Monday 5 Feb was a day that Sam will remember for a long time. Upon finishing an engineering mission to Patrol Base Jurf, he and a group were walking along a canal, returning to the Euphrates river and the boat ride home. They were attacked by an Remote Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED). It was a miracle no one was injured. Here is an email he sent me a couple of days later.
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Yeah, the IED was very close; it really raddled me, physically, and emotionally. I’m over it now. I went to the aid station the next day, just to get it on my medical records should anything come up. They said my pupils were a couple millimeters off in size, not sure what that’s from. My ears just stopped ringing yesterday, but there was no damage to my ear drum. I only had a headache the day of, and the day after. The next morning it felt like I had been hit by a train. Other the minor soreness, my back ached, they said it was a small muscle spasm. I got some mild muscle relaxers, and it feels better. I think I was only about 12 feet away.
I went to bible study last night, what Chaplain really said hit key. He was also in an IED attack while visiting some Geronimo paratroopers over in Fallujah. They pound in our head trust your equipment, trust your guys, trust your training. Sure, that’s all fine and dandy, but I really asked myself “how and why did I survive that IED Monday?” Last night, God spoke to me through Chaplain. All that trust in your equipment is just false pride. We were studying the book of Obdiah, the Edomites had this great high and mighty fortress, they had so much selfish false pride, but they had no trust in the Lord, they were over run, and thrown into Babylonian Captivity for 70 years. Without trust in the Lord, above all, that training, equipment, battle buddies are all useless. Don’t deny your training, but not let it think you’re so much better than the enemy. Some dumb farm boy terrorist scum bag buried decade old 130mm artillery rounds, probably too rusted to be used for anything else, in the ground, with a half broken remote control device. Compared to what we carry, it was old and derelict, yet it still detonated a few feet away from me and my fellow paratroopers. I just wanted to express that. So yes, keep the prayers coming, they work, more than any body armor the military can issue me...
Love,
Sam
2 comments:
Sam,
You and the rest of our service men and women over there, and elsewhere, are in my prayers every day.
We love you and are so proud of you. Please know that more of us love you and want you to succeed than wish you any harm and we continue to hold you up in prayer.
My husband Jon, WB3ERA, sent me the link for this and I had to let you know that God hears from me regularly on your (collective) behalf.
Helen
LT Sam Chamberlain
Hi Sam. I am Jon Siverling, Helen’s husband. Right now, tough, we have a 7-hour time difference between us (not as severe as the one between Gretchen and you in the AOR). I am in Geneva , Switzerland at a world conference and just got the email sent by your father Jay. We’ve known each other for years and I am so pleased that he included us in the message.
Both you and I are paratroopers, so let’s start with that old paratrooper’s prayer:
I'm asking You God, to give me what You have left.
Give me those things which others never ask of You.
I don't ask You for rest, or tranquility.
Not that of the spirit, the body, or the mind.
I don't ask You for wealth, or success, or even health.
All those things are asked of You so much Lord,
that you can't have any left to give.
Give me instead Lord what You have left.
Give me what others don't want.
I want uncertainty and doubt.
I want torment and battle.
And I ask that You give them to me now and forever Lord,
so I can be sure to always have them,
because I won't always have the strength to ask again.
But give me also the courage, the energy,
and the spirit to face them.
I ask You these things Lord,
because I can't ask them of myself.
- Lieutenant A. Zirnheld, circa 1942
Translated from the original French by Robert Petersen
LT Zirnheld had one of the original SAS companies’ way back when (“Who Dares Wins”).
I am a former Special Forces Qualified Army Captain – served with the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne); also a former FBI Special Agent – though I met your father through our hobby – amateur radio.
Finally, if that time zone distance gets to be too much and you need a good, long mamma-call home, you go find one of those guys who wear the purple hats. They are easy to find. Besides the hats, just look for TSC-85 satellite dishes about 24-feet in diameter poking up out of the camouflage. I commanded JTF-A of the Joint Communications Support Element (JCSE) (MacDill AFB) and their tech control can work miracles.
You are in our prayers L-T.
Keep your head down and your powder dry!
Airborne All the Way – and then some!
Jon Siverling
Geneva, Switzerland
siverling@mindspring.com
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