is the assurance of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see
and the conviction of their reality — faith perceiving as real fact that which is not [yet]
revealed to the senses. (Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible)
Most of us embarked upon the career of Peace Keeping with the certainty inside
us that we could do this job. There was as yet no proof that we could do it… there
was no sense perceptible evidence. Others around us did not believe that we
could or should make the effort to become a Peace Keeper. Ahhhh… but we knew!
… and no one could dissuade us from the effort to bring our dream to reality. In my
case not even physical obstacles nor professional opinions were able to deter me.
Peace Keepers are a very different type of people from the rest of the herd of
humanity. There are some things that we just know but that we cannot yet prove to
anyone else. I knew before the first oath of office that I could do the job and do it
extremely well. I knew that I would be one of the best… I knew that was where I was
designed to fit… but initially I could not prove it to anyone. Now almost 44 years later
the proof of the past is there to read. Success has been attained. Thousands of
violators have been processed through the court system for minor and major
infractions. Thousands of deaths have been handled in the course of my duties, first
as an investigator… then as a chaplain…. and millions have been kept safe on our
resort strip as the rest of the chaplains and I worked with the law enforcement
officers on walking beat patrol.
I was asked to fill out a questionnaire for a college student this week (as I type this). The requested
information was for the student to gain information in order to write a paper on law
enforcement, the court system, victims and violence. I gave him three pages of
experience to use as he saw fit.
That effort started me to thinking on all of the Peace Keepers I have known from a
distance… casually… by reading about the experiences and exploits of real and
fictional Peace Keepers, both military and law enforcement… in a working together
relationship on the job… and in a close relationship of being friends.
Those that I knew from a distance inhabit the memories of early childhood and are
accompanied by the attitudes of the adults in my life at the time. I did not have a
good opinion of most of those Peace Keepers because the adults in my life did not
have a good opinion of them… they even resented them… except for the “Virginia
State Men” as they called them… They were feared and revered.
As a teen driver I became acquainted with some law enforcement personnel on a
casual basis when I was more closely involved from the situations of motor vehicle
crashes or when stopped to be checked for minor infractions or stopped in a
license and vehicle checking detail on some country road. I learned to respect and
revere them for myself then. They were a totally different breed of men than I ever
had known or heard of… large… strong… polite… thorough… and always with a no
nonsense straight forward method of dealing with all people… firm but gentle.
Though I feared and revered them I also became deeply affected by them… I
became enamored with who they were and with what they stood for in my society.
I knew no men like them before then… and I have known few men like them since.
I occasionally had the opportunity to be in in-service training with some of these
same men and to work with some of them on patrol.
As a teen I was also in contact with some municipal officers who had been on the
job for a long time and had earned their right to be respected. During that same
time I had contact with numerous young men who went off to the military. When they
came home they were all very different people than they were when they left. Some
were different in a good way. Some were different in an obnoxious way… but
neither group measured up to the military that I had come to know in books and
movies. Especially, they were not like the ones I had come to know through the
writings and diaries of Peace Keepers of the wars up to that time including WW2
and Korea. Those in the books and diaries brought me to a great respect and awe
in relation to what men had done for freedom for all the rest of us in those wars…
GREAT respect and GREAT awe.
From the time I could read well I would often be found with my nose in a book from
my father’s library, from the school library, from the Book-Mobile or a paperback
which I would often have in my hip pocket. From these I also learned an amazing
knowledge about the law enforcement personnel from feudal times forward through
our history. In the books I met some amazing people and learned much about life
that I could have learned no other way. I also learned that except for the breaks
given to me by a few people I would have to find and/or make my own
opportunities for life.
Then came the time that I was part of the Peace Keepers myself. I met some
amazing people on my first duty station before basic school. I met the most
amazing one of all that I have known my first day at basic school. We spent those 24
weeks together in class, in our squad room, in the cafeteria and then went to our first
duty station together and served on the same shift together. He also became my
best friend at the time and was the most avid practitioner of the Catholic faith that I
ever saw… and he was the first Catholic that I ever knew personally. That duty
station where we served together for two years was in Northern Virginia and
Quantico was part of our duty station. Through the PMO there I met and learned the
greatest of respect for some active duty Marines. There I also met some of the most
obnoxious 90 day wonders that ever graduated.
