Aug 22, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Alongside U.S. troops, on a battlefield of intense bombing and gunfire, stands one unarmed man – a military chaplain – ready to serve and minister to the living and the fallen.
A recent report by the Associated Press reveals how U.S. military chaplains are instrumental in providing support to the troops by their very presence and by helping them deal with moral as well as life-and-death issues, through prayer, comfort and spiritual advice. The report states that their ministry helps keep “the U.S. military machine running.”
Since Aug. 5, U.S. troops have been fighting with Iraqi militants in Najaf's cemetery, believed to be the largest in the Muslim world.
The AP report tells how military chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Paul Shaughnessy joined a supply convoy and spent the night with Marines in the cemetery recently crouched behind tombstones for cover.