Mitch Lewis

It was with great sadness that I learned today Chaplain Tim Vakoc had died on Saturday, June 20, 2009. Chaplain Vakoc was a Catholic priest severely wounded by an IED in May 2004. He was returning from conducting mass for Soldiers at a remote location when he was wounded. Due to the relative scarcity of Catholic chaplains, they spend many hours traveling from location to location to minister to Catholic Soldiers. Chaplain Vakoc's convoy was attacked during one of these trips and he suffered a devastating brain injury and the loss of an eye. During the next few years, Father Vakoc underwent many surgeries and fought multiple life-threatening infections. It was not until the fall of 2006 that he was able to speak his first words after the injury. His mobility and speech continued to be significantly impaired, and he resided in a nursing home in his home state of Minnesota.

Father Vakoc ultimately gave his life serving God's people in the some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. His example of courage and selfless service is a shining light for all of us in the military chaplaincy. May he rest in God's peace, and may our Lord bring comfort and hope to all those who loved him.

Thousands have followed Father Vakoc's struggles on the Caring Bridge site established for him. The site is still open to receive condolences.

More on Tim Vakoc's life and death at:

TheCatholicSpirit.com
The Olympian
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Pioneer Press
Stars and Stripes

One more reason for the nation to give thanks on this Thanksgiving Day, 2008: the Iraqi parliament's approval of security agreements between Iraq and the United States.

The United States and other coalition nations have been assisting the Iraqi government under United Nations mandates (and at the request of the Iraqi government) since June 2004. The United States and the United Kingdom stopped being "Occupying Powers" under international law on 28 June 2004 with the transfer of authority to the Iraqi Interim Government. See U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1546, 1637, 1723, and 1790 adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

The security agreements between the United States are another significant step in the young nation's growing strength and independence. The counterinsurgency strategy and surge of forces implemented under General Petraeus are partly responsible for this step forward, but even more so are the efforts of Iraqi government, military and civilian leadership - and the Iraqi people themselves.

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General Petraeus is leaving MNF-I to assume command of CENTCOM. Here is a portion of his farewell message to the forces of MNF-I.

When I took command of Multi-National Force-Iraq in February 2007, I noted that the situation in Iraq was hard but not hopeless. You have proven that assessment to be correct. Indeed, your great work, sacrifice, courage, and skill have helped to reverse a downward spiral toward civil war and to wrest the initiative from the enemies of the new Iraq.

Together, Iraqi and Coalition Forces have faced determined, adaptable, and barbaric enemies. You and our Iraqi partners have taken the fight to them, and you have taken away their sanctuaries and safe havens. You have helped secure the Iraqi people and have enabled, and capitalized on, their rejection of extremism. You have also supported the Iraqi Security Forces as they have grown in number and capability and as they have increasingly shouldered more of the responsibility for security in their country.

You have not just secured the Iraqi people, you have served them, as well. By helping establish local governance, supporting reconstruction efforts, assisting with revitalization of local businesses, fostering local reconciliation, and conducting a host of other non-kinetic activities, you have contributed significantly to the communities in which you have operated. Indeed, you have been builders and diplomats as well as guardians and warriors.

The progress achieved has been hard-earned. There have been many tough days along the way, and we have suffered tragic losses. Indeed, nothing in Iraq has been anything but hard. But you have been more than equal to every task.

Your accomplishments have, in fact, been the stuff of history. Each of you should be proud of what has been achieved and of the contributions you continue to make. Although our tasks in Iraq are far from complete and hard work and tough fights lie ahead, you have helped bring about remarkable improvements.

The entire letter is here. If you want to understand the goals and major muscle movements of what coalition forces have been working to achieve for the past year and a half, also be sure to read P4's first letter from February 2007 and his counterinsurgency guidance from July 2008. From a chaplain's perspective, his letter on values from May 2007 is pretty significant, too.

