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Dragons Celebrate Second Easter At Falcon

4th BCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div., MND-B

BAGHDAD - Last Easter, Soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division were celebrating their arrival at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad.

This year, the "Dragon" Brigade still finds itself in theater, but Chap. (Maj.) Gregory Thogmartin, the 4th BCT chaplain from Princeton, Mo., used the holiday to deliver a message of hope to his congregation, March 23.

"One of the things the Resurrection says to us is God will have the final word. Life becomes a little iffy at times. It doesn't take too many Good Fridays in Iraq to make you understand that life is iffy," Thogmartin said. "A mortar does not get the final word on a person's life. God has the final say, and that's the good news for us.

Chaplain (Maj.) Gregory Thogmartin, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, chaplain from Princeton, Mo., delivers his Easter sermon at the Steel Falcon Chapel March 23 on Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. This holiday is the second consecutive Easter the "Dragon" Brigade has spent in theater.(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nathaniel Smith, 4th BCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div., MND-B)

"We've all got problems; we've all got stuff we've got to face. The fact that he is going to have the last word, it also changes the possibilities of how we're going to be remembered because it changes the possibilities of how we live."

While the holiday is one more away from his wife and two kids, said Maj. Jasen Graham, he keeps his focus on what the day is really about. Graham is a native of Breckenridge, Texas, and serves as the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th BCT.

"It hurts not getting to see them pick up Easter eggs in the backyard; but at the same time, we're going home soon - and I'm grateful for that," he said. "It's important to remember what Easter's about. For some people, it's about Easter eggs and Sunday dresses and dinner and the Easter bunny; but for me, it's more about the Resurrection of Christ and what he's done for me in my life.

Sgt. Jena Harris, a medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, who hails from Medford, Ore., and Sgt. Kenneth Payne, a team supervisor with Company C, 4-1 BSTB, a native of Arlington, Texas, play gospel hymns at the Steel Falcon Chapel March 23on Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nathaniel Smith, 4th BCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div., MND-B)

"I take that very seriously, and it's very important to me. It signifies to me as a Christian, Jesus rising from the dead, saving me from my sins."

While Graham said he would rather be with his Family, he felt being in a combat zone helped him keep an eye on the real reason for Easter.

"Here the fragility of life is so much more in your face than it is back in the States," he said. "It does help bring perspective. You're closer to Jerusalem, closer to where history took place. I think there's a lot of meaning to that."

With many of the Soldiers in the 4th BCT looking forward to the plane ride home, Thogmartin took the opportunity to prepare his audience for their return.

"Fix on the power of the Resurrection that we might all be changed. It will change us, not only how we do business out here, but all of us are going to have our own great morning that leads to a plane headed back to the States," Thogmartin said.