The purposeful walk

Yesterday, I found myself headed back from a 9am meeting on the other side of base, called Camp Slayer. (yeah, I know that the name was chosen to foster camraderie and good feelings about the forces stationed here....) Three years ago, shortly after the fall of Baghdad, Victory, Slayer, Liberty, and all the other Camps under the Victory Base Compound (VBC) were seperate islands with their own security. It used to be that one had to convoy between them. Now they are all open and heavily travelled. The road back to Victory goes through a short tunnel under the road to the airport, after which you are faced with a decision - travel along at 10 MPH stopping every 100 yards at another intersection, or go the long way around, albeit without any busses, construction, or other things slowing you down. At this particular time of day, it was a no-brainer.
So about a quarter of a mile down the road, I see this army clad figure walking along. Not ambling, but head down, striding with a purpose. It is about 1030 - 1100 am, with the temperature climbing towards the high 90's, low 100's. Now the only logical explanation of how this person could be out here was that he had to have left the palace about 10 - 15 minutes before, and headed down this dusty empty side road of the base because he needed to go somewhere and didn't want to wait for transportation.
The next thing I noticed is that he was unarmed. Strangely enough, the brain recognizes changes in patterns, and this was a big one. Most of the senior officers only carry their 9mm weapon - either in a shoulder or leg holster. Almost all of the enlisted carry their M16 or Machine guns slung around their torso. This figure had neither. The longer I slowed and watched this person trudging along, the louder the voice in my head told me that I needed to stop and offer him a ride. And that is when I offered the Chaplain a ride.

Chaplain Major Charles Herring has a bi-weekly column in the "Victory Times" - the camp newspaper. His picture that is usually posted with his column is the perfect face of a Chaplain - full of life and spirit. It embodies the man as well - active and talkative from the moment he jumped in the truck. Granted, our ride was only a few minutes down the road - another mile or so, that would have cost him another 20 minutes and a gallon of sweat. But not a moment during that ride was lost to silence or thought. Even in those few minutes, I got the image of someone who is so totally dedicated and completely energized that it was infectous.
As I dropped him off, he quickly strode away focused once again on his mission. I have been caught up thinking about him since our brief ride together. Not so much from the time we spent, but from his attitude. I am positive from listening to him and reading his column that there was never any expectations from him that he would get help or hitch a ride - he had a job to do and getting there was part of the deal. So totally focused on the goal, he had ignored any paltry trivialities that the walk near midday might cause. It is clear that he never asked for, nor expected a ride. But one has to wonder whether or not the long line of busses going along the slow route were put there for a reason? Maybe the Big Guy just likes to look out for his folks from time to time....