Chaplain (Maj.) Charles Popov is a man answering two calls of duty: one from his country, and one from his faith. After serving as an enlisted Soldier for four years, Popov left the Army to pursue a degree in biblical studies and master’s degrees in seminary studies and counseling psychology. However, in 1999, when he learned that the Army was seeking chaplains, Popov decided it was a perfect way to combine his commitment to serve with his passion for spiritual leadership. Shortly after completing Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course at the U.S. Army Chaplain’s Center and School at Fort Jackson, S.C., Popov was commissioned to the Chaplain Corps.
Popov notes that there are both similarities and differences between the roles of chaplain and civilian pastor. While both positions require the minister to act as a shepherd, caregiver and counselor, a chaplain must also be prepared to address the spiritual needs of Soldiers from a variety of backgrounds. While Army Chaplains may personally subscribe to one particular religion, he or she must also possess a wide-ranging understanding of many faiths and practices.
A large part of Popov’s job as chaplain involves ministering to Soldiers in theater. During his deployments to Iraq in 2003-2004 and 2006-2007, Popov was responsible for conducting Bible studies, holding counseling sessions and ministering to the wounded and dying Soldiers. His mission didn’t end at base boundaries. Popov also conducted humanitarian missions, such as providing food, clothing and fuel to Iraqi citizens. One of his fondest memories from his deployment was the chance to work alongside religious and community leaders, known as imams, to build a bridge between Christianity and Islam, including assisting in the rebuilding of mosques that had been destroyed in battles.
During his most recent deployment with the 25th Infantry Division, Popov spent many hours praying alongside over 300 wounded Soldiers from his unit and preformed rites for deceased Soldiers. It was difficult for Popov to balance the Soldiers’ needs for emotional support with his personal mourning of the loss of friends and colleagues. However, knowing that his Soldiers were counting on him, Popov was able to move forward and was able help those within his unit process their emotional struggles through conversation and prayer.
Popov is currently serving as the chaplain for 192nd Brigade, and oversees five battalion chaplains, including one Jewish rabbi. He currently resides with his wife at Fort Benning, Ga., and is a proud father of three grown children and grandfather of two grandchildren.
Tomorrow is the first day of school. My son, I call him Little Monkey, he’s starting within our public school district after attending private school for 2 years, plus summers at the school’s on-site daycare. He’ll know no one at his new place. Even his best little bud down the street will attend a school across town. I feel bad for Little Monkey. He doesn’t adapt to change well at all. And this brings to mind my childhood.
See, I went to school in 9 different school districts from Texas to Korea to Germany before I graduated. I know how scary it is to walk in those doors and see kids happily going where they need to go and lonely little me being totally unfamiliar with the school, the kids, the teachers, the staff. Talk about feeling lost. It’s like stepping off a cliff.
The military kids today have a whole wealth of issues to deal with that I cannot even fathom. When my dad left for “exercises,” it was for a short time and really, he just went to some other base in the US. The Guard and Reserve kids have it the worst, I think. Yeah, they don’t have to move, but they also don’t have the support network around them that active duty brats do. Just being on base with kids like yourself is a huge relief. And that goes for schools too.
But one common theme is being the New Kid. Man, that just sucked. Especially if it was right in the middle of the school year. Not only were there social issues, there were academic ones, trying to mesh the previous school’s curriculum into the new school’s requirements and format. Ugh. Sometimes, you end up covering the same material and sometimes you end up being totally lost as to what was going on. That does not help to adjust at all.
But a strong family network, friends, love, and support can get a kid through this, no matter the age. I know in my family, my grandparents were the Home Base that was the constant in my life. No matter where I was, what I was doing, they were there for me. And I suspect all the kids out there feel the same way about an important person in their lives. As long as there is unconditional love from that home base person, it will all be ok.
To all of those kids, including my Little Monkey, good luck with the new school year. You’ll make good friends, you’ll learn interesting things, and you have your whole life and future ahead of you. Have faith that you will get through this time and you are loved, whether it’s by someone who lives in the same home as you, or by someone who is a million miles away.
