Calm in Chaos
Chaplain Daniel Middlebrooks walks through the journey of combat with the staff of the 10th Combat Support Hospital.
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Faith in the Sand – American soldiers in Iraq are not just safeguarding freedom for others. They are also finding it for themselves. See how God is using Southern Baptist chaplains to change lives in one of the most difficult environments on earth. Download
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“My Father in heaven has big shoulders, and I have empty hands,” says Army Chaplain (Maj.) Daniel Middlebrooks sitting in the chapel of Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. It’s quiet here, away from the activity of the military hospital. Stained glass windows filter the desert sunlight casting a warm glow across the room. “I don't carry around trauma. I don't carry around hurt and pain. I take it to the Father, and I'm trying to teach the soldiers around me by my life how to do the same thing.”
The whop, whop, whop of a chopper vibrating overhead shatters the quiet. The interview stops. A concerned look settles on Middlebrooks’ face. The chaplain’s assistant, Sgt. Shawn Owens, pokes his head in the door. “Sir, we’ve got a call from the ER. They’re bringing someone in.”
Chaplain Middlebrooks excuses himself and hurries to the emergency room to wait for the wounded soldier. He knows that minutes or even seconds can mean life or death. Medics roll the soldier into the ER. He was injured when a roadside bomb exploded next to his patrol vehicle.
Chaplain Middlebrooks is there, right beside the doctors and nurses in the trauma room. He identifies himself to the patient and assures him that the hospital staff is going to take good care of him.
“At that point, I begin to pray,” says Middlebrooks. “I pray for the doctors, nurses, medics and surgeons for what they are about to do. I pray for calm in the midst of what can be great chaos.”
In addition to bringing a calm to the ER, Chaplain Middlebrooks serves as another set of eyes. He scans the scene, watching and waiting to lend a hand. With so much activity—starting IVs, checking vitals, discarding bloody bandages, hooking up machines, taking X-rays—Middlebrooks makes sure they’re not tripping over anything. He describes the teamwork in the ER as an amazing symphony.
“When the attending doctor steps in and strikes up his hand and the symphony starts, everybody plays their instrument of skill, and it is an incredible song of success. It’s amazing to watch the doctors do what God has gifted them to do.”
In the trauma room, the near dozen doctors, medics and nurses stop the bleeding and wheel him to surgery where the orthopedic surgeon will attempt to save his mangled leg.
The long journey
Located in Baghdad's International Zone, the hospital was formerly the site of an elite medical center for Saddam Hussein’s supporters. Now it’s run by the military’s elite “Mountain Medics,” of the 10th Combat Support Hospital from Fort Carson, Colorado. They provide care for U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, contractors as well as providing some Iraqi civilian care. They see the entire gamut of war, up close and personal every day.
The only way Chaplain Middlebrooks can minister to the hospital staff on a daily basis is to be in the chaos with them and experience what they’re going through. The role of the hospital chaplain is to bring calm and God’s presence to difficult moments, says Middlebrooks. And in the end to be able to see triumph instead of tragedy.
“If something goes wrong and we lose a soldier, I pull the staff back together and walk with them through that particular incident,” Middlebrooks says. “It’s important to help them retell the story and re-feel the feelings of what happened and release those emotions. And then we restart the journey for the next trauma coming in.”
A typical day for Chaplain Middlebrooks is filled with patient and staff visits, administrative meetings, military briefings, Bible studies, and counseling sessions. He leads four worship services on weekends and even finds time to keep the coffee pot full.
Middlebrooks is known throughout the hospital as the coffee chaplain. “I don’t carry a weapon, I carry a coffee cup,” he says.
“If the chaplain’s boots are on the floor, then you know there’s coffee,” says one caffeine-addicted soldier.
The rich aroma of fresh-brewed coffee embraces you as you enter the chaplain’s office. It’s an oasis—a place to pause from the stress of deployment. The staff drops in all day for a chat and a cup of coffee. “When people come in to get coffee or tea, they instinctively migrate to the couch and sit and talk for awhile,” Middlebrooks says. “My favorite words are ‘Chaplain, do you have a minute to talk.’”
 Middlebrooks spends his days making the rounds—checking on the sick and wounded and visiting with the caretakers. “There are days the staff can’t really get away from their areas. That’s why I come to them.”
One of the chaplain’s favorite activities is the Thursday night marriage enrichment class. “Marriage enrichment has become a passion of mine while we're deployed,” Middlebrooks says. “Reintegration back to our families doesn't start a month before we get home, it starts the day we get in the theater. This is a time when soldiers need to work on their marriages.”
Just listening to Middlebrooks describe his weekly activities would make the busiest senior pastor exhausted.
In a matter of seconds a phone call can come in, and he’s off to the ER.
“I fall in bed at night just asking God for strength for the next day and he always gives it.”
Triumph in tragedy
It takes great emotional strength to work in a combat hospital, to see the horrific wounds, to cope with the death of countrymen and be able to move on to the next trauma. Chaplains like Middlebrooks provide much-needed spiritual care and point to hope in Christ.
Middlebrooks is seeing a lives changed through this deployment. “Soldiers are not only growing in their faith, but for some of them, they’re coming to the wilderness to find it,” Middlebrooks says. “This is a great place to find faith, because often times it’s the only thing you have to hold on to.”
Middlebrooks says a spiritual revival is taking place. “Pray that the revival will continue. Soldiers are accepting Christ, lives are being changed, and in the midst of great tragedy there's great triumph. God knows what He’s doing, and He’s working miracle after miracle”
God is doing the work and Chaplain Middlebrooks is merely an instrument used by God to point soldiers to the cross. On the hard days when they have to do an Angel Flight and send a fallen warrior home, Middlebrooks reminds those in his care how precious life is and how God dearly loves them.
“I remind my soldiers that when David said ‘Yeah though I walk through the valley,’ God didn't say He would leave us there. He said he would take us through it; not take us around it but take us through it. The mud is deep and the blood is red but the mountain is what we’re working toward; and the air is clean, the day is bright and joy comes in the morning.”
Carol Pipes, editor of On Mission, spent two weeks in Iraq reporting on the work of military chaplains.
Support our troops
Care packages are a great way to support our troops, especially during the holidays. Cards and letters are also appreciated. Prepackaged treats, as well as magazines and toiletries (packed separately), are certainly welcome. If you want to send a package but don’t have someone in mind, these websites can help you adopt a soldier. For soldiers’ requests and addresses, go to anysoldier.com/wheretosend. For more nonprofit organizations that help those in the armed services, visit www.ourmilitary.mil.
Socks, Gel insoles and GoldBond powder
Toothbrushes and toothpaste
Toiletries
Disposable cameras
Individually wrapped hard candy
Energy bars and power bars
Beef Jerky (big request)
Crystal Light and powder mixes
Feminine products
Chapstick and sunscreen
Books/CDs/DVDs
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