Marine Corporal Trenton Walter was on Patrol in Afghanistan when he and his buddies came under fire. In the process, two IEDs went off. Cpl. Walter was hit by shrapnel on the left side. At first he couldn't feel his arm or leg, he was struck in several places, and his glasses saved his eye, which was cut. He and another, more seriously injured gyrene were airlifted out; the other five were treated at the scene.
Cpl. Walter called his wife. His Dad, Scott County, Missouri, Sheriff Rick Walter, was the next to know. While the sheriff went to Kelly High School to tell his wife Lisa, a teacher, Trent called them. By the time you read this, Trent should have recovered sufficiently to return to his unit.
When I found out, it took several tries before I reached the sheriff on his cell. In the meantime, I'd had several other phone calls notifying me of what had happened. After Sheriff told me the story, I then got to play rumor control officer, as much of the information that had been given me by those phone calls was wrong. I emailed the other department chaplains to bring them up to date. In the days that followed, I visited with the sheriff and we talked through what had happened and how everyone was dealing with the situation.
Sheriff Walter's pastor is one of our chaplains, so I was not as involved as I otherwise might have been. Some of you may not realize it, but this is a part of law enforcement chaplaincy. It isn't just what happens on the job that chaplains attend to; it's whatever else might be going on in the lives of our men and women that sometimes attracts our presence.
Often that's what chaplaincy is: a ministry of presence. We don't butt in where we're unwanted, but are there to be of assistance. Sometimes that amounts to just being there.
My parish assignment changed July 1 and a few weeks ago I began two new chaplaincies for me, police and fire in my new home town of Jackson. Sheriff John Jordan of Cape Girardeau County and I are scheduled to meet about the time you read this to consider a chaplaincy program for that department. I look forward to getting to know my officers and their co-workers, and they to know me.
Yes, I'm certified in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management, am a Law Enforcement Academy graduate, have served as a reserve deputy sheriff and police officer, and have taken all sorts of other related courses through the years. But I've likely spent about as much time directing traffic as doing actual chaplain duty. Perhaps more often than not, my task as chaplain is simply one of presence. I figure that chaplains are like fire extinguishers. You may not ever need one, but it's good to know they're around.
Be careful out there.
God bless you.