H/T Miserable Donuts

The world changed seven years ago today. When we learned that a plane had struck the World Trade Center, many of us on staff at the Chaplain School that day crowded into the Public Affairs Officer's cramped office and watched events unfold on her tiny television. As the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center, the importance of that moment was immediately clear to me. "We're at war," I said. "I just don't know who with."

As the day progressed, we watched in horror as the buildings fell in New York and the Pentagon burned in Arlington. We saw the courage of firefighters, law enforcement officers and other public safety officials displayed before our eyes. We later learned of the courage of those aboard United Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. We also learned of the selflessness of many in the Pentagon and World Trade Center who helped their brothers and sisters at great risk to their own lives. We remember today the thousands who died or were injured. We draw inspiration from their stories and pray for their survivors.

Seven years later, we are still at war. We have called it the Global War on Terror (or Terrorism) and the Long War and the persistent conflict. We struggle to find the words to understand and describe this new kind of conflict. By whatever name, it has been a long, difficult seven years. I pray today that the day of victory might come soon. What will victory look like in this new kind of conflict? It will look like peace.

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I am bound for the promised land,
I am bound for the promised land;
oh, who will come and go with me?
I am bound for the promised land.
Samuel Stennett, 1727-1795

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him. Genesis 12:1-4

The Journey

Four thousand years ago, a group of nomads left the city of Ur (near the confluence of the Tigiris and Euphrates rivers) to seek a better life in the land of Canaan.

Some of you have been to the ruins of Ur - Abraham's birthplace. The ruins are located behind the Talil airfield in Iraq, just west of Nasiriyah. In March 2003 I was part of a great mass of military vehicles moving from Nasiriyah to Samawah on the second day of the ground war. We were following perhaps the same path that Abram's family took some 4000 years previously. As I drove by the northwest corner of the Talil airfield berm, I looked eastward to try to spot the ruins of Ur in the distance. I was never quite sure if the shapes I saw in the distance were the remnants of the ancient city of Ur.

Abram and his family were part of a great migration that was taking place at that point in history. Although the land between the rivers was probably more fertile 4000 years ago than it is today, ancient technology could support only a limited population in the region. As the population grew larger, a great number of people moved north and west to look for open, fertile lands and new opportunities.

I'm not sure if the number of Mesopotamian emigrants matched the number of Americans moving to the great unsettled west in the late 19th century, but the motives were similar. One jumping off point for the American westward migration was St. Joseph, Missouri. In the late winter, crowds would arrive at St. Joseph and set up camp on the outskirts of town and wait for the first signs of spring. When spring arrived, all the settlers would set off at once to race across the great plains during the warm growing season. The settlers needed the growing vegetation as fodder for their animals much like we need gas stations on our route today. No grass, no go. The American pioneers faced a very hard life on the journey and in the first years of their new settlements. The Mesopotamian pioneers had it even harder.

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For me, Memorial Day changed forever in 2003. It's one thing to remember the hundreds of thousands who died fighting our nation's battles; it's another to remember the men and women with whom you personally went to war, some of whom never came home.

This monument at Fort Stewart remembers eight members of the Third Infantry Division Artillery who died in the first few weeks of what is now a five-year operation. Over 4000 have followed them in death, but these eight mean something extra special to me. The Division Artillery no longer exists as an organization, but these men whom I accompanied to war will forever be in my mind. May God continue to comfort and strengthen their families and the families of all the fallen.

So today I remember:
SFC Randall Rehn
SGT Todd J. Robbins
SPC Donald S. Oaks, Jr.
SPC Daniel J. Cunningham
PVT Devon D. Jones
CPT Tristan Aitken
1LT Jeffrey J. Kaylor

This holiday is no longer about some unknown "them"; it's personal now. And, as a consequence, I now also feel a very personal connection to all who bravely stood in the line of battle and gave the last full measure of devotion on our behalf.

Marne Thunder
Rock of the Marne

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