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Brunch Gathers Strikers in Fellowship

By Sgt. Zach Mott

3rd BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B

CAMP TAJI, Iraq - Tactical pause is a term used by combat commanders when conducting training and the scenario is not achieving the objective they want.

A prayer brunch co-hosted by two Multi-National Division - Baghdad battalions served as a spiritual pause for attendees at this sprawling military compound on the northern outskirts of Baghdad province.

"This makes my day," said Pfc. Danita Griffiths, a human resources specialist from Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. "Things like this (are great) because sometimes I feel a little low and just some type of inspiration from somewhere will motivate me to carry on to the next day with this deployment."

Sgt. 1st Class Patrice Cenance (left) and Staff Sgt. Chad Kruse, both from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, lead the gathered crowd in a rendition of "Amazing Grace" during a prayer brunch at the Striker Dining Facility here Feb. 20. More than 20 Soldiers from the 3rd BCT gathered for the late-morning fellowship that featured Col. John Hort, Striker commander, who delivered a speech about Army Values.

The Mount Vernon, N.Y., native, has been to other prayer services, but this was her first prayer brunch in Iraq.

Chaplains from the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, and 3rd Special Troops Battalion, organized the event for members of the Striker Brigade, which is on its third deployment to Iraq in five years.

Sgt. Rex McQueen, a Waxahachie, Texas, native, who serves with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, pauses for a moment of silent prayer during a prayer brunch at the Striker Dining Facility here Feb. 20. The brunch brought together more than 20 people from the Striker Brigade community to listen to a speech from Col. John Hort, the brigade's commander.

"We like to have these events because it brings people together in a sense of fellowship. People who normally aren't together are able to fellowship," said Capt. Leonard Siems, a Jupiter, Fla., native, who serves as the battalion chaplain for 1-68 AR and helped organize the brunch.

The event featured the Col. John Hort, the brigade's commander, who spoke to the assembled crowd about Army Values and how they helped influence the leader he became from a self-described bad boy in his youth.

Capt. Leonard Siems, a Jupiter, Fla., native, who serves as the battalion chaplain for 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, leads Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, in prayer during a brunch at the Striker Dining Facility here Feb. 20.

Hort recanted snippets from his misspent youth that involved various transgressions with the law that continued until he was accepted into the ROTC program at Duke University.

In his early experiences with the Army, he said he learned that through selfless service and personal courage, he could be the man his parents always knew he could.

Sgt. 1st Class Patrice Cenance (center) and Staff Sgt. Chad Kruse (with guitar), lead members of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, through a rendition of "Amazing Grace" during the prayer brunch at the Striker Dining Facility here Feb. 20.

Hort's words also echoed with Griffiths, a married mother of four, who is on her first deployment to Iraq.

"Those (messages) really hit home for me because that's what I try to strive for," she said.