Training helps keep soldiers and police officers alive
The job of a police officer is to protect people inside our country, and the job of a soldier is to protect our country itself. Police officers take lots of time in search of evidence of criminal activity in order to arrest people for criminal behavior. soldiers don’t concern themselves with criminal behavior, but they engage and defeat the enemy. Police officers spend lots of time interacting with civilians who they are charged with supporting, whereas the soldier is slated to engage with hostile enemy forces.
A close friend of mine, Jim Higgins, who is a retired chaplain major, served as the brigade chaplain of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade in Iraq. I communicated with him recently about the possibilities of similarities between police officers and combat soldiers. He said, “I think, like police officers, you get the adrenaline dump, rely on your training, and think first then experience emotions later. Even years later, you talk with your colleagues and find out other sides of the story.” Jim said that he feels that critical incident stress debriefing is very important.
Back in the day, critical incident stress debriefing for police officers was called choir
practice. Some gathered after work to consume ridiculous amounts of alcohol and share war stories about their day. Today, many police departments provide counseling for police officers who encounter gruesome and horrendous events.
Police officers and combat soldiers must rely on lots of training (muscle memory) because their life most often depends on their alertness and quickness. While stationed in Iraq, Jim was given the nickname “Mortar Magnet” because even as a chaplain, he attracted more mortar fire than many soldiers.
One morning, his chaplain assistant approached and asked where he had taken a Humvee the night before. After telling him that he’d gone to see a suicidal soldier on the other side of the forward operating base, the assistant said, “Let me show you something, sir.”
After going outside, the chaplain assistant showed him multiple holes in his canvas-sided Humvee that he drove the night before. Jim said to me, “Sometimes you just don’t realize how close you came.”
Many times, police officers have no clue how close they came to their own mortality. Just how many people changed their mind at the last minute will never be known.
With his permission, I am going to share a story that Jim wrote in May 2007 while he was stationed in Iraq. “I recently attended a showing of ‘Superman 3’ here at LSA Anaconda. LSA Anaconda is at the Ballad Airport in Iraq, north of Baghdad. We have a large auditorium that we use for movies as well as memorial services and other large gatherings.
“The national anthem is always played before the movie begins. We stood at attention when The national anthem began before the main feature. All was going well until three-quarters of the way through, the music stopped.
“Here in Iraq, 1,000 soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music started again and the soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. At the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect of 1,000 soldiers, 18 to 22 years old, standing at attention to do? Frankly, I expected some laughter, and everyone would eventually sit down and wait for the movie to start.
“No! You could have heard a pin drop while every soldier continued to stand at attention. Suddenly, there was a lone voice from the front of the auditorium, then a dozen voices, and soon the room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording left off: ‘And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.’
“It was the most inspiring moment I have had in Iraq, and I wanted you to know what kind of U.S. soldiers are serving you! Please remember them in your prayers. Many have paid the ultimate price.”
Many police officers have also paid the ultimate price. They are hated for doing a great job and many are slaughtered so innocently. Like Jim so eloquently said, I want you to know what kind of police officers are serving you. Brave men and women, brothers, sisters, moms and dads live in peril so that we have a land of the free, and the home of the brave.