Likely most Americans could offer vivid recollections of their exact locations, thoughts, and feelings on that day.   I was at Naval Hospital Portsmouth that morning for a series of pre-retirement X-rays.   Shortly after the first airplane struck the World Trade Center North Tower, I came through the waiting area on the way to an appointment in the Radiology Department.   Many people were fastened to the television.   

By the time my appointment was finished, the second plane struck the World Trade Center South Tower and another plane struck the Pentagon.   Coming back into the waiting area on the way to the parking garage, I encountered a room full of fellow patients in stunned silence.   With them I watched the South Tower collapse.   While driving back to Virginia Beach, I heard on the car radio about collapse of the North Tower and crash of the plane in Somerset County, PA. 

During unimaginable events, the mind and heart is flooded with all sorts of things, many occurring simultaneously.  While calling home to alert my wife, I wondered if the Hampton Roads area would be attacked.  I also thought about the attack on USS Cole (DDG 67) nearly a year earlier on 12 October 2000.  My official retirement ceremony was just a couple of weeks away.  Although unlikely that any of these events would cause a stop in my orders, I wondered about all sorts of implications for our Navy and the other Armed Services.

Other thoughts over the next days following – at least ones I recall this week – would fill many pages.  The one prevailing thought was about the nature of God and the nature of individual and corporate evil.  Then and now I take consolation in belief that God is not the author of evil.  Through every alarm, tragedy, and atrocity brought about by human hands, God will provide grace and strength.

The national MCA leaders join countless others to remember those who died on September 11, 2001 and the sacrifices of first responders and many others in days that followed.  And, we particularly honor our Warriors and their families.  For nearly a decade, our Warriors have been constantly engaged in fighting.  In defense of our homeland, they and their loved ones have paid staggering prices with repeated deployments, combat trauma and injuries, and death.   Thank you for answering the call to preserve our liberty.  God bless you!

Chaplain Gary R. Pollitt  / Captain, U. S. Navy, Ret. / MCA Executive Director

Chaplain Hoffmann is a fervent promoter of joint and inter-agency cooperation among chaplains.  He is a principal mentor for the MCA’s emphasis on the call and commitment to lifelong chaplaincy .  The article linked below is posted from the MCA’s Fall 2010 issue of The Military Chaplain.

“It Never Ends,” Wayne Hoffmann

The VA released a message by actor Gary Sinise, urging Veterans in distress to contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Learn more at http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/index.asp . See http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/Sinise_… for Section 508 compliant video.

Chaplain (Captain) Dale A. Goetz, U. S. Army, died in Afghanistan Monday morning, 30 August.  He was one of five fatalities from a roadside bomb attack during a convoy in the Kandahar Province.

Chaplain Goetz was commissioned in 2004 and endorsed by the American Council of Christian Churches. He is survived by his wife Christy and three sons–Landon, Caleb, and Joel.  Please hold the Goetz family as well as his unit in prayers for their consolation.

Chaplain Goetz is the first chaplain to be killed in a war zone since 1970.

We will post further information as available.   See Maranatha Baptist Bible College link below.

http://www.mbbc.edu/page.aspx?m=4263

SGM Weiss forwarded the following message from the Chief of Chaplain’s  concerning the death of Sergeant Christopher Todd Stout, the first Chaplain’s Assistant killed in action since 1970 in the Vietnam War. Following is Chaplain (MG) Carver’s message:

Dear Family and Friends of the US Army Chaplaincy,

It is with my deepest sympathy and my utmost respect that I must announce that on July 13, 2010 Sergeant Christopher Todd Stout, while serving as the Chaplain Assistant for the 1-508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, was Killed in Action in Afghanistan.

This is our first Chaplain Assistant Killed in Action since 1970 during the Viet Nam War. Sergeant Stout was a military professional of the highest caliber and a devout man of God whose love for Soldiers was only surpassed by his love for his Great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Please join me in prayer for Sergeant Stout’s Family and our entire Chaplain Corps as we grieve his death. Let us continue to pray for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who daily are willing to lay down their lives to protect and defend our Nation. May God bless the Families of our Fallen, the members of our Armed Services, and the United States of America.

PRO DEO ET PATRIA…FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!

Douglas L. Carver

Chaplain (Major General)

United States Army

Chief of Chaplains