While I was typing “November Prayer” in the subject line I had a flashback to when I typed that last…just before I deployed. Now I’m typing it just before I RE-deploy. We are very excited here in 101st Aviation. Going home is in reach and being in the mist of all this craziness is soon to be a memory for us all. Lot’s going on. First and foremost I would like to ask you all to remember the soldiers and their families in your prayers. Ever since I’ve been back from R & R leave there has been ONE thing bringing soldiers to come to me for counseling…marriage and relationships. Many soldiers are finding themselves in unpleasant situations when they get home and it is taking a huge toll on them emotionally while they are here. Many are seeing themselves for who they are for the first time, and coming to a Chaplain to help make sense of it all. It has been humbling and an honor to speak with soldiers during these difficult times. One of my goals or at least one of my hopes is that they feel like they are coming to a friend and talking rather than just to a professional. This is why I go flying with my soldiers, goof off with others, have them teach me how to fight, or watch them show off how well they can shoot. I’ve built many relationships here and what is awesome about all of this is to hear some say they never would have come in if they hadn’t known me. And you all have gone through this journey with me and your prayers that have given me strength do keep pushing through the awkwardness of not being known to where I’m finding myself now, and it is wonderful. So please know I’m always thankful for you all! On a personal level, I’m going to let the cat out of the bag. Something that I have been working towards for three years, and until now has been a pipe dream, has come to the point that it looks like it will most likely happen. I have just gotten word that I’m going to be allowed to go to Ranger School and be set in line to be a Chaplain for a Ranger Regt. This has been something I have not shared with many people not because of the impossibilities of the request, but because I didn’t want my intentions to be confused. I want to go to Ranger school so I can be in a Ranger unit with Rangers. And it looks like at the very worse I will have at least a chance to go to the school and try to pass that MASSIVE test of 62 days of physical demand, sleep and food deprivation and some of the finest leadership training in the world. But let me quickly share something that has brought me to my knees in humility in all of this. If you are going to go to Ranger school as a chaplain you have to get permission from your commander, and from your chaplain command all the way up to the General to be able to proceed. That has happened. But that’s just the first problems. You also have to be able to get worked in and scheduled into a school date. That has happened, June 28 is when I begin. But the tallest hill to over come is getting a “Ranger Slot”…which is basically a way your unit plans on paying for someone to go to the school. At Fort Campbell there are roughly 30,000 soldiers who work there. Would anyone like to guess how many Ranger slots are available to Ft Campbell? You would guess thousands at least several hundred. But there are only 100 slots each year, and only 7 of those are allocated for my Brigade of 3,500! There were many high ranking individuals who did not think it was a wise idea to send a Chaplain to this school, taking up one of the precious slots, and to be honest they were probably right. But person after person started emailing, vouching for me, without my asking, to the point where the person in charge made the decision to send me. There was a lot I had to do to make this happen, I had to impress the right people, I’ve had to keep myself in great physical shape, I had to be a good Chaplain…but I firmly believe that this would have not happened at all were it not for others standing up on my behalf voicing their opinions as to why they should choose to send me. Just awesome to experience and have people believing in you. This was an impossible situation, if I had known about all of these details I probably never would have even tried because the numbers just don’t add up…but this has been more proof that if God wants you somewhere it will happen, and it has brought me much rest and peace as I begin the serious physical training to prepare for this honor. Please please please pray for me and my family as we all begin to climb over this mountain together because without their support I would have never even gotten this far in this desire of mine. Thank you all for journeying with me through my Army life. I appreciate deeply that you would take time out of your lives to pray for the Dispennette’s. God bless you all.

3 Afghani children came into the hospital injured from an enemy attack that missed a base near me and hit their local village.  Lucky for these kids the injuries were pretty minor, as we have seemn much worse when this happens. 

After they were all done with their surgries I brough in some soccer balls and you would have thought I gave them a XBox, they wer every exited.  There was a 3rd child who was in surgery when I brought them up and the two boys here in the picture wanted to make sure I had one for their buddy, which of coarse I did.  One thing I will definitly bring back with me from this culture is the weight placed on family and community.  People watch out for each other here.

We just got this awesome new veichal in our unit, I got to meat the designers and take a ride in this small beast….this thing is FAST and can scale a mounain at nearly 80 degrees!

