DocV
03-01-2004, 07:55 PM
My dear friends, brothers and sisters,
It’s Sunday here in Texas and I am feeling led that I should share two stories with y’all.
Yes I know they’re war stories. And I know you have heard at least a hundred times. But I ask y’all to humor me please. I will do my best to keep them short and not be overly dramatic; and I promise there is a point.
It was hot and the air had a heavy feeling. There was a haze in the distance. We had just watched the NVA pound on an ARVN Infantry firebase about ¾ of a mile to our northwest. We were somewhere west of Tang Bi’en in I Corps.
The silence after the far off attack was broken by sporadic rifle fire. Everyone rushed to their respective positions and Steve, the other medic, and I went to ours on opposite sides of our NDP (night defensive position). It was shortly after dinner time that all “hell” broke loose and the NVA Regiment that had moved into the area had decided to attack us.
I remember the bullet that whizzed by my head at 19 years old. It took me 32 years to truly come to grips with the reality of what it meant and what had almost happened. On that same day, at about 5pm I was called out of my position in time to hear a, “WHUMP!” Everything went black and I came to in the ER of 91st Evacuation hospital with the front of my body peeled. I would carry a scar on my right cheek and in front of my left ear that stayed infected and drained for about two years.
In the A Shau Valley no one was safe. No one was safe at anywhere or anytime. The land clearing unit had been caught in crossfire between two infantry units that had been assigned to a movement to contact and eventually link-up in the A Shau. We were supposed to be there, but had no idea what was going on because intelligence was not communicating to our land clearing unit and the infantry didn’t feel it a necessity to communicate to a “renegade engineer unit, who had no business in our AO (area of operation) anyway.”
The end result here was that Doc V (aka Pollock; even though I’m of Czechoslovakian decent) once again was called on to get the ones who had been hurt out of the line of fire.
What’s my point?
Do my stories sound even vaguely familiar? Do they ring any bells? How did you feel my brothers and my sisters when you came back and you found yourselves alone? Alone with no one to support you or to listen to you. No one who “knew”….no one who knew what you had felt, what you had seen, what you had smelled, heard, thought? Just alone……..
Today we have turned to Jesus Christ and through Him we have found Pointman Ministries. We have found a way to gain support that was not there when we came home. And a way get healed or walk down the path of healing guided by the Lord’s Holy Spirit and escorted by our brothers and sisters who had been to the Nam. The same ones who had felt, smelled, heard, seen and done the same things we had!
Today our children, our younger brothers and sisters, our friends, our neighbors and in some cases our grandchildren are in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places going through the very same thing.
The military has teams of professionals that are at the edge of the battlefield waiting to debrief our soldiers as they come from the fight. But it often misses the mark! (Hmmm, sort of sounds like a sin don’t it?)
Many are afraid to talk to the “hot teams” because they are officers. Many are afraid because they won’t be seen as manly; macho. They’ll be seen as weak; unable to take it. Whimps. Many see their careers will be ended (officers and NCO’s) if they talk to the teams as they will be seen as unable to lead.
Then there are the reserve and National Guard members who have been activated. These truly are our neighbors. We go to church with many of them. As my wife and I prepare to go to Iowa where my family is, my research has shown the Iowa National Guard deployed to the Sainai Desert. Many see this as a problem; some as, “so what.” Jamie and I see it as a ministry opportunity.
Why? The deployed Reserve and Guard units especially, have left behind vulnerable and aching family members. Afraid of the next day! Will their deployed loved one come home safely? Or will that deployed loved one perish in the war? And when the loved one comes home, what am I as their spouse, or other family member, expected to do?
My dear family in Christ….we stand at the brink! Do we let this opportunity fade or do we advance and seize the moment?
While serving with the U.S. Army Infantry, my mission was to move, find, close with and destroy the enemy. Today we serve in the army of GOD. I say there is no difference. We as soldiers in this army must move, find, close with and destroy the enemy…..before he gets the chance to destroy the families of our children, friends and relatives, who are deployed in this war and the families of the remaining members of our churches.
We have an army to recruit from. Many Vietnam veterans are in our churches, sitting in the pews next to us. These same brothers and sisters, because they feel and still believe they are useless, need to be set free. As Outpost and Home Front leaders it is our calling, no, our responsibility to reach to them and draw them out. We can enlist them as warriors in prayer. We can enlist them as sisters in support of younger wives who are afraid. We can recruit them to form an army of brothers and sisters that the returning army and their waiting families can trust. An army that is invaluable to a pastor and to our Lord Jesus and armed with and equipped by the Word of the Living God!
With compassionate and knowing hearts and minds who will listen and not judge or condemn the returning army for their fears, feelings of guilt and the hurt and confusion the war has caused in their hearts. But instead a strong army who can meet them just as Jesus would…..at their moment of need!
I would like to encourage each of you. Look into your local bodies to find our brothers and sisters who remain hidden in fear, drowning in guilt and ashamed to step forward because they feel inadequate. We are all inadequate except for Jesus.
Draw them out and begin to equip them, teach and strengthen them to meet the returning warriors. Be to our sons and daughters, our friends and neighbors, and our brothers and sisters what no one was to us. Meet the need!
Thank you for your time. May God’s richest and most wonderful blessing be on each of you.
