U.S. troops must balance life at home, mission in Iraq, say chaplains

Published: 2006-06-15

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. troops deployed in Iraq must balance having "one foot home and one foot" halfway around the world, said an army chaplain. "Some feel very helpless ... all they can do is send an e-mail" to solve a family crisis, said Father Brian Kane, an army chaplain for the 67th Area Support Group at Al Asad Airfield, in the Iraqi Al Anbar region. "But at the same time, they don't want home life affecting the mission here." Father Paul Halladay, a battalion chaplain with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment (Air Assault) in Ramadi, said: "Life goes on back at home, and so do the crazy curves that life can throw at us. ... Sometimes, especially for men, that can be the most frustrating thing, not being able to be there and do something." U.S. troops are also affected by the media's coverage of the war, said a deactivated Navy chaplain, Father Mark Reilly, who recently returned from Iraq to Watertown, in the Diocese of Ogdensburg, N.Y. He said that despite media reports of the public's disapproval of the war and an alleged Marine massacre of 24 civilians the troops do not show a "groundswell of negativity."

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