麻豆社

Good Morning

鈥淢others should not have to bury their sons and daughters.鈥� These were the first words spoken to me through an interpreter by a Ukrainian Armed Forces chaplain. I had asked 鈥榳hat had made him want to serve鈥� and his answer was clear. 鈥淭he men and women of my country are under attack, my church building is damaged and most of my village evacuated. Others are trained to fight, but God has not called me to this. I have no medical training, but I can offer medicine for the soul.鈥� In 24 years of military chaplaincy, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e heard such a focussed response.

This chaplain was one of ten who spent two weeks in the UK participating in a chaplaincy masterclass delivered by the Royal Army Chaplains鈥� Department. He and his colleagues are now back in Ukraine, some with their frontline units supporting offensive operations. They came to receive training, and yet were as much teachers as they were pupils. Wisened faces hinted at the traumas they had seen, but they were proud to serve. Their country needed them and they answered the call.

It seems fitting on Armed Forces Day to pay tribute to them, and to our own sailors, soldiers and aviators, many of whom are working hard to support our Ukrainian partners. I visited some this week and their morale was strengthened by having a clear sense of purpose, the knowledge that they were making a difference. They were also appreciative of the support they received from the general public.

It hasn鈥檛 always been this way. Rudyard Kipling鈥檚 late 19th Century lament on behalf of the soldier, the eponymous 鈥楾ommy Atkins鈥�, speaks of the fragility of such support:

For it鈥檚 Tommy this, an鈥� Tommy that, an鈥� 鈥渃huck him out, the brute!鈥�
But it鈥檚 鈥淪aviour of 鈥榠s Country鈥� when the guns begin to shoot.

The same sentiment was quoted by John F Kennedy in the run up to his Presidential campaign in 1962. He used a much older text dating back to the 17th Century:

God and the soldier, all men adore
In time of danger and not before;
When the danger is passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.

My Ukrainian colleagues have committed themselves to ensuring neither God nor soldier are forgotten. Their faith is their inspiration and their belief in the justice of their cause gives them strength to endure. They may not be medically trained, but they have provided medicine to my soul.

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