Day Thirty Six

Day Two of the field exercise:

It was a rough night. Bed had no support, it was hot (the AC kept cutting off)... I gave up at 0545 and got up and dressed. There was no way around it. I had to use a latrine. I must say it was very clean. Held my breath the whole time, but clean...

Need I say anything?

Breakfast was served at 0630 (I had granola bars and fruit) and went to pray. One of the chaplains joined me, as she never attended my service back at the base. So I did my "shpiel"...

The entire group was divided into two teams, Alpha and Bravo. Bravo went into the classrooms for instruction, while we went outside for the exercise. Yesterday, we had been assigned Kevlar helmets, and were told to have them with us at all times. We began the drill with scenarios. We would be gathered by the CCC (chaplain communications center) when suddenly something would happen (all played by actors who were told what to do). Depending on the FPCON (force protection condition), we would have to don the helmets. And they were HOT.

Me with my "Battle Rattle" - needless to say, I didn't lose the weight I expected to during this program!!! Geez...

Some of decorated our helemts - mine next to Ch Honett's

My first one was when Female Troop A comes running in, grabbing Female Troop B, screaming that her husband was just killed, and that Troop B had been sleeping with him. I jumped in, pulled A aside, and began and emergency intervention to calm the situation. Soon thereafter, my Chaplain Assistant, Ray Pajas (pronounced "Pahas") fell screaming. I was told he had a sucking chest wound. The drill was to see if I knew the emergency procedures (I did), and then when he was about to do, I had to deliver last rites. I reached for his dog tags to see his faith and they were gone. I said, "Pajas - must be Catholic!" I ran to Father Hamel, who said he is just an observer. I ran back to him and said, "Okay, his name is now Pajaskowitz, he's Jewish, and here we go!" I said Shema, confession, and a final prayer... and the rest was history. The whole camp heard about Pajaskowitz's deathbed conversion... it was quite a scene. I announced there would be a unit memorial for Pajaskowitz later at dinner.

In my third scenario, I was the actor. I had to come into the CCC distraught, find a chaplain, and explain to him that I had just been sexually assaulted. I should get an Oscar. That's all I'm going to say...

By noon it was already over 100 degrees and humid. We had already lost one chaplain to food poisoning (from something she ate over the weekend) and we were warned to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. After lunch, my team, Alpha, went into the air conditioned classrooms for instruction, while Bravo went outside for their turn at the drill. The main part of our instruction was learning how to do a ramp ceremony, which is when a coffin is carried onto a waiting airplane and small service is held. After we learned how, we went BACK out into the heat to practice it on a simulated ramp with a coffin. Pretty eerie stuff.

Ch Hamel giving instruction in the chapel

Everyone listening to Ch Hamel in rapt attention. The man on the right is Ch, Maj Yelton, our guest "Wing Chaplain" for the exercise

We found out that one of the chaplains in Bravo had to go to the hospital for dehydration. It seems he went out on a mission during a Code Black, and never heard them announce Code Green. So he stayed out in a concrete shelter for over a half hour in the heat.

Concrete bunkers and HESCOs - like the one my friend waited in for over a half hour in the heat

At dinner, I held the memorial for Pajaskowitz. I read a Psalm and shared a few words. Of course, I had the boots, gun and helmet...

My memorial for Pajaskowitz

Dinner - doesn't it look good? The cereal is dairy, so I saved it for breakfast...

After dinner, there were three services. Mine was a "Hebrew Scripture Bible Study" - it was a big hit, and everyone asked that i do another the next night, as well. Time to go to bed...