A Soldier's Plea

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm an atheist so a plea for prayer is meaningless to me in and of itself. However, the trials and concerns of the soldiers in our military are very real, regardless of the religious focus of this e-mail. Some things really tear at your heart, just 'cause we're all human together.

Pray if you must but I suggest, rather, that if you have opportunity to do so, send care packages, "adopt" a military family here at home and take care of their daily needs. Regardless of any debate about whether or not prayer or religion have any power, there can be no doubt whatsoever that rolling up your sleeves and going to work actually DOES have power. It doesn't even always take money. Mostly just your time. You'll see what I mean if you read this e-mail below.

I submit it with no edits.

--Wag--

------------------Original e-mail----------------

Hello Everyone,

I miss you all! I am ALIVE AND WELL! I do have to say AGAIN, that God is Awesome. He offers so much Amazing Graze to us all. I don't know why we doubt.

Well, I am healthy and doing just fine. I do miss my wife and my boy.

The reason for this email is to ask for a PRAYER REQUEST in detail for every soldier in harms way. It will be a VERY long email. It's up to you now to stop or read on. If you read on, I want to make you think and to do just what I ask in the end.

I hope not to upset you with this email. I just wanted to give you something directly to be praying for when you do pray for the troops. I have sat down with my troops and jotted down all types of prayer requests and came up with all down to reality prayer requests.

If you don't believe in prayer or don't believe in God, then this email should shed some light on what soldiers deal with everyday for you.

It's not all about guns and killing, blood and gore.

I hear from everyone back home and they tell me that they have me and all the troops in their prayers. BUT do some actually mean it? Or do they just say it out of repetitiveness and saying the right thing to a soldier in a war? Do some really know how to pray? Or do you know what to pray for?

Well, I want to challenge you today to pray extra hard now for these soldiers and I. I am one, but their are many, many soldier's and civilian contractor's here in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and around the world serving our Great Country of the United States.

When you pray for the troops,...what do you pray for FOR THEM? Other than safety from harms way. It not all about killing and death here.

I see soldiers that are looking for something!

They walk around with sad faces and anger attitudes. They are lost people!

Soldiers are searching for God, but they don't know that.

Soldiers are suffering from boredom. The ever famous, "Hurry up and Wait".

Soldiers are suffering from loneliness, being away from home. Feeling like we are in prison on these camps. We can't just get up, jump in the car and drive down to the mall. We can't go to the park and play on the swings with our kids. We can't order pizza and have it delivered. It's like we are in prison. Locked up in jail. We can't go down town to the watch the NBA game or the NFL game in the stadium. And for me, I can't go to the NASCAR Races.

Soldiers are suffering from the addiction to pornography.

Soldiers are suffering from the addition of masturbation.

Soldiers talk constantly about the opposite sex.

Soldiers are influenced by music that sings about violence and killing.

Soldiers are spending too much money on nothing. Shopping the Internet and ordering stuff to satisfy their emptiness.

Soldiers have credit card bills, car payments, mortgage payment, and other bills that is hard to take care of just because soldiers are a half a world away.

Soldiers are wanting to stop smoking but the addiction and stress of war have got them locked in it's grasp.

Soldiers are having alcohol with drawls here. Pray that they become sober out of this. Having alcohol is prohibited for the soldier here in war. But the build up gets out of hand, a soldier returns home for leave or redeployment and dies from drunk driving. What a story that is.....a soldier survives war but dies right at home by a head on car accident.

Soldiers have bad swearing habits. The use of bad language is used in every other word of speech.

Soldiers have goals that they want to accomplish.

Soldiers are wanting to lose weight.

Soldiers want to break the addiction to drinking.

Soldiers battle the unspoken reality of prejudice.

Soldiers battle the unspoken thoughts of female leadership vs. male leadership.

Soldiers argue about religion.

I have a soldier who is reading a book on Satanic Verses. Pray for him!

Married Soldiers are in the middle of adultery.

Soldiers wondering if their husbands or wives are being faithful while they are away serving their country.

Single soldiers are looking for love.

Soldiers are going through divorce.

Soldiers are loosing their children in child custody battles because they are here in Iraq. The court Judges in the states see that soldiers are not at home supporting their kids and for that reason their kids are taken from them.

Most soldiers are young kids right out of high school, that haven't even experienced life as you know it in the adult world of America. Teenager soldiers, right now, all they know is war! These experiences could effect their out look on life when they return home.

