What is freedom to live as one chooses worth?
What is the right to speak one’s thoughts, views and opinions worth?
What is the right to be secure in one’s life, home and personal effects worth?
What is the value of the right to conduct your life as you choose as long as you do not violate the law or the rights of someone else?
What is citizenship in the United States worth?
What is the rule of law worth?
Two groups of people in these United States have made a most powerful statement on the answers to these questions… Law Enforcement and the Military… (I call them Peace Keepers, I will always be one with them)! The ultimate answer for everyone in both groups is the same… The answers to those questions and much more, including the preserving of the Constitution, Peace and Safety, is plain in their oaths of office as they enter upon the course of duty set by law…
NO COST, INCLUDING THE SACRIFICE OF THEIR LIVES, IS TOO GREAT NOR TOO DEMANDING IN THE ALL OUT EFFORT TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CITIZENS AND THE NATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FROM ALL ENEMIES WHO WOULD DO HARM TO IT!!!
The rule of law locally, nationally and internationally is their ultimate field of endeavor which is ultimately supported by every official action of duty they take, individually and collectively.
This means that some of the Peace Keepers will intentionally step into harm’s way against all odds of survival for the sake of their fellow Peace Keepers and/or the people. They secure the rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness for all of us by their actions saying…
“This is what I have to give…
I volunteered, I am dedicated to give all whenever the situation can be dealt with no other way. If I am alone, can get no immediate help and immediate action is imperative, I will go alone! Even when I do not know what is out there in front of me except that a citizen or my Country needs me to take this action against a threat of, or the performance of, any life threatening act… I will go! Whether the force of evil against me be one or many, I will go!… And in my going I will do all within my power to subdue the threat and return alive with the perpetrators in custody… But if I do not return alive, the perpetrators of evil will know they faced a committed Peace Keeper who will not quit until the job is done… or until I can no longer function!”
(Evil is an effort or action that is harmful or injurious to any law abiding peaceful citizen.)
Every official action of every Peace Keeper carries with it the possibility of the highest demand of that duty coming into play before the action is completed. This week a law enforcement officer died, shot to death, because the driver in a hit-and-run car crash he was assigned to investigate would not submit to authority. His K9 partner was also shot but is expected to survive. Others died in crashes on the way to assigned calls or conducting assignments. One fell dead of a heart attack at the funeral of another officer… Full payment of the blank check all Peace Keepers gave to our society when they took the oath of office can be demanded anywhere, any time, any place… Because it is this way for all of us, we must always be prepared by training, action, attitude, alertness and have a suspicious nature wherever we are… The only place we can really relax is in a totally secure place (of which there are few), in our own secure castle, in our own bed… Sometimes we cannot relax even there, even if we are totally alone!
The Rule of Law exacts a greatly demanding price from Peace Keepers and few, except the Peace Keepers, understand the price demanded. I remember how hard it was to convince my dear wife to agree for me to apply to become a Virginia State Trooper. It took a long while and a lot of reassurance! She never got used to my being on duty and her never knowing where I was.
Then a few years later I became a proactive clergyman… She relaxed a little for a short while, until she learned that I was not going to be a staid, stay at home nights preacher like most of the ones she had known or known about… Her stress rose a few notches… Then she found I was going to be a law enforcement officer/chaplain in a city police department where there had just been a riot during the previous month… Her stress rose a few more notches… To survive living with me, she became an Herbalist and Healthcare Consultant, established her own business and I became her Guinea Pig upon which to test the products… Her life stabilized… She had something constructive to do besides wonder about me and raising children. I survived the fifty years of peace keeping with no serious injuries or ill affects until my eyes bled… Her little body wore out and she has been deceased for over ten years now… I am still plodding along and sometimes missing both her and our growing up home in the mountains.
The job of the Peace Keeper is to protect and serve. While the threat of danger is not present every moment, it can arise any moment! Living in constant preparedness on duty, in the office, in other official places upon the field of responsibility… These and other things that can arise are a most wearing factor with which the Peace Keeper must deal. The Rule of Law exacts a very dear price sometimes even if there is no visible physical injury!
The duty wass a part time job in a bank lobby as security guard… You watched carefully as people come and go on a busy late afternoon Friday… One of the people pulls a handgun and shoots you in the face (his intent was to shoot you in the head, kill you and rob the bank, but by the power of Providence his aim was off)… You survive and recover after much surgery and jaw rebuilding, you rise through several ranks and reach retirement… That is one terrible story of one of my fellow officers in which I assisted and it turned out well compared to what it could have been… They do not all turn out so well… I know about, have conducted or participated in far too many funerals and memorials for Peace Keepers in which their job or their duty brought about their demise.
No place on the field can be totally guaranteed to be free of danger for any Peace Keeper… Not even the station house nor the barracks!
As life goes on today and all of the tomorrows, Peace Keepers will still be there remembering their oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution, the Nation and the people against all enemies whomsoever, foreign or domestic… They will be doing everything from writing reports and writing parking tickets to keep the roads and streets safe to laying down their lives to protect others and the Nation… So it has been… So it will continue to be… We will deal with evil and destruction where we find it… We will keep it at bay as best we are able… We will keep coming until we defeat it… So, help me God! THANK YOU PEACE KEEPERS!!! WE CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU!!!
The Rule of Law under our Constitution and our Bill of Rights IS THE PLAN OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS!
PEACE AND FREEDOM ARE AVAILABLE ONLY UNDER JUSTLY APPLIED RULE OF LAW AND ZEALOUS DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS GUARANTEED UNDER THAT LAW WITH THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS BEING THE FOUNDATIONAL LAW FOR EVERY CITIZEN!
THERE IS NO FREEDOM WHERE THERE IS NO JUSTLY, RIGHTLY APPLIED AND ENFORCED LAW!
“BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!” ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary. Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others. See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of yourself. Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful. All of this is by your own choice… He has made provision for you but it is up to you to learn it, take it and put it to use for the best results possible.
Call or write if I may be of any service… Or if you just want to encourage me… Feedback encourages all who write… It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.
Donna is home from the hospital much more quickly this time. She is still doing better. It is a great joy to watch her move from sickness and debilitation to better health!
Donnie is still working.
I am doing well.
Thank you for the responses, care, concern and prayers. Keep it up… It’s still working!
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
Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!
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…
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not…
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper…
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer,
RETIRED Police Instructor,
RETIRED Chaplain Administrator,
Chaplain Emeritus,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety),
Virginia Beach Police Dept.
Blackwater Alumni
757-486-3881, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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All rights reserved. This Message:
Is for Peace Keepers and their loved ones and it may be forwarded with the complete message intact to individuals and web sites…
May not be duplicated in print nor publications without permission….
May not be used in any manner for personal financial gain nor profit
without permission.
Except for quoted material attributed to a specific source, all material in CHAPLAIN CORNER is my personal opinion gained from 49 years of working with people in peace keeping and is not to be construed to represent the policies and opinions of any department with whom I have served or am serving.
To subscribe to this free, weekly 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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