Trust has been vital to the success of the US military

Just after midnight on December 9, 1944, New Yorkers sighted the British ship King Quietly sail out of the port, escorting members of the U.S. Army’s 125th Evacuation Hospital on their way to deploy to the front lines of Europe in World War II. Among them, another ordinary New Yorker, but extraordinary to me: my great-great-aunt Lieutenant Luella Cochrane, who – though unaware of it at the time – was embarking on a wartime tour of duty that would take her to England, France, and a half. Germany for years. Her first surgery as a nurse anesthetist was a leg amputation.

Faith was integral to enduring the war. Her first letter home told her mother that she “went to Communion last Sunday, yesterday and will go tomorrow. So don’t worry. All is well.”

There was real cause for concern for his mother, Rosa, as she had buried a child a world war earlier. My great-grandfather, PFC Joseph Lorenz of the American Expeditionary Force, Rainbow Division of the U.S. Army, was buried in Suresnes, France, after making the ultimate sacrifice at the age of 21 on November 21, 1918. First of all he sacrificed one of his legs.

Auntie Lou visited his grave twice during her deployment, following in the footsteps of her Gold Star mother, who came as part of the historic Gold Star Pilgrimage of the 1930s, and following in the footsteps of my mother, who came in 2015. I went to the last resting place of my great uncle.

History books describe the horrors of war, portray details of battles, successes, and failures, and describe the courageous and honorable actions of soldiers who went above and beyond the call of duty to secure freedom during war. But what those black-and-white details don’t reveal is the invisible force at work: the origin of tide-changing courage, the source of invisible security, the embrace in which a soldier finds comfort. In the depths of fear, in the agony of pain, in the brutality of violence, in the moments of joy, where do warriors go? Faith.

In 2006, almost a hundred years after Lorenz’s death, the same immeasurable loss befell Gold Star’s mother Laura De Roo. His son, U.S. Army Sgt. Gabriel De Rue was killed by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq during the Global War on Terror.

Nicknamed “John 3:16” by his fellow soldiers, Sgt. De Roo dreamed of returning to Iraq as a peacetime chaplain after the war. Even at his young age, he valued eternal life beyond his earthly life, and told his family, “If there is a grenade, I will be the first one to attack it. These other people More time is needed to get right with God.

Sometimes blessings come from above. Two of my married cousins ​​– US Navy aviators Lieutenant Commander. Chris and Lt. Cmdr. Angie Baker – Piloted both versions of the Lockheed EP-3, even flying missions on the same night over Afghanistan for different squadrons. Each of them prayed fervently for each other and their crews on their respective missions, and they found safety in the knowledge that they were in God’s hands. Both reached home safely.

“Faith allows me to focus on what’s important to accomplishing the mission,” Chris told me. Sometimes looking at the flashes of gunfire, he also prayed for the warriors below. The soldiers below called them “the eyes in the sky”, but perhaps they did not know that they were being covered – not only by air power – but also in prayer.

U.S. Army SFC 18/Z Green Beret Jeremiah Wilbur grew up on a Native American reservation in Montana, where he repeated a meaningless phrase every time he felt afraid, continuing this phrase throughout his life. It was during a fierce firefight in Iraq that he discovered what the phrase meant – as time slowed and the phrase was rendered in English: Jesus is always with me.

Sometimes the fight is no longer on the battlefield. Sergeant Michael Verardo, 85th Airborne, US Army, has faced more than 100 surgeries and counting after being seriously injured by two IEDs in Afghanistan in a two-week span.

His catastrophic injuries continue to bring physical and mental challenges, and his incredible wife Sarah walks by his side, and more. But faith keeps both her and Michael strong: “If it’s not good, God didn’t make it happen,” she says.

“Good” may look different than expected. When I was stranded in Sadr City, Iraq, as an NFL cheerleader on the USO tour in 2009, Colonel Tim Kercher lost his legs in an IED explosion three days after taking care of me. “God promised me eternal life! Not eternal feet,” he quipped. “But I know that prayers saved my life.”

One of the central tenets of the Jewish faith Tikkun Olam: “Repairing the World.” U.S. Navy Lieutenant Morgan Ortagus stood before the entire world as the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, courageous in her faith and an important visual symbol to the world: an obviously pregnant, Jewish woman speaking out against human rights abuses. was drawing attention to the atrocities being committed against the Muslim minority population and showed and supported the oppressed Uyghur women.

And who is the minister’s minister? “To date, the biggest case of PTS I have seen was from a fellow chaplain,” reflected Colonel Doug Collins.

The Psalmist tells us that the Lord is our refuge and our fortress, our God in whom we trust, under whose wings we will be safe, his faithfulness is our shield and rampart. There is no greater test for our warriors than the brutal demands of war. Violent battles and lengthy deployments test resolve and courage; The pain of ultimate sacrifice and loss caused by family separation aches even the strongest of hearts. Every role played by soldiers in the battlefield requires utmost tenacity, determination and bravery. Sometimes a miracle is needed. But with God, all things are possible. That’s what the stories in my new book, “Under His Wings,” reveal.

Emily Compagno co-hosts “Outnumbered” on fox news channel, “Under His Wings: How Faith on the Front Lines has Protected American Soldiers,” Published November 26 from Fox News Books.