If you missed the anniversary episode of the You Served Radio Show, you missed a great interview with Gary Winkler, author of “Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World.”
I started reading this book with a load of reservations about it. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Lynndie England’s appearance at the Library of Congress being canceled (thankfully). She was supposed to appear to talk about her new book and the Abu Ghraib scandal that defines her life. I made a comment that I hoped she didn’t sell one book. On that post, I got a comment from a man named Gary Winkler. Turns out that England didn’t write a book. She probably can’t spell anyway. Even if she could spell, she’d probably have trouble putting those words together to make a coherent sentence. But, I digress.
I decided to give Winkler the benefit of the doubt and asked for a copy of the book to formally review and an interview. Like I said, I approached this book with a bad attitude, but wanted to give it a fair assessment. I assumed the worst – that Winkler wanted to make England into the victim and we should all feel sorry for her. No book could ever achieve that. Soldiers died as a direct result of her actions!
“Tortured” is the first definitive account about the torture that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison facility that is based off of firsthand information. Winkler had unprecedented access to England, her family and friends in writing the book. It follows a young, tomboyish girl from the hills of West Virginia. In fact, the book actually does do a great job of humanizing England. You learn about her past, which gives you insights into her motivations for joining the military to begin with. So, she morphs from a monster to a humanoid monster!
If I had known England prior to 2003, I probably would have been proud to have her in my company. She was a hard-charging motivated Soldier who loved her country and wanted to make a name for herself – a good name. She wanted to see the world and the military was the perfect vehicle to do that. Then, she met Graner.
Winkler does a great job in narrating how the power of persuasion can turn a idealistic, all-American girl into one of the most hated women in the country. Lynndie goes from sweet and innocent to horrific and slutty all thanks to an older, sick and twisted “man” named Charles Graner. It’s easy to believe that if England had never met Graner, none of us would ever even know her name. She would never have become the face of American torture and the reason behind so much death and destruction in Iraq.
In the end, Winkler does a great job humanizing Lynndie England without giving her an excuse. He doesn’t try to convince the reader that she needs to be forgiven or seen as something she’s not – a saint. He does a very objective job just telling the story of Abu Ghraib and the personalities behind it. I could have done without having to read some of the Graner/England sexcapades, but hey! No book is perfect and they made me laugh at how pathetic England really is to have fallen for some of the crap Graner pulled.
My only beef with this book are the few subtle hints that what happened in Abu Ghraib happened as a direct result of Bush policies. It’s no secret that Winkler isn’t a Bush supporter – quite the opposite, evidenced by his recently started blog. While by no means a major point of the book or even a subplot, there are enough comments about Rumsfeld and Bush having a hand in that mess just grate me the wrong way. If it were true that Rumsfeld and Bush were authorizing torture or even condoning it, why wasn’t it more widely practiced? The truth is much different.
As an interrogator, I was frequently in detention facilities (Abu Ghraib included) and we were all very well versed in the Geneva Conventions and laws of war – just as they were. As a matter of fact, we had ONE incident in Fallujah in which one of the MPs was using a cattle prod on the prisoners to get them to move and we put an immediate stop to it. That was the end of it. Bush and Rumsfeld NEVER encouraged torture and no one can ever convince me otherwise. Unfortunately, the implication is that the actions of England and Graner were condoned by the Bush administration and that is simply inaccurate!
In the end, this is a book that I learned a lot about. I learned a lot about how Lynndie became the monster she is. Winkler doesn’t give her any excuses nor does he attempt to let her off the hook. It’s a quick and easy read that will give those who take the time to read it some valuable insight. As proof that Winkler isn’t trying to whitewash the event, he dedicates the book to those brave men and women of the 372nd MP Company who did nothing wrong. Remember, Abu Ghraib was nearly 300 acres of land and the area where England and Graner were located was but one small slice of that land. Even within the company, the focus has always been on one platoon and the company suffered a bad name because of the actions of a few. As a matter of fact, Abu Ghraib completely ruined all the good the company achieved while assigned to Al Hillah! It’s a shame, really.
