January 1991 was the month that the training became execution. 

On January 17, thirty years ago, I was an Army captain in the 1st Cavalry Division; I was about to do the job I’d been trained to – not lead tanks into battle, as I had been trained as a lieutenant in the Army’s armor branch, but the job of division public affairs officer, which I had become six months before at Fort Hood, Texas.

Our division was in the process of moving some 300 miles northwest from its initial Saudi desert assembly area southeast, called AA Horse (after all, this was the cavalry).  There, since October, we had trained for war and reequipped our tank battalions with the newest version of the M1 Abrams – the M1A1, with its big 120mm main gun.

I had commanded an M1 Abrams company only a couple years before, in the 2nd Armored Division, in the same 1st “Tiger” Brigade that was now also in the desert, about to make history fighting in Kuwait with the 2nd Marine Division.

Yes, I wanted to be back in an Abrams among tankers, but my job now was to ensure our PAO soldiers and their cameras got into the fight and recorded the division’s operations. The 1st Cavalry Division’s combat units were racing northwest from AA Horse to thwart a pre-emptive Iraqi attack on the huge logistics depots in the vicinity of King Khalid Military City and the Trans-Arabian Pipeline main supply route that intelligence indicated might be in the works. 

My team had moved with the division’s combat units. I too carried a camera, and would escort news media into combat.  I would send my team into war and would sample its horrors and its exhilarations.

That would all happen soon enough.  But on this night of January 16-17, in my general-purpose-small “GP-tiny” tent south of the Iraq border, I’d been awakened in the wee hours by a swooshing sound. Rising from my cot, I walked out into the cold pre-dawn dark and looked up into the barely visible clouds. “Swoosh, swoosh.” I saw nothing. Thinking I’d heard 2.75-inch rockets fired by Cobra gunships in some nocturnal gunnery practice, I returned to my tent, crawled into my warm “fart sack” and fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, my sergeant was jostling me: “Sir, wake up, the war started.”

What had roused me from sleep had been the first cruise missiles flying unseen overhead from their launch sites on U.S. warships in the gulf, to explode on Iraqi positions north of us.

Operation Desert Storm had begun.

I was in my first war.

CAPTION: ROA’s executive director, Jeff Phillips, wrote this 1992 “coffee table” history of the 1st Cavalry Division in the gulf war, illustrated with photographs taken by his public affairs team.

Joshua 1:3; Philippians 1:20

A Spiritual Fitness message from the ROA National Chaplain

The New Year has arrived.  Ready or not, 2021 is here.

With its arrival comes hope, anticipation, unknown, curiosity, and the sense that the “New” will be even better than the one just left behind. Some may feel apprehension or anxiety. The yearning for something better is always with us depending upon our focus. That yearning is a gift from God to us. The Scriptures repeatedly proclaim God’s desire for the year ahead as our best yet. In order for such a reality, our focus is toward Him for our source and strength.   

He has placed in His Word words such as fulfillment, hope, new, and renew. With God comes the word the future can be better than the present. The message from God throughout both the Old and the New Testament was for His followers to turn their faces toward Him and the future, evidenced by confidence and expectation. 

When Moses met God, the assurance was that Moses was there for more than defeat but to lead under the direction of God. When Joshua met God, he was to lead toward a new land.  When David met God, David was hardly known but God walked before him into the role of a king. When Saul of Tarsus met God, he was to go forward with a message and mission. A search of the Scriptures reveals God that wants to make all things new. 

The amazing and most fulfilling facts about God’s proclamations are that he uses people like you and me-or Moses, David, Joshua, Saul of Tarsus. We turn our face toward Him.  It means we do not find the resources within us but from God.  We need resources that are fresh and new from Him.  The true “newness” comes from beyond ourselves.  Walking with God is a privilege providing His input of new resources for the tasks before us. With the presence of God comes all sorts of proper possibilities. 

The Scriptures provide multitudes of evidence of this truth. 