In Christ,
Frank & Jamie Vozenilek
Pointman Mesquite
It’s Sunday here in Texas and I am feeling led that I should share two stories with y’all.
Yes I know they’re war stories. And I know you have heard at least a hundred times. But I ask y’all to humor me please. I will do my best to keep them short and not be overly dramatic; and I promise there is a point.
It was hot and the air had a heavy feeling. There was a haze in the distance. We had just watched the NVA pound on an ARVN Infantry firebase about ¾ of a mile to our northwest. We were somewhere west of Tang Bi’en in I Corps.
The silence after the far off attack was broken by sporadic rifle fire. Everyone rushed to their respective positions and Steve, the other medic, and I went to ours on opposite sides of our NDP (night defensive position). It was shortly after dinner time that all “hell” broke loose and the NVA Regiment that had moved into the area had decided to attack us.
I remember the bullet that whizzed by my head at 19 years old. It took me 32 years to truly come to grips with the reality of what it meant and what had almost happened. On that same day, at about 5pm I was called out of my position in time to hear a, “WHUMP!” Everything went black and I came to in the ER of 91st Evacuation hospital with the front of my body peeled. I would carry a scar on my right cheek and in front of my left ear that stayed infected and drained for about two years.
In the A Shau Valley no one was safe. No one was safe at anywhere or anytime. The land clearing unit had been caught in crossfire between two infantry units that had been assigned to a movement to contact and eventually link-up in the A Shau. We were supposed to be there, but had no idea what was going on because intelligence was not communicating to our land clearing unit and the infantry didn’t feel it a necessity to communicate to a “renegade engineer unit, who had no business in our AO (area of operation) anyway.”
The end result here was that Doc V (aka Pollock; even though I’m of Czechoslovakian decent) once again was called on to get the ones who had been hurt out of the line of fire.
What’s my point?
Do my stories sound even vaguely familiar? Do they ring any bells? How did you feel my brothers and my sisters when you came back and you found yourselves alone? Alone with no one to support you or to listen to you. No one who “knew”….no one who knew what you had felt, what you had seen, what you had smelled, heard, thought? Just alone……..
Today we have turned to Jesus Christ and through Him we have found Pointman Ministries. We have found a way to gain support that was not there when we came home. And a way get healed or walk down the path of healing guided by the Lord’s Holy Spirit and escorted by our brothers and sisters who had been to the Nam. The same ones who had felt, smelled, heard, seen and done the same things we had!
Today our children, our younger brothers and sisters, our friends, our neighbors and in some cases our grandchildren are in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places going through the very same thing.
The military has teams of professionals that are at the edge of the battlefield waiting to debrief our soldiers as they come from the fight. But it often misses the mark! (Hmmm, sort of sounds like a sin don’t it?)
Many are afraid to talk to the “hot teams” because they are officers. Many are afraid because they won’t be seen as manly; macho. They’ll be seen as weak; unable to take it. Whimps. Many see their careers will be ended (officers and NCO’s) if they talk to the teams as they will be seen as unable to lead.
Then there are the reserve and National Guard members who have been activated. These truly are our neighbors. We go to church with many of them. As my wife and I prepare to go to Iowa where my family is, my research has shown the Iowa National Guard deployed to the Sainai Desert. Many see this as a problem; some as, “so what.” Jamie and I see it as a ministry opportunity.
Why? The deployed Reserve and Guard units especially, have left behind vulnerable and aching family members. Afraid of the next day! Will their deployed loved one come home safely? Or will that deployed loved one perish in the war? And when the loved one comes home, what am I as their spouse, or other family member, expected to do?
My dear family in Christ….we stand at the brink! Do we let this opportunity fade or do we advance and seize the moment?
While serving with the U.S. Army Infantry, my mission was to move, find, close with and destroy the enemy. Today we serve in the army of GOD. I say there is no difference. We as soldiers in this army must move, find, close with and destroy the enemy…..before he gets the chance to destroy the families of our children, friends and relatives, who are deployed in this war and the families of the remaining members of our churches.
We have an army to recruit from. Many Vietnam veterans are in our churches, sitting in the pews next to us. These same brothers and sisters, because they feel and still believe they are useless, need to be set free. As Outpost and Home Front leaders it is our calling, no, our responsibility to reach to them and draw them out. We can enlist them as warriors in prayer. We can enlist them as sisters in support of younger wives who are afraid. We can recruit them to form an army of brothers and sisters that the returning army and their waiting families can trust. An army that is invaluable to a pastor and to our Lord Jesus and armed with and equipped by the Word of the Living God!
With compassionate and knowing hearts and minds who will listen and not judge or condemn the returning army for their fears, feelings of guilt and the hurt and confusion the war has caused in their hearts. But instead a strong army who can meet them just as Jesus would…..at their moment of need!
I would like to encourage each of you. Look into your local bodies to find our brothers and sisters who remain hidden in fear, drowning in guilt and ashamed to step forward because they feel inadequate. We are all inadequate except for Jesus.
Draw them out and begin to equip them, teach and strengthen them to meet the returning warriors. Be to our sons and daughters, our friends and neighbors, and our brothers and sisters what no one was to us. Meet the need!
Thank you for your time. May God’s richest and most wonderful blessing be on each of you.
In Christ,
Frank & Jamie Vozenilek
Pointman Mesquite