RSS
Home
The culture of "Army Strong"
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
A poster from the Army's most recent recruiting campaign
I’ve recently been neglecting my Examiner duties, but for good reason. Last week I attended the CAST (Chaplain Annual Sustainment Training) conference for my region in the Missouri National Guard. About 350 Chaplains, Chaplain Candidates, and Chaplain Assistants from the Guard, Reserves, and Active Duty invaded Branson, MO to compare ministry notes and receive briefs on the state of the Army and the Chaplain Corps. It was a very enlightening week, and has given me quite a bit of material to write about.
One breakout session was particularly noteworthy. The instructor, CH (COL) Kirk, hailed from Fort Dix, New Jersey where he serves as the installation’s deputy Chaplain. His role is to provide counseling and debriefing for soldiers leaving for and coming back from deployment. This gave him solid credibility to talk about the subject of his session: “A Biblical Perspective on Loss, Grief, Suffering, and Hope."
Much of his talk was in response to the “Health and Wealth” gospel of preachers like Joel Osteen, who blatantly ignore passages of scripture that talk about suffering and pain to instead focus on how “you too can obtain your best life now.” In addition to being thoroughly contrary to scripture, this message does not prepare soldiers to deal with the harsh realities of combat. No amount of praying will bring back your buddy who died in an IED ambush. No amount of positive thinking can ease the burden of PTSD and depression. We desperately need to regain an understanding of holy mourning and grieving like we see in the honest wrestling of God’s people in the Psalms, Job, Lamentations and countless other places in scripture.
Military culture is incredibly ironic. The current Army recruitment campaign emphasizes that “There’s strong, and then there’s Army Strong.” Soldiers will courageously go “outside the wire,” knowing that they could be ambushed by snipers or IEDs at any time. But words like vulnerability and weakness are nowhere in our vocabulary. Admitting weakness is not an option for men and women whose strength is necessary for survival. Yet Paul says that “[God’s] power is made perfect in my weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9), so as Chaplains we are challenged with the task of challenging soldiers with a redemptive weakness.
A redemptive weakness is one where we depend on each other in community. The new Army counter-suicide initiative wisely points out that it takes great personal courage (one of the Army Values) and strength to admit you need help. This is a welcome emphasis, and incredibly biblical. There is great irony that Adam and Eve covered their vulnerable nakedness with fig leaves, and the ACU (Army Combat Uniform) is designed to mimic and blend in with foliage. The uniform is not only effective camouflage, it is also an elaborate fig leaf symbolically covers soldiers in a culture that spurns vulnerability and weakness. As a Chaplain Candidate, I encourage soldiers to hear the words of Paul, who understood that true strength cannot be gained through combat training or experience, but by and through the grace of God.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Related Articles:
Comments