(U.S. Navy graphic by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Luke Cunningham)

Isaiah; Malachi; Luke

The four weeks of December are filled with very special days in American history.

December 7 is a sobering day as we remember Pearl Harbor Day. That day has become one of special meaning for these United States, and especially for our armed forces. Survivors alive today are very few but the memories shared and lessons learned keep it alive.

This year, December 10 began the celebration of Hanukkah. The miracles associated with that week will live on. 

December 25, many will celebrate Christmas Day and those miracles will not be forgotten as well. Kwanzaa follows on the twenty-sixth. A few days later is our celebration of New Year’s Day and the beginning of the year 2021.

For many, saying farewell to 2020 will spark relief having faced loss, shutdowns, changing health precautions and restrictions, while others may feel much differently. In any case, worship, religious and civil observances and celebrations, this year will be different. Reduced in size and impact, because of COVID-19.

There will be no Rose Parade on the first of January. The long-running and anticipated January 1, 2021 Rose Bowl Game apparently will not be played this year (what will we do?)!

Through all such circumstances, focus on the inner joy and peace as people celebrate the religious significance in this last month of 2020. May we also draw assurance, hope and peace in knowing that the Lord God has been with us throughout 2020.

He will be with us in 2021.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has heard their prayers and visited His people. For this we have reason to celebrate. Do so with your families and friends – celebrate with thankfulness and hope. The entire world, and especially for us in America, actions and reactions to this unseen virus has triggered major frustrating adjustments in our life-style making it difficult for a freedom loving society.

Many have moved from face-to-face communication, adjusting to Zoom and other similar technology, Conference Calls, working out of an office in private homes, Facebook, plus all similar applications.

The language of December includes words such as Lights, Candles, Miracles, Kings, Angels, gifts – both giving and receiving, Messiah, Love, Hope, Peace, Compassion, Generosity and Stars.

Speaking of stars, I trust many reading this short Fitness Report have had the opportunity to see, in the past evenings, the two largest planets in our universe in special conjunction, appearing as one. What a rarity!!! Astronomers tell us it has been 800 years since the last such occurrence.

In closing, I would be amiss if I failed to remind myself these special days of December also brings a touch of loneliness, desperation, chaos and added stress. Many of our friends, neighbors and perhaps ourselves, have recently lost loved ones and this month is the first religious period without them. I have lost three friends these past weeks - all connected with military service. I pray for those families - especially at this time.

Please remember that Grief and Loss are love words for if we did not have love there would be no grief. In your Godly worship and celebration, may you find the joy and comfort that only God can bring. I cannot allow my circumstances to determine who I am and my response to God. This year I have become more and more appreciative of the Mayflower Compact, our Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and our Constitution.

These documents make this column possible.

I wish for you to have a most blessed and joyous time of remembrance and worship and 2021 your best year yet. May you experience God’s Peace, Comfort and Joy this season.

V/R
CH (COL) Sherman R. Reed, USA, (ret)
Army Reserve Ambassador, Emeritus
ROA National Chaplain

A Spiritual Fitness message from the ROA National Chaplain
PSALM 100; Hebrews 13:15

Greetings,

November holds numerous religious and national days, named for and anchored in, our history. They are special times acknowledged by both our Congress of the United States of America and various religious identities. 

Such days span from our time established right for fair and honest voting for government officials to recognizing special military times, treaties and triumphs to celebrations and honor from our Judeo-Christian heritage. We have just commemorated the Quadricentennial of Plymouth Rock (www.400th.org) and now we enter into a day and time of Thanksgiving.  

Thanksgiving is one such day acknowledged as both a religious and civil/national day. 

Thanksgiving has roots in the Old Testament when those of Jewish faith celebrated Sukkoth and the Feast of Tabernacles recognizing a time of the harvest of foods and grain, as well as God’s provision with praise and thanksgiving. 