Pray for our families back in the states.

I ask for prayers for the Iraqi people! Their families!

Pray for the Iraqi citizens who have stepped up and are becoming Iraqi police or Iraqi Army soldiers. They endure much also, trying to take over the roles of running their own country and bringing security to their own families.

Praying for our enemy, the insurgents.

Pray for our fear of I.E.D.'s.

Pray for the reality of incoming mortar rounds.

Worried about RPG's when flying in Helicopters.

Wondering about V.B.I.E.D.'s when in traffic in local towns and villages.

Thinking that the next insurgent with a B.B.I.E.D.'s doesn't get close to you.

Pray for every day missions of soldiers as they go outside the wire and into the view of the enemy. Pray for the troops that they continue to focus on the mission and not be distracted with all of these mentioned things in this email that I have addressed.

Pray for Commanders and high ranking leaders, that they are the ones making life threatening decisions. Having to send out the troops to carry out the mission.

Pray for the mechanics, so they may keep the trucks and tanks running good while out on missions or behind enemy lines.

Pray for the weather. Soldiers deal with extreme heat and cold. We work right through the rain and the dust storms.

Pray for the health of every soldier. Pray that sickness is not hindering the individual from doing his or her mission.

Pray for each soldier that carries a weapon. Friendly Fire! Friendly fire is something that happens when another U.S. soldier accidentally fires off a round and it hit another U.S. soldier. Either he or she is injured or in some cases, even killed by a stray bullet.

We work during the holidays and weekends when you all back home are enjoying the day off to be with family or go to the movies.

Pray for rest, for the soldier. He or she puts in long hours and keeps going.
Soldiers are up early again the next day exercising and getting ready for another day of business.

Pray for our Leader's in Washington. Pray for them even though you don't support their decisions.

We as soldiers do our jobs even when politicians fight among themselves.

We soldiers do our jobs even when U.S. citizens protest what we do here.

If you don't support this war or think that this war is worth being here, think about this,....with the Iraq war, it has draw terrorist to Iraq and away from the United States. This war keeps you safer even more there in the U.S. It draws the attention here and away from you.

Pray for the soldiers attending their fellow soldier's memorial services.

At home, a U.S. civilian will probably attend a memorial service for a family member or friend who had passed away of natural causes or an accident, maybe every three years.
Here, a soldier will attend more than he or she would want to, in his or her entire life time. The memorial service would be of a friend who became family, who became a close brother or sister during this war.

Pray for the families who have lost soldiers/love ones in this war. Many soldiers have died for the price of Freedom both past and present.

As a U.S. Army Reservist or a National Guard soldier, they wonder if they will still have their civilian jobs when they get home after their time is done serving their country.

You are not going to hear this type of detail information or a prayer request from the media or an average soldier. God has put this on my mind to send out a plea to all you believer's in prayer, to take time and LITERALLY PRAY to God the Father. Ask Jesus to intervene in the warfare of the mind of the soldier. Ask the Holy Spirit to carry your prayers across the world to every soldier fighting to defend the Freedom that we all enjoy in the United States.

There is also the prayer for the reunion of families when soldiers return home. I have been there once before from my last deployment, and I know what it is like to return home after the experiences that have come our way.

Soldiers going home are dealing with PTSD. It starts out as a normal response to an extremely abnormal experience such as being in a war zone. It can happen to any soldier. Soldiers who have served in war often experience PTSD and commonly develop other conditions such as alcohol use, depression and even consider suicide. Most soldiers don't understand what is happening in their lives. They experience dreams, horror and unwanted flashbacks of gun shots and mortar rounds. A sound at home may trigger these flashbacks. Another symptom of PTSD is the withdrawal of family member interaction. Many lose their self-esteem.

While being away from your family, you become independent. Your family has to also become independent. You have to survive with out them. They have live with out you until you return home. Families grow apart during times like this with year long deployments.

I have been there before and I have experienced that same thing. When I came home from my first deployment, those were some of the things I deal with. I couldn't really explain what was happening to me, but I know it effected my wife and my boy. They saw it in me. I felt normal, but normal to me was totally different than before I left home. I was diagnosed with P.T.S.D. and I was put on medication. And the funny part about that is, I am just in a support unit. I am a reservist but right in the middle with the regular active duty soldiers. The things we see and experience as soldiers is something you can't explain. It's not easy for someone to understand and feel unless you have experienced it for yourself.

