Hugh's News & Commentary

Honoring Veterans
As Memorial Day approaches, the National Association of Evangelicals remembers our nation’s veterans and prays for them, their families, and the chaplains and others who minister to them. The below article about ministering to veterans was originally published in the Winter 2009/10 edition of the NAE Insight. It is written by Chaplain Paul Vicalvi, Executive Director of the NAE Chaplains Commission, which endorses chaplains for the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
By Chaplain (Colonel) Paul Vicalvi, US Army, Retired
Executive Director, NAE Chaplains Commission

My father was a prisoner of war. He was shot down over Germany and spent well over a year in POW camp. I never heard about any of my father’s experiences though until I was 29 years old when I joined the Army as a chaplain.

My parents came to watch me parachute with the 82nd Airborne Division. For the first time, I heard my father talk about his jump from his burning B-17 bomber and his capture. It was a brutal time. There was little food to eat. The carnage and filth were unforgettable to him. In the years that followed before his death he gave more details about his ordeal, probably because he thought that I could relate with him now that I was in the Army. He was proud of his service in the military, but there were just some things that haunted him.

Although he was discharged from the service after the war and worked until his retirement at age 62, my father was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when he was 75 years old. There weren’t any physical wounds but my dad came back from war wounded and never really healed. At 75 my father was given a full medical retirement for his PTSD and other war injuries that he had as a POW.

I now look back and see the symptoms of PTSD in my dad’s life and how it affected us as a family. Unexplained and sometimes uncontrollable anger, withdrawal, depression and lack of visible emotions were all part of our home. He wasn’t the only one who suffered from PTSD; we all suffered even though we had never gone to war because his suffering spilled over into our lives.

The lethality of modern warfare now immerses just about everyone in its affects as they serve our military. Although PTSD is a serious, complex wound that cannot be covered totally in this article, here are a few suggestions that may help a military member enter back into healthy family living:

1. Honor veterans and try to understand the challenges that they and their families might be going through. Remember to include Reserve and National Guard members.
2. Be willing to listen, when/if a veteran is willing to talk. Be a friend even if it is uncomfortable and you don’t know what to say.
3. Encourage a struggling service member to get into a PTSD support group at a local VA hospital.
4. Most importantly, offer the gospel of grace, forgiveness and peace to those whose PTSD struggle may be with guilt for unspeakable things done and/or experienced.

For further resources, check out the NAE Chaplains Commission website at www.nae.net/chaplains.

[Editor's Comment: It is my privilege to work alongside Paul Vicavi as the chairman of the NAE Chaplains Commission. He is one of the finest Christian gentlemen I have ever known. He is like a breath of fresh air as our leader. I asked Paul for permission to print his article in Hugh's News and he graciously consented.

I will be retiring from my role as chairman in January 2012. I have served on all three major endorsing bodies over the last fourteen years:

NCMAF (National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces) as a member of the executive committee

NAE Chaplains Commission (secretary for seven years, vice chairman for six years, and chairman for 1 year.

ECVAC (Endorsers Conference for Veterans Affairs Chaplaincy) as the vice chairman for two years, and chairman for two years.

Chaplains Ministries, IPHC as the director/endorser now for fourteen years. I will pass the torch of leadership to my successor in September 2012. He will have to be approved by the Evangelism USA Council before taking this position. I know he will serve us well and take us to the next higher level.

I have enjoyed my ministry to our chaplains, spouses, and families, and the ministry to the Armed Forces of this nation, as well as endorsing institutional chaplains.

We will have our Chaplains, Spouses, and Friends Retreat at Founder's Inn, Virginia Beach, VA, 20-23 June 2011. Approximately 60 people will be in attendance. God has given me some great leaders to help me plan and orchestra this retreat. I will give their names later, and the significant roles they have played.

Chaplain, Major General Cecil Richardson, Chief of Air Force Chaplains, will be our principle speaker. The theme for the conference is "Moral Courage."

The Rev. Dr. Vinson Synan will be speaking in one of the sessions on "Things I never Expected to See in my Lifetime."

Join us in praying that God will grant us good weather. On Tuesday, June 21, we will go by a 55-passenger commercial bus to Colonial Williamsburg for a four-hour tour, lunch, and later a drive by of Colonel Jamestown and Yorktown.