The early pilgrims brought with them the foundational teaching of such religious beliefs acknowledging God’s care and provision crossing the threatening ocean from Europe to this new-found country.  They too established a time of thanks to God for their harvest of food and grain. 

Later, the first president of these United States, George Washington, shared a Thanksgiving Proclamation for God’s provision, encouraging all who would to honor God for His care and intervention (October 3,1789).  

They had planted their crops, tended their seeds, watched them grow and reaped the harvest. While the exact date has varied from those Old Testament times, it has always been a holy time marking the end of the growing season and harvest of grain, fruits, nuts, vegetables; gathered for the changing season and onset of fall and winter.

Congress eventually established the day as it is now-the last Thursday of the month of November. From Old Testament times until this current year, the nuclear families and individuals have enjoyed a time of celebration and giving thanks to God for His care toward life, liberty, health and joy. This does not mean that there have been no negatives.  In fact, just the opposite is often the rule. 

God is not a magic wand simply waved and things disappear. This Psalm is expressed as “Praise for the Sacrifice (or offering) of confession”.

The worship of God is to relieve human misery and make mankind happy (v.2). Often, it is in adverse times that we acknowledge where we may be without Him. 

There will always be “storms” in this present life for it is sprinkled with troubled people, disease, greed and seekers of power.

Days of thanksgiving can aid in avoiding bitterness, selfishness and limited solutions to life’s frustrations.  

Psalm 100 has been labeled as the Psalm of Thanksgiving. Reading it, we find God is our friend to embrace, not an enemy to fight.

Thanksgiving Day has many components among which are feasts, football and festive parades.  

There is more, and Psalm 100 is filled with praise, thanksgiving in public as well as private worship.  Each of the five short verses give us guidance. 

This day is our day of gratitude acknowledging to our family and friends that God gives benefits to all. I am responsible to practice proper stewardship of His generosity toward me.  Thanksgiving 2020 is like no other in this present generation. 

I am reminded of this day in years past when military service separated me from my family, loved ones and friends. Thanksgiving then, was celebrated among strangers in a land new to me but my teaching prompted me of the meaning of Thanksgiving Day. 

Reflection triggered for me the reality of a bountiful harvest of His benefits in a very real and different environment. I was prompted keep “the main thing the main thing” during Thanksgiving. There were enough less than perfect circumstances to distract me from the real meaning of the day. I was reminded also that I had planted, did my best to care for the growth and was looking to God for the harvest.  

I had my Bible, Prayer Book and my hymn book—and a grateful heart. This year we gather, honor and celebrate with thanksgiving under restriction laws, recommendations, suggestions, limited numbers and threat of a world-wide disease (with vaccinations in record time underway). 

The date is set, and the tradition is well established in history, so can we still thank God for all His benefits and pray for this unseen enemy to pass?  May I invite you to read Psalm 100 and Hebrews 13:15 keeping the main thing the main thing?

MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT

The Armed Forces of The United States and European Union Countries: Standing for Democracy Across The Atlantic and Beyond

In honor of Veterans Day, the European Union Delegation to the United States and the Reserve Organization of America created this annual, virtual program, which will gather a moderated panel of distinguished officials from the Armed Forces of both the United States and European countries to discuss the past, present, and future of transatlantic military relations within the context of successes, challenges, and developing threats. 

SPEAKERS

• H.E. Stavros Lambrinidis | Ambassador of the EU to the United States
• Brigadier General Ernest Litynski | Army Reserve 1st Cavalry Division, Poland
• Chief Ericka Kelly | Former Command Chief Master Sergeant of Air Force Reserve
• Colonel Mojca Pešec | Slovenian Defense Attaché in Washington, DC
• Brigadier General Robert Kilgore | New York Air National Guard
• Brigadier General Jared Sembritzki | Chief of Staff of HQ U.S. Army Europe
• Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Phillips (US Army, Ret) | Executive Director of Reserve Organization of America