Insight into Supporting Those Who Have Served in, and All Too Close To, Combat

I am just young enough that I did not have to worry about being drafted in the Viet Nam era. This not to say that I did not worry: I had already thought through how I might try to have some choice in my service if I was drafted (I had rejected the thought of somehow not serving). I registered as I was supposed to, but it didn't turn out to be an issue. As many will remember, in those waning days of Viet Nam the draft was determined by lottery; and just before my 18th birthday the lottery was suspended. That was not a call I received.

That was not to say, however, that I wasn't touched. I have older cousins, most of them women; and among their husbands were several who served. One of them was a career officer, who had more than one combat deployment. In our family that was appreciated and welcomed, if not always understood; but I was also aware of just how hostile the world outside the family could be for those returning veterans.

This comes to mind today as I have been reading the article "Only God Can Judge Me": Faith, Trauma, and Combat. The author is Nathan Solomon, a U. S. Navy Chaplain. I recommend it highly.

Central to Solomon's thesis are the categories of the Sent, the Senders, and the Liminal Ones. It should register immediately that the Sent are the service members who experience combat, whether directly or in support services. The Senders are, really, all of us: the nation, the society whose goals the service members seek to serve. The Liminal Ones are the chaplains who support the Sent. They are themselves Sent, and at the same time they bring something of the rest of us, the Senders, as well. 

For each of these groups, Solomon examines the experience in three categories: "What It Means," "What It Costs," and "Living With It." The explorations are honest, and through the paper the differences among the experiences of Sent, Senders, and Liminal Ones are well laid out. There is particular attention to how the churches (sic), both denominations and congregations, might want to examine ministries. 

While the article is written primarily for congregational clergy, I think there is value here for healthcare chaplains as well. Around us are those who have experienced combat trauma, among our patients and their families, and among our professional colleagues. While few of us could claim the same experiences, we do have some experience of serving with violent trauma, and that might make us - and call us to be - better listeners, better pastors, for those around us.