First I wanted to share today’s cartoon with you all. It is one of my favorites (click on the picture to see full size version):
OK, I have spent many early mornings, many late nights, and many long Saturdays waiting for my husband to finish up work he does for his hobby — or really what’s becoming his “second job.” He works in the chemical industry by day, but in the off hours he turns into Delta Bravo Sierra — the furious military cartoon scribbler.
When my husband first came home from Ft. Benning he had a lot of stories he wanted to share. With a background in fine art and a love for the military, I wanted to support him in whatever direction he decided to go. He was pondering one day about sketching on a stylus that would put his drawings right into the computer. So, one day I was looking around at our local electronics store and picked up his first electronic pad and pen. He hasn’t been the same since.
Since he started drawing his military cartoon he has been contacted by deployed, retired, active service members, and military families. They have submitted stories and he has drawn them up! When a deployed soldier submits a story he/she also gets a free print of the cartoon they inspired, autographed and sent to the address of their choosing. It has been an incredible blessing for both of us to hear the stories of deployed service members.
Delta Bravo Sierra was originally a sub-domain off of my personal blog. As DBS picked up a readership we began to consider moving him to his own domain. It was at this time that You Served had the great MilBlog Bailout Program of 2009! Thanks to You Served, DBS took on its own domain and has not stopped growing since!
This past Thursday my husband’s military cartoon (miltoon) was published in print for the first time! He will now be featured weekly in the paper serving Fort Lewis Army Base, McChord Air Force Base, Madigan Army Medical Center and Camp Murray – ”The Ft. Lewis Ranger.“
This is the ‘toon’ that was the first one in the paper (click on image to see full size version)
If you missed last night’s 1 year anniversary special show of You Served Radio then you really missed out. Lucky for you that you can still catch it by going to www.blogtalkradio.com/youserved or via a podcast on iTunes. We had a mis-communication with Mac Eric Egland and missed him, but we have already worked up a re-schedule date. However we had SFC Mac who is in pretty bad health right now and really fighting with the VA to get that fixed. We also had author Gary Winkler on the show, who wrote the only authorized biography of PFC Lynndie England and his discussion with CJ was very intriguing.
However I think the highlight of the show was the last 45 minutes when we had Country recording-artist superstar Mark Wills on the show. We talked with Mark about how he started out in music, his dad’s service in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division, the USA Cares charity that he is a spokesperson for, shooting guns, and all sorts of other great things. Mark is as down to earth as your next-door neighbor. He is really a great guy. He was so great that he also did a pledge of allegiance for us near the end of the interview that we will use in the rotation of different pledges that we play at the start of every show. To demonstrate how down to earth and what a good person he is, we sort of had a “after the show” show (sorry Fox-n-Friends for borrowing your term). Mark called me five minutes after the show ended and he, I, CJ, and Marcus talked amongst ourselves for just shy of 30 more minutes. He has invited the three of us to Georgia to go shooting with him and we talked to him about some other great organizations that he can get involved with, our families (to include his), where we grew up, etc. I mean after five minutes you forgot you were talking to a guy that has released a dozen albums, and really felt like you were talking to your hunting or army buddy. I have a feeling that not only will we see more of Mark on the country music airwaves, but we will also see him again on You Served.
One thing that Mark told us about was the fun he had making his latest music video, “Crazy White Boy”. As he told us, all he did was get some friends together, head out to the farm and do some shooting. That has probably got to be the cheapest video to make in production costs, if you ask me. I mean his .50 cal bullets were probably the costliest thing in the video. Anyway, in honor of our one year anniversary guest and how kind he was to talk with us for so long not only on the show, but after the show I would like to give you a chance to watch Crazy White Boy here on the You Served Blog. Oh, in case your asking yourself, what does this have to do with the military? Uhhh, it has guns in it, big ones.
When Bryan was away, Emma was only three. She was very close to her papa, so his absence was very hard for her to understand. As far as she was concerned, one day she had her papa every morning and every afternoon, and the next he was gone – completely gone! There was no way to really prepare her for it even though we had tried. I learned quickly to give her very concrete and tangible ways to stay connected to him.
