Union Springs pastor, military chaplain shares ways to minister to soldiers returning home from war

Two months of service in a military hospital in Germany was enough time for Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Larry D. Layne to see that many U.S. soldiers come home from war with heavy hearts and unanswered questions.
  
So because of his burden for his fellow military personnel, Layne — pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, Union Springs, and full-time chaplain with Baptist Health in Montgomery —  wants to help his church and other Alabama Baptist churches know how to minister better to soldiers when they step back onto American soil.
  
Layne, a chaplain in the Air National Guard for 24 years, returned stateside Feb. 20 from a stint at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. military hospital in Germany located 10 minutes from Ramstein Air Base. 
  
And on the last Sunday in February — a little more than three weeks shy of the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq — he was compelled to share with his church members lessons most pastors cannot preach from firsthand experience.
  
While in Germany, Layne saw the closeup results of what he calls the “dirty business” of war. And many of the recovering soldiers Layne met in the hospital were from Alabama. 
  
“They were all, for the most part, upbeat and glad to be doing what they’re doing and wanting to return to their unit and their mission if at all possible,” he said. “But in the end, all soldiers need to deal with these questions — what did I do in the war, and have I lived a life that honors the sacrifice that the fallen have made for me.”
  
For Layne, the sermon — a five-point listing of what Alabamians can do when a soldier or unit returns from a conflict zone — was necessary. 
  
“Our last elongated conflict was Vietnam … we did a terrible job at helping people know how to prepare for coming home as well as how to receive the greeting they got when they got here,” Layne said. 
  
He wants to prevent his corner of America from making those same mistakes and credits Chaplain (Col.) Jim Griffin, chief chaplain at Landstuhl, with equipping him with the tools.
  
“[Griffin] shared with us these tips with helping warriors recover from war and I think they’re important,” Layne said.
  
– Warriors need a genuine welcome home. 
  
“They need reconnection to their family, their units and God. They need the affirmation that their purpose was meaningful, that their reason for going was honorable and what they suffered was an acceptable sacrifice,” Layne said.
  
He added that he felt the most for the soldiers who got hurt and had to return home. Many who fall into this category retain a sense of not completing their mission and sometimes miss the whole homecoming experience.
  
Churches should make a special effort to greet soldiers and express appreciation for their work upon their arrival home or as shortly after as possible, Layne said.
  
– Warriors need to tell the stories of their experience.
  
“They do not want you to immediately ask, ‘What did you do in the war?’ That’s not what we’re talking about,” Layne said. “But they need to tell it on their own time to people they love and trust. Each warrior’s tale will be different, but without sharing their experiences, war remains only lost in the memory and will not work to heal the heart.”
  
– Warriors need to memorialize their fallen comrades. 
  
It’s important for them to recognize the dead both at the time of loss and when the unit returns home, Layne explained.
  
– Warriors need to find purification and forgiveness.
  
“We all pray that war is temporary, but the feelings of war sometimes last forever,” he said. “Sometimes, but not always, feelings of guilt must be dealt with before God. War is a dirty business, but God’s desire for us is for meaning and wholeness after the task is completed.”
 
 – Warriors need a fair break at returning to civilian life.
  
“They sometimes have feelings of being left behind, either in their education or their advancement at work or life itself. Their life back home has been put on hold and that time cannot be recovered,” he said.
  
To help with this, the Guard, for instance, provides free marriage enrichment seminars for soldiers and their spouses, and churches can do similar things, Layne said.
  
“They need follow-up,” he said.
  
In the workplace, giving soldiers a fair break includes following the law of fair re-employment rights but goes much further than that, Layne said. “It also means employers give them time off, not just when they come back but two or three months later to do special things with their families,” he said. “Any time an employee is away, it’s tough, but this way, they don’t feel as if their time away was such a burden.” (TAB)