05/15/13 – Fort Knox, Kentucky – A Virginia Beach-based Navy SEAL was killed Wednesday and five other sailors were injured during a training exercise. (Virginian-Pilot 05/17/13)

05/14 & 16 – AFGHANISTAN – This has been a horrific week for U.S. casualties, culminating in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Thursday that killed six Americans and at least nine other people. Casualties include the deaths of four U.S. soldiers killed by a roadside bomb near Kandahar on Tuesday. (Google Alerts & The Atlantic)

This news has brought much pain that will need ongoing healing.

================================

Turmoil has broken forth in relation to politics and governmental agencies. This causes great concern, frustration and pain.

We have celebrated Police Week with our services of Honor and Memorials. We have recognized many new names carved into or molded onto our local and national memorials. We have stopped to meditate and remember. We are indeed most fortunate that I found no law enforcement deaths to report this week, but we have remembered and re-read a lot of names as we stopped to remember and honor the ones who paid the ultimate cost for our Liberty and Freedom… MAY WE DAILY REMEMBER… MAY WE NEVER FORGET EVEN IF IT BRINGS PAIN AND DISCOMFORT FOR A TIME!!! Memories are ours forever and I pick and chose which ones I want to think on, how long I want to think on them and when I want to think on them. We all have the gift and ability to do that if we will learn how.

For months and weeks I have been dealing with the deaths of several relationships in lives of those who have come to me for listening and assistance. Sometimes we can salvage them… Sometimes we cannot salvage them. Some Peace Keepers have rough and rocky relationships. I did not see very many of them when I was a Trooper, but I have seen far, far too many since I came here as an officer/chaplain so long ago.

It seems that Peace Keepers have a great battle at times fighting off debt, thoughts of suicide, hard times at home, temptations of extra-marital affairs, depression, fatigue, stress and cynicism… Sometimes even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder… These things seem to be ongoing in some lives and sporadic in others. Many have come to me from time to time over the years to discuss their battles with these things and seek viable solutions. Sometimes we succeeded… Sometimes we helped the individual but lost the relationship… Sometimes we saw marriages/relationships restored… But not all efforts turn out well. Some spouses, family members, significant others, etc. just will not talk with anyone and persist in