The only thing soldiers know right now is how to survive in a war zone coming from Iraq and Afghanistan.

We deal with daily mortar rounds coming into our camps from the outside of the FOB. Explosions make crater in the ground or damage buildings. Soldiers have been badly hurt by mortars even from just exercising, doing a nice run around the camp and the shrapnel of a mortar injures the soldiers.

When on a convoy, we deal with the fact that our vehicle may blow up from an I.E.D., a road side bomb.

We are drilled with pre-meditated actions and rehearsals of being ambushed by the enemy.

If we fly on a helicopter, there is the fear of being blown out of the sky with a RPG.

This is war.

We are as safe as we can be. We are equipped with the best that the military can provide for us. All of our vehicles are armored now. We wear vest that have bullet proof plates and also have extra protection everywhere possible. A Helmet, eye wear/safely glasses and gloves is our normal uniform.

The world is worried about Iran and their bombs. We need to be concerned about our sin and the lost souls of our soldiers.

Soldiers talk about motorcycles and purchasing sports bikes or Harley's when they return home after this deployment. Military studies show that there have been more deaths of soldiers who have who died racing motorcycles at home after surviving the war in Afghanistan and Iraq since Sept. 11, 2001. The numbers keep rising.

Speed is something that gives a person a rush. After coming from this extreme rush of weapons and the fire power of tanks and bombs, that rush is gone. Soldiers look for a way to find that rush again. Motorcycles don't help.

I have attached a picture of my workers and I. This is my team I work with. I am their boss/their escort. These guys have become my friends. They are local Iraqi men from towns near by and come to work with us. They are paid for their services of $50.00 a week.

These men have families to provide for. I have gotten to know them. I know about their families.

I am 32 years old and the majority of these men are my age. You can see the effects of a war torn country in them and you can hear it in their voices. They have aged skin to look like old men but with the playfulness of young boys.

The guy in front holding the clear cup is 30 years old and has three kids, all boys. The oldest is 6 years old, the middle boy is 3 years old, the youngest is only a year old.....oh, and he has one on the way. His wife is pregnant. She's due here in a few months. He is a very nice down to earth person. He's just like us. They are not the enemy.

One thing about these men is that they need glasses. They don't have good eye sight and no eye doctors or eye specialist to go to, along with no money to buy glasses for themselves. Their money goes to support the family.

I usually have treats and snacks for them when we take breaks. They work hard for me. And I am right there working with them. We work together as men, as if we are working behind our very own houses. Not as a soldier and the Iraqi people, but as FRIENDS.

I talk to my guys/my workers and ask them what life is like with out Saddam, and they say (with the best that we can communicate, with the language barrier) that it is very good with out Saddam in power.

They use to live with fear and worked hard for nothing. Now they are FREE and have the opportunity to make money to support their families.

Due to OPSEC, I don't want to give out their names and put them in danger. Just know that they are just as human as we are. Don't think of them as the bad guys. I know all you hear on the news is that another soldier died and a bomb blew up this or that. Well, I want you to know the real stories of what's happening here. For people who have nothing, we provided Freedom for them. Freedom to provide for their future, for their country.

We do have a chapel here on our FOB. And we do have chapel services with the sounds of war right outside during our services. A helicopter flys over. Or a mortar round hits somewhere on the FOB and you'll feel the impact. Or a fighter jet will roar over the sky above. Or a tank squeaks by right out side the chapel.

I ask for you to pray for the chaplins. They endure so much from questions of soldiers asking why did my friend die. There are few Chaplins to go around. They are stretched thin. Pray for their strength to continue to do their jobs to assist the troops.

Pray for the Christians who are holding steadfast. It's a constant battle. We battle with the reality of life, the reality of war being in the combat zone and the war of the unseen world of the devil. When we try to serve God more, that's when the devil works harder with trials and tribulations.

Pray that we stay humble.

Pray for the Christians who are backsliding. Many soldiers claim to be Christian but their roots don't show anything at all. As children they once had that first love. That first love is gone.

Pray for all branches of service. Here in the war zone or on ships out on foreign waters.

For the soldiers serving Homeland Security.

There may be different branches, The U.S. Marines, The U.S. Air Force, The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, but we are all fighting for the United States of America and defending our Freedom to live.