One idea I had come across on various websites and blogs back then was the idea of a “deployment chain.” Of course the idea is also very well used anytime a parent will be gone for a period of time. The deployment chain is simply a chain made of construction paper rings. Each ring on the chain represents one day and each day the child gets to tear a ring off the chain to represent one more day gone until they reunite with the parent they are sorely missing.
It’s tangible and concrete. Young children (grammar school aged) are not able to, developmentally, grasp abstract concepts. The “future” is an abstract concept, so something that provides them with a visible representation of the “future.” It is also interactive and allows them to actively be involved in counting down to a very joyful day.
This past week I was developing calendars to use in home school this Fall and Winter, and I decided we would use these calendars for Emma to count down the deployment of her oldest brother and the time spent in BCT/AIT for her other older brother. Both are leaving within a month of one another, and she’s close to both of them. It can be hung any where in the house where the child can see it when he/she needs to remember that deployment does not last forever — even when it feels like it!
The calendars are season related themes for each month. Here is a description and supply list for our calendars, but you should make the calendars in any way that is meaningful and fun for you and your child. I will try and post a picture of September’s calendar when we finish.
Troy, CJ and Marcus are so happy to be celebrating our 1 year anniversary of You Served Radio tonight and we really hope you join us for this awesome event. Troy has been testing different microphone screens to cut down on the heavy breathing, Marcus has been sleeping since yesterday so he can be super-quick on the switchboard and CJ may have actually read the script so he knows what is going on.
We have three great guests tonight and if we could add another hour, we would have added a couple more guests to the line-up. First up is Air Force Reserves Major Eric Egland who was a former Republican candidate in a 2008 congressional run. Eric is a counter-terrorism consultant to the Department of Defense and is an active military reservist. His experience in national security includes working to defeat terrorism, insurgency and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in operational, analytical, and advisory roles. He was in Saudi Arabia on September 11th, 2001 and has since served in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. His experiences in the Middle East are featured in a Fox News documentary on Iran. He is the founder of Troops Need You, a non-profit organization that continues the American tradition of mobilizing citizens to directly support the troops in Iraq, bypassing the bureaucracies in Washington and Baghdad. The project is part of a plan for victory in Iraq detailed in a book authored by Major Egland, titled The Troops Need You, America: Six Ways to Help Them Win.(www.troopsneedyou.com)
After Eric we will have Gary Winkler who is the author of the new book about Abu Ghraib and Lynndie England "TORTURED: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs that Shocked the World" – LYNNDIE ENGLAND’S ONLY AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY. In addition to revealing the young Army Reservist’s thoughts and feelings about her role in the abuse, Gary delves deeper into England’s twisted relationship with Corporal Charles Graner, the questionable conduct of the war and the Bush-era torture policies that contributed to the culture of abuse that came to exist at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
And Last but in no way least, we have Country Superstar Mark Wills. Mark has released six studio albums and six compilation albums. He has also received an Academy of Country Music award for Top New Male Vocalist, as well as three Country Music Association nominations. We will talk about his new album, "2nd Time Around" and his support of USA Cares. USA Cares exists to provide military families with financial support and other critical resources in their time of need. www.usacares.org
Way back in May, Blackfive and Uncle Jimbo went out and witness the 2009 Best Ranger Competition. If you want to see what this entailed, the 59 hours of tough physical and mental testing, man versus himself, check out the series of videos put together by the Army. Amazing.
And a side note, cross posted on my blog, tonight is the 1 year anniversary of CJ and Troy’s Youserved podcast on blogtalkradio.
My vision is blurry and I may expire in the middle of typing this, but I have to give a plug to my friends CJ, Troy, and Marcus. They have their 1 year anniversary for their Youserved podcast tonight. They will have country star Mark Wills on the show to celebrate.
Youtube won’t let me embed the video but you can see my favorite song by Mark Wills here. Just reminds me of my childhood.
Mr. Wills is also involved in USA Cares and that is a good thing. So check out the show tonight.