Many of the most rewarding experiences of my life have involved past and present
Peace Keepers. Some of my best friends were and still are Peace Keepers both
past and present… law enforcement and military. I am so grateful to have been and
still be among you.
Every one of you operate from a level of faith not known to most of the people in the
herd of humanity. Peace Keepers are successful and last because we are called to
this kind of life and we responded with faith. We knew we could do it before we ever
were given the opportunity to prove it. Now here you are… either doing it now… or
retired from a lifetime of doing it… that is of being a Peace Keeper. You remind me
of Jonathan and his young armor bearer in an account set out in 1 Samuel Chapter
14 in the Bible. This is the story of two men of faith who were Peace Keepers and
who did what they believed that they could do. As a result one army was
encouraged and reactivated to fight… the enemy army was routed. Look it up and
read it. One of my favorite statements of faith is quoted in verse 6… “… for there is
nothing to prevent the Lord from saving by many or by few.” Then the two Peace
Keepers proceed to rout numerous of the enemy themselves. Read it. You will like
it… and it reminds me of you who do and have done the job of keeping all the rest of
our society and our world safe to live in.
The world of the Peace Keeper must be entered by faith… with the most efficient
of preparation possible. We must go. We must go where we are sent. We must
prepare as best we are able. We still must face the unknown factors. We must go
where no one else wants to go. Once we are there we must also do what very few
others want to do. Such is the life of a Peace Keeper.
I have been among you for most of my life and I still marvel that any of us want to do
the job of being a Peace Keeper. I have done searches in buildings… in woods…
in fields… in auto junk yards… in the bright of day… and in the darkest of nights.
The boom… boom… boom… of your own pulse in your ears… Being able to hear
your own breathing… even when it is as shallow and quiet as possible…
Man with a gun… Where is the man with the gun? Woman screaming… where?…
why?… Child crying… Is this a need… or is it an ambush? In all of this we must go.
On many kinds of battlefield… in a tenement… among the affluent… among the poor…
dark alley… roof top… stairwell… no matter where it is that the Peace Keeper is
sent… the Peace Keeper must go. So it has been for as long as there have been
warriors standing for the right and safety of others… and so will it still be long after
you and I have departed this profession and this life.
We raised our hands… we affirmed or swore to an oath… I will go… I will support
and defend… to the best of my ability… SO HELP ME GOD!
When you go to duty… repeat that ending of the oath… say it each time… plainly
and out loud as a request… “SO HELP ME, GOD!” Help me do it well… to the best
of my ability… and survive to do it again and again for as long as I live or for as long
as I am able… so be it!
“BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!”… WHEREVER THERE IS FOR YOU! Take the
very best of care of every facet of you in the process… being careful to see to your
spiritual welfare as much as you do for you physical welfare. My Eternal Captain
said to “love your neighbor as yourself.” The converse is also true… love yourself
as well as you love others or you will not survive this profession for very long. Your
neighbor is anyone who has a need you are able to fill.
My Commander-in-Chief and I do so very, very deeply appreciate your service and
your efforts on behalf of all the rest of humanity. We will be eternally grateful that you
were our “Ministers of Rightness” in this world.
As it has always been… so it still is…
“VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST…
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST…
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN.” Sun tzu
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT…
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)…
BE SUCCESSFUL… BE SAFE…
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process.
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for… and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live… with Him and for you I serve… for all of you!
Chaplain D. R. Staton (Don – C1) VBPD, VSP ALUMNI,
RETIRED VBPD Officer, Instructor, Senior Chaplain, Director of Chaplains
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
=================================================
Copyright: CHAPLAIN CORNER (DRS) 2006. All rights reserved. May not be
duplicated without permission, except to be forwarded with copyright and
all source information for any quotation intact.
To subscribe to this free e-mail message for Peace Keepers,
write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.
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