thedrifter
01-14-07, 07:49 AM
Posted on Sun, Jan. 14, 2007
Marines grapple with mortality - en Espaņol
By TONY PERRY
Los Angeles Times
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The Navy chaplain brought his guitar. The Marines brought their M-16s.
What they all brought to a Friday night service at the Chapel of Hope was a desire to speak Spanish while discussing Scripture and its application to life and death in a war zone.
The services were inspired by something that Navy Lt. Cmdr. Samuel Ravelo, a chaplain and ordained Southern Baptist minister, saw a few months earlier in Kuwait before his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Ravelo, a native of the Dominican Republic, saw a sign in an Army camp mentioning a Spanish-language religious service.
When no Spanish-speaking chaplain showed up, Ravelo took the task upon himself. It inspired him to hold similar services for military personnel here in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province.
Ravelo says many Marines, sailors and soldiers who grew up speaking Spanish prefer to hear about and discuss the Bible in their native tongue.
It's unclear how many Spanish speakers serve in Iraq, though Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics are common.
Hispanics, 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, made up 11.2 percent of the deaths in Iraq in 2006, according to government figures.
The Marines who gathered recently at the chapel all speak English fluently but said they feel more comfortable with Spanish.
Cpl. Andres Velasquez, 22, from Long Beach, Calif., said he grew up attending Mass in Spanish.
"It just feels more natural," he said.
"Out here, your eyes are opened to a lot of things, and it's good to be able to talk about them in Spanish."
Ravelo said that, in Iraq, many military personnel are confronting mortality for the first time.
So anything that encourages them to discuss their feelings and seek God's assistance is helpful, he added.
"Iraq is a good place to get to know God," he said. "Death is such a reality here. When we hear someone has been killed, we know it could have been us. Everyone wants to get their life straight."
The sound of war is a constant backdrop to the services. Blackhawk helicopters carry the injured to Fallujah Surgical, a base hospital. Trucks rumble. Artillery booms in the background, punctuated with an English phrase known to all here: "Incoming, incoming!"
The Chapel of Hope is used by followers of a variety of faiths and is the site of memorial services.
The sandstone structure, a large auditorium once used by the Iraqi military, can seat 2,500.
Ravelo takes on the Friday night services in Spanish in addition to his duties as chaplain for a Marine battalion.
He provides English-language services on Sundays and recently finished a two-week stint as a traveling chaplain serving far-flung Marine outposts throughout the sprawling desert.
The crowd for a recent service was small.
During his service, Ravelo crafted a military image to convey his message: He urged the Marines to think of God as they do a concrete shelter, the kind that provides safety from the mortar attacks that are common here.
The image was apt. The day after Christmas, the Chapel of Hope was struck by mortars, leaving the walls peppered.
Ellie
Marines grapple with mortality - en Espaņol
By TONY PERRY
Los Angeles Times
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- The Navy chaplain brought his guitar. The Marines brought their M-16s.
What they all brought to a Friday night service at the Chapel of Hope was a desire to speak Spanish while discussing Scripture and its application to life and death in a war zone.
The services were inspired by something that Navy Lt. Cmdr. Samuel Ravelo, a chaplain and ordained Southern Baptist minister, saw a few months earlier in Kuwait before his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Ravelo, a native of the Dominican Republic, saw a sign in an Army camp mentioning a Spanish-language religious service.
When no Spanish-speaking chaplain showed up, Ravelo took the task upon himself. It inspired him to hold similar services for military personnel here in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province.
Ravelo says many Marines, sailors and soldiers who grew up speaking Spanish prefer to hear about and discuss the Bible in their native tongue.
It's unclear how many Spanish speakers serve in Iraq, though Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics are common.
Hispanics, 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, made up 11.2 percent of the deaths in Iraq in 2006, according to government figures.
The Marines who gathered recently at the chapel all speak English fluently but said they feel more comfortable with Spanish.
Cpl. Andres Velasquez, 22, from Long Beach, Calif., said he grew up attending Mass in Spanish.
"It just feels more natural," he said.
"Out here, your eyes are opened to a lot of things, and it's good to be able to talk about them in Spanish."
Ravelo said that, in Iraq, many military personnel are confronting mortality for the first time.
So anything that encourages them to discuss their feelings and seek God's assistance is helpful, he added.
"Iraq is a good place to get to know God," he said. "Death is such a reality here. When we hear someone has been killed, we know it could have been us. Everyone wants to get their life straight."
The sound of war is a constant backdrop to the services. Blackhawk helicopters carry the injured to Fallujah Surgical, a base hospital. Trucks rumble. Artillery booms in the background, punctuated with an English phrase known to all here: "Incoming, incoming!"
The Chapel of Hope is used by followers of a variety of faiths and is the site of memorial services.
The sandstone structure, a large auditorium once used by the Iraqi military, can seat 2,500.
Ravelo takes on the Friday night services in Spanish in addition to his duties as chaplain for a Marine battalion.
He provides English-language services on Sundays and recently finished a two-week stint as a traveling chaplain serving far-flung Marine outposts throughout the sprawling desert.
The crowd for a recent service was small.
During his service, Ravelo crafted a military image to convey his message: He urged the Marines to think of God as they do a concrete shelter, the kind that provides safety from the mortar attacks that are common here.
The image was apt. The day after Christmas, the Chapel of Hope was struck by mortars, leaving the walls peppered.
Ellie