training, you sleep in chunks of a few hours here and there, leaving when you can to do what’s got to be done. It’s in the officer’s creed that you will never use your rank for pleasure, profit, or personal safety. He went above and beyond to care for us in his grieving.
How did God the Father keep loving us on those three days when His Son was in the grave? How did He not let the world just spin out of control and take His hands off the wheel to greive Himself? Or be angry at us for putting Him in that position to begin with? He is so merciful and loving, even in grief. Just as the Colonel displayed yesterday, it took incredible strength to love us when He had a loss of His own that He could have freely forsaken us in justifiable grief. But on resurrection morning He displayed His power to still make the sun rise and make the skies gloriously blue, not orange.
Good night all!
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I’m shaking my head at the sacrifice this man has made and the sacrifice each of you make on a daily (minutely ??) basis, Joe, and at the new thought of God the Father’s “mindset” those three days he’d done His sacrificing………but still loved and still caused the world to turn, the sun to still come up, the skies to blue. G.
I’m amazed at the fact that this officer returned to work when he had to know he would be sent overseas . . . It seems that’s happened a lot in this war. At Christ the Rock, my friend Julie’s son did one tour, came back last December, was married in February, and is headed back to Iraq in the fall. Incredible. I’m awed and humbled by the decision to make such a huge sacrifice.
– Nancy
U.S. Soldiers are AWESOME! I respect you guys so much. And I appreciate you and what you do daily.
I will pray for this man and his entire family–what a terrible time and place to hear of a loved one’s passing.
Keep up the good work! I’m sorry for the dust storms-I know that must put some misery into your midst–somehow you always sound upbeat and inspiring no matter the circumstance. Thank you for your positive attitude toward life.
Lots of prayers being sent your way!
I am completely awed and humbled by your ability to take God’s words and apply them to real life in a way that a lay christian (or non christian)can comprehend. I wish more christian leaders had this gift to reach out. Your Colonel and his family will be in my prayers tonight. God Bless.
Somehow, I don’t think the type of amber vision you are dealing with, is one I’d like to experience! Ugh! I bet you won’t want to see sand for a while when you come home! What a great tribute to your Colonel. I can tell you really respect him. I hope you get some blue skies soon!