Public Employee Press

Church was a tent
Bellevue Hospital Chaplain ministered to U.S. Marines on the battlefields of Iraq.

By JANE LaTOUR

In October 2002, the Rev. Wilfredo Rodriguez was appointed Chaplain for the 6th Communications Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, stationed at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. On Feb. 12, 2003, the Local 299 member and his battalion shipped out for Iraq.

He left behind his wife Lurdys and daughters Christina, 15, and Madelyn, 12. “It was heart wrenching,” he recalled. “It was extremely difficult to go away.”

As a Chaplain at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, the Rev. Rodriguez ministers to the sick and the needy. As Lieutenant Rodriguez, his mission was to minister to troops in a war zone far from home. “As the Chaplain, you are there for the Marines to go to and try and make sense of why they are there. In theology, we talk about being in the Divine Presence. Where is God? God is among the people. What the Chaplain tries to do is to represent God to the people,” he explained.

Always on call
In the Iraqi desert, living and working were done in the same space. His tent became the church. “People need to be able to find you,” he said. “At two a.m. one night, a soldier received word that his father was dying and he came to speak with me. It’s important that the Chaplain is available at all times,” he emphasized.

The extreme youth of the troops posed special problems. “The average age of a soldier is 19 or 20. They’re at an age where they don’t know what they are going to do with their lives. Many of them are Reservists. They signed up, but they had no idea we were going to war. They’re away from home for the first time, and they have no idea for how long. Days can seem like weeks in this situation,” he explained.

As the momentum built up towards March 20, 2003, the first day of the air strikes, the Chaplain dealt with frayed nerves. “The thinking was: the longer we wait, the worse it’s going to be. We dealt with a lot of morale issues,” he said. “It’s natural to be afraid. It’s not natural not to be afraid.”

The extreme poverty of Iraq was another central theme of his mission. “Iraq is a very needy country. You can’t see it and be oblivious. You can’t say, ‘that’s their problem’ and do nothing about it.”

His commanding officer charged him with organizing a humanitarian mission. The Rev. Rodriguez collected over 100 boxes of supplies as Marines contributed from the packages they received from home. “We took a 3-hour convoy ride and distributed the material to an orphanage in Basra.”

Bibical experience
Before leaving Iraq, he visited Babylon. The biblical city is 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River. “This was one of the most moving experiences of my life,” he said. “To be in the same place where Daniel and Abraham stood — it was breathtaking. It was just amazing,” said the Rev. Rodriguez, who has a master’s degree in divinity from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

In August, his battalion returned home. “We were very lucky. Everybody came back. There was only one major casualty — one soldier lost his leg,” he said. Since his return, Rev. Rodriguez has been making pastoral visits to the Marines. “More and more Reservists are being called to active duty. There are no atheists in a foxhole,” said the Chaplain. “We saw that when the war started. Everyone was coming to the Chaplain’s services. In the face of death — you don’t know —maybe there is a God.”