Wow there is so much good news to share this month.  I’ve been sharing Operation Expect Mercy, our ministry project to get some needed items to local orphans, with you all for several months now and I have just been amazed at the outpouring this has brought to Afghanistan.  Soldiers have called home and begged churches, friends and families to get involved and as a result we have so much stuff it’s humbling.  I was such a skeptic when I would throw out ideas of what we could give to the children.  I asked for socks hoping we’d get a few…I’ve got 100 pairs.  I asked for soccer balls thinking it was too expensive a request, my office has 40 in there already with another 20 on the way.  I asked for shoes thinking that would be the least filled request, I think I have enough sandles to outfit the whole nation now.  And we have blankets, toys, stuffed animals, so much stuff that I cannot wait to give out.

Yet the most amazing to me is a project I left in house for soldiers to do themselves.  I wanted to get the children their own cloths, not just give them American ones.  There was a Local National I was working through in the Hospital told me he could get an entire outfit for $5.  I thought ok, well let’s see if we can go for 30 pieces and raise $150.  I of coarse thought that was shooting for the moon.  Would you guess that I have $1,400 raise already from soldiers alone to outfit the orphans in our area with their own cloths?  I’m just floored and amazed at how much God loves when we take care of the poor in our world and that he is using people who are technically enemies to accomplish the task. 

I will begin to hand out these items to the children next month (Date TBD) and will make sure I have lots of pictures to share. 

Prayer Requests

1)      Kirsta is 31 weeks pregnant and doing well.  Please keep her in all your prayers.  She is pushing to the end of the pregnancy when things begin to really get uncomfortable.  Pray that everything continues to go well and little Zoë Grace will continue to grow and get stronger.  Believe me she needs to come out as strong as possible knowing her brothers!

2)      Continue to Pray for Operation Expect Mercy.  I’ve seem more stuff come in that my wildest imagination would never have expected.  Pray for our safety when we go to hand these items out and pray for the children would see this love from our generous hearts and remember that God loves them despite their situation.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.  I couldn’t do all this without either of them.

Ok, it’s not 140 degres like in Iraq but this is pretty darn hot for June…hottest I’ve been in at any rate.

 We are ready to come home, pretty much all of us.  This month marks the half way point for Task Force No Mercy, we have all missed birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions, we are counting down our time to leave this heat and make up for it all to our beautiful famlies.

After some time battling with deployment internet the page will officially be up and running!  There is so much to tell and I will start adding pictures and comments as I go here.  I’m sure I’m the only one visiting and concerned about this website at this point, but at least I can make me happy

Good morning everyone! This past month has been both a wonderful time and a terrible time.

Since I’m a default positive person let’s start with the good stuff. Have any of you had a moment when you knew you were doing the job you were made to do? I finally had that moment. I have such a passion for what I’m doing and what’s great is this job accents the positives in my gifts. I have a great staff I work for and am being set up for success, it is very exciting to wake up and go to work! Of coarse I credit that all to the prayers that I have made and you all have made on my account for this incredible environment I’m in! Another GREAT thing is that I have finally maxed a Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). So according to the Army I’m a finely tuned athletic machine! (I’m sure my wife is laughing right about now). The good thing about this is it has brought me credit to the soldiers in my unit and has also open doors for conversations.

Now the more difficult issues. Ft Campbell has been ravished with suicides. Some soldiers (and in a couple cases spouses) have found them in terrible situations and chose that way out. None of them have been in my unit, but I’ve counseled several who have expressed that as an option and 2 have actually made suicidal attempts. It’s really serious and really scary. What makes this situation even more sensitive is some soldiers use the “I’m suicidal so I can’t deploy” routine, so the chaplains and mental health professionals really have to be careful, observant, and wise when we see people with these issues and try to make sure we are giving the soldiers the best help.

With that being said I can’t believe that NEXT month is deployment! It is both exciting statement and scary statement. I’m expecting counseling to get very interesting this month as people start to freak out about what we are facing in our near future.

Prayer Requests:

Thank you all for your faithfulness.

Alright, finally got our little internet corner of the world. My family and I have ventured into the high pace military life as an Army Chaplain. My job is to keep the soldiers focused on their mission by helping them deal with different issues that pop up in their life, keep the morale up in the unit, and a personal desire is that they will also find their ultimate hope in Christ offered to us in the gospel. We hope to use this site to stay in touch with family, friends, and churches; keeping everyone posted - especially through our upcoming deployment! More to follow.