From ministering to prisoners to ministering
under fire, a local pastor who served as chaplain during Desert Storm
encourages colleagues to consider military chaplaincy.
This article is the second of two
written about the ministry of United Methodist military chaplains. The
first article was printed in the May 24 “Florida United Methodist
Review.”
By John M. De Marco
TALLAHASSEE — As the United States and its
allies moved across Iraqi ground forces during the Persian Gulf War,
the Rev. Michael Shockley found himself in the unique position of
ministering to those declared to be the enemy.
A wounded Iraqi, one of several hundred of
Saddam Hussein’s soldiers treated by the U.S. Navy after being
captured, spoke a few bits of English. Shockley spoke some Arabic and
was determined to communicate God’s love to the soldier.
“I wanted to know if he was married, so I
pointed to my ring finger. The ring is an international symbol, and he
connected to that,” Shockley recalled.
The United Methodist pastor then held up three
fingers to indicate he had three children back in Florida. The Iraqi
relayed that he had a child of his own, an 18-month-old daughter.
“I just asked him what he wanted,” Shockley
said, “and he said in his broken way, ‘All I want to do is go back
home to my baby daughter.’ All I wanted to do was go back and see my
kids. I realized we were all in a situation we didn’t want to be in,
and in the midst of that tragedy we had to recognize that we were all
human beings.”
Shockley is senior pastor of Tallahassee Heights
United Methodist Church and one of the few Florida Conference
chaplains who has experience along the front lines of combat. He has
24 years of service as a U.S. Navy reservist and 17 years of service
as a Florida Conference elder.
Shockley was serving as associate pastor of
First United Methodist Church Gainesville when the Gulf War began in
January 1991. He was called into active duty and sent to join the
First Marine Expeditionary Force in Saudi Arabia. He stayed with the
troops throughout the Desert Storm ground war, then ministered to U.S.
Marines stationed in Kuwait.
“It was a very transforming experience for me,”
Shockley said. “[As a U.S. Navy reservist] You are trained for
combat operations with the Marines. You rarely get to actually find
out what your training is worth. You have to focus beyond the kind of
story being told about the war on CNN, and find out that there is a
much deeper story.”
Shockley does not know what became of his Iraqi
friend. All of the prisoners were eventually turned over to the Saudi
forces. He observed that the Americans and their allies treated the
prisoners well.
“All of our forces were very sensitive to
keeping all of the ethics of war. There’s a document the Navy has
called the Law of Armed Conflict. It’s basically a book of ethics
and how to treat people. I was glad to see a high consciousness of
people endeavoring to keep those ethics.”
In addition, because he served in the combat
fields rather than populated areas of Saudi Arabia, Shockley was not
hindered in any way in terms of resources he could use for ministry.
“I saw all kinds of materials—Bibles, crosses, tapes. When I
stepped off the plane in Saudi Arabia I was carrying a case of Jewish
kosher wine for a rabbi I was working with, a good friend of mine. I
remember thinking, ‘I don’t know how many [Islamic] rules I’m
breaking.’ ”
Shockley and his companions were constantly in
the range of Iraqi artillery. There was a deliberate decision made by
those present to do their jobs without dwelling on the danger, he
recalled.
“You never know what’s going to happen next,
so you may as well do what you’ve been trained to do, regardless. To
be paralyzed or be always worrying is just going to keep you from
doing your job.”
Ministering to fellow American troops was an
exhilarating experience, Shockley said. “The troops were like dry
sponges when it came to being sensitive to receiving ministry. They
were so spiritually hungry. They were looking for all kinds of advice.
There was a lot of bargaining with God going on. Recognizing that, we
were trying to get people to see that a relationship with Christ was
not about bargaining,” he said.
The Marines used large rubber bladders that
could hold up to 3,000 gallons of water. Shockley and other clergy
were able to dedicate one of the bladders strictly for baptizing
soldiers.
While most of the American soldiers under
Shockley’s care were from Christian backgrounds, some Jewish Marines
were present, as well. Military chaplains are trained to provide for
their own faith groups and facilitate ministry opportunities for those
of other faiths. Shockley found a real comradeship working with clergy
of other beliefs as they shared common transportation while visiting
the troops in various locations.
Shockley and his rabbi friend shared a laugh
after their experiences during 1991’s Holy Week and Jewish Passover,
which coincide on the calendar. Noting the darkness from the burning
Kuwaiti oil wells and the hordes of flies that resulted from the
smoke, the rabbi commented that it was his first opportunity to
perform a Passover service while experiencing two of the plagues from
the book of Exodus.
Shockley encourages pastors considering military
chaplaincy to embrace a rich adventure of faith. “The ministry you
carry with you isn’t so much your equipment and Bible, but what you
carry in your heart and soul. You bring your whole self to it.
Hopefully you’re always prayerfully being a vessel of the Lord,”
he said.
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