| The Army Chaplaincy Winter 1998 | |
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A Motto and a Calling: For God and Country Graduation Speech for AIT Class 97-008
Chaplain Pejakovich, Chaplain Leinwand, CPT Reynolds, CSM Crumity, 1SG Hill, MSG Purvis, family members, guests, staff and faculty and distinguished graduating class. I want to begin by taking a moment to congratulate the fine instructors who have conducted this training (SFC Johnson/SSG Flowers/SSG Patterson). You have once again distinguished yourselves, and your efforts are greatly appreciated. I also want to recognize Drill Sergeant Aey. Today must be bittersweet for you, as this is your last class as a Drill Sergeant. Allow me to thank you for your commitment and devotion to these soldiers and your duty as a noncommissioned officer. This morning, I want to speak to you about the Regimental Crest you are wearing on your uniform. Specifically, I want us to consider the words "Pro Deo Et Patria." For those of you who are guests, our Chaplaincy Motto, "Pro Deo Et Patria" is translated "For God and Country." Let’s begin by taking a look at the first two words of our motto, "For God." One of the first things you will learn as chaplain assistants is that you will be viewed differently than other soldiers. Almost everyone will see you and your chaplain as representatives of faith, religion and God. On occasion, people will look to you for help. And should you ever find yourselves assigned to a unit in harm’s way, your role will intensify significantly. You have heard the saying that "there are no atheists in foxholes." When human beings are faced with their own mortality, whether as a result of illness or danger, they normally reach out for help. Most of the time, they want to connect or reconnect with their Creator in order to obtain peace within their souls. When this happens, they will turn to you and your chaplain to ask questions and search for answers that only God can provide. I encourage you to capture the vision of ministry that your chaplain provides. Join him or her in a team effort to bring a vibrant ministry to the soldiers and families assigned to your unit. The last two words of our motto are "And Country." From 1991 to 1994, I was stationed in Washington, DC. During that time, I had the opportunity to visit some of our nation’s greatest monuments, the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian and others. The most inspiring for me is the Lincoln Memorial. As you enter the Memorial, you see the Gettysburg Address inscribed on the walls on either side of the statue. The speech ends with these famous words, "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." I believe President Lincoln fully understood that this nation, "under God," would not fail because it was just that: "under God." As you walk down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to left, you enter a small park. There, you will see the Korean War Memorial, dedicated to those who gave their lives during the 1950s. And, if you continue down that same sidewalk, you will come upon a great, black wall, the Vietnam War Memorial. Perhaps here, more than any other place, you begin to understand the importance of the uniform you wear. You see flowers, letters and even uniform items left by the families and friends who visit this place. People can be found standing there almost any time of the day, tearfully and prayerfully searching for a loved one’s name among the 58,000 inscribed on the wall. I recently came across an article in Soldiers magazine, the June 1997 issue, that I’d like to share with you. It is told by Leo K. Thorness who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam from 1967-1973. His story takes place in a North Vietnamese Prison. One day as we all stood by the (water) tank, stripped of our clothes, a young Navy pilot named Mike Christian found the remnants of a handkerchief in a gutter that ran under the prison wall. Mike managed to sneak the grimy rag into our cell and began fashioning it into a flag. Over time we all loaned him a little soap, and he spent days cleaning the material. We helped by scrounging and stealing bits and pieces of anything he could use. At night, under his mosquito net, Mike worked on the flag. He made red and blue from ground-up roof tiles and tiny amounts of ink, and painted the colors onto the cloth with watery rice glue. Using thread from his own blanket and a homemade bamboo needle, he sewed on stars. Early in the morning a few days later, when the guards were not alert, he whispered loudly from the back of our cell, "Hey gang, look here." He proudly held up this tattered piece of cloth, waving it as if in a breeze. If you used your imagination, you could tell it was supposed to be an American flag. When he raised that smudgy fabric, we automatically stood straight and saluted, our chests puffing out, and more than a few eyes had tears. About once a week the guards would strip us, run us outside and go through our clothing. During one of those shakedowns, they found Mike’s flag. We all knew what would happen. That night they came for him. They opened the cell door and pulled Mike out. We could hear the beginning of the torture before they even had him in the torture cell. They beat him most of the night. About daylight they pushed what was left of him back through the cell door. He was badly broken. Even his voice was gone. Within two weeks, despite the danger, Mike scrounged another piece of cloth and began another flag. The Stars and Stripes, our national symbol, was worth the sacrifice to him. Now, whenever I see the flag, I think of Mike and the morning he first waved that tattered emblem of a nation. It was then, thousands of miles from home, in a lonely prison cell, that he showed us what it is to be truly free. There is one more place to visit in Washington, DC. It is a beautiful place, perhaps one of the most peaceful places you could ever visit. There, at Arlington National Cemetery, you will find thousands upon thousands of white markers placed in the ground for as far as your eye can see. These grave markers represent the final resting place of men and women who wore that uniform, understood the meaning of their heritage as Americans, who believed that this country and their God were worth fighting and dying for. I started this morning by saying that we were going to ponder our motto, "Pro Deo Et Patria." But those words are more than just a motto. They speak about a calling, a call to higher ideals, a call to higher standards, a call to higher commitment and a call to higher service. Am I dreaming or maybe idealistic? Perhaps. But I’ve been called worse. We all carry the same motto, "Pro Deo Et Patria." I challenge each of you here today to carry the meaning of that motto deep in your hearts and to live out its meaning as you serve both "God and Country." Congratulations and God Bless You! MSG Robin Rankin serves as the Assistant Commandant,U. S. Army Chaplain School NCO Academy.
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