As for me, on a personal note...

I ask for prayer for my wife. I have left her with duties that I did on a normal basis when I was home. All because I had to leave for my call of duty. The house hold duties I took care of when I was home now have to be worked by my wife. Now she has to worry about them. With out me, she is a single parent, with my boy, working to keep my home together.

I ask for prayer for my house. The things inside my house. The washer and dryer, that they continue to run. For the plumbing and the water heater. For the electrical system and outlets. For the locks on the doors and the security of my home. For the smoke detectors and to keep the bugs out of my house, so my wife doesn't get scared of little spiders.

I ask for prayer for my trucks. The wear and tear of everyday driving. My job of changing of the oil and maintenance of the engine has to be done by someone else. My job of putting in gas and washing the truck. Pray for the safety of driving in traffic everyday for my family.

I ask for prayer for my leadership. That I lead my troops with the best of my ability and bring all my troops home to their families.

Pray that I don't take advantage of God's grace.

I ask for prayer in my spiritual life and in my prayer life.

I ask for prayer for my parents. They deal with the fact that their son is away at war. Pray for their health. Pray that stress does not take over their bodies. Pray that they know and acknowledge that I am in the hands of the Almighty God.

Pray for my future, that I survive this war. That I come home in one piece and that God has a long life planned for my family and I.

My BIGGEST PRAYER REQUEST though is, I ask for prayer of my boy. He is in his teenager years. He turned 14 this past December. Having a father figure physically there is needed, especially at this time of his life. I pray that he continues to understand why I must be away from him during these years of his life. I try to look at the bigger picture of why I am here.....but the father side of me keeps asking why I am away from my family....away from my boy when he needs me now the most.

I pray that he continues to help around the house with out question. For his school work, that his grades do not drop because I am away. I want prayer for his spiritual life. He is at an age that all his peers are pressuring him. The pressure of the world all around him. The music that is effecting his inner thoughts. The hormones of the opposite sex is upon him at this age. This is my most heart felt prayer request of all of Ssg Arviso's requests.

Again, I try to look at the big picture of why I am here, but I also fight the thoughts of why I shouldn't be here. I should be home with my family. I should be home with my boy teaching him, especially at his age.

"Lord, please...right now I ask that you touch the heart of my son and keep him close to you"....Amen!

To you, your world right now might be very hard, in your thoughts, but today I want to challenge you to think of others, in harms way. With the Grace of God, brave men and women do their jobs here to allow you to wake up with out the fear of mortar rounds falling from the sky. Wondering if you will be blown up today as you drive to work on the freeways. Wondering when the next memorial service you will be attending for your best friend.

You probably have read all the FORWARD emails of soldiers and our living conditions. Those emails are totally true for many soldiers. We endure the unthinkable for the common citizen of the United States.

You are probably thinking also that this stuff happens everywhere, all the details that I have described for you, happens even back in the States. And you are right, but we here have a bigger mission that we have to deal with on a daily basis. That's why I feel God has put this on my heart to cry out to my family and friends to give you in depth details of what you should be actually praying for when you do pray for the troops.

I am one, but with everyone's help, we can ask God to touch every individual soul in harms way through prayer. So, I challenge you to do something different about this email,...I challenge you to pray an extra prayer for that soldier who is offering his or her life for you and for our land. And not just today or tomorrow, but as long as we are at war with terrorism.

No, this is not one of them emails that something is gonna happen to you at this time or at that time. I am not asking you to forward this email to 5 people or 10. It's up to you what you think needs to be done with this email.

I want to say thank you though, for taking time out of your busy work schedule to read my plea.

I will leave you with this....it's from the Bible, the New King James Version. The verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14...."if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and PRAY and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land".

Thank you in advance. In silence, we look forward to your continued prayers.

From Baqubah, Iraq......

Staff Sgt Arviso, Oliver
United States Army Reserves
Operation: Iraqi Freedom IV 2005-2006

aka.........Ollie

Military Abbreviations Defined:

OPSEC = OPerational SECurity
FOB = Forward Operating Base
I.E.D. = Improvised Explosive Device
V.B.I.E.D. = Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device
B.B.I.E.D. = Bicycle Borne Improvised Explosive Device
R.P.G. = Rocket Propelled Gernade
P.T.S.D. = Post Tramatic Stress Disorder

Baqubah = 30 miles north of Baghdad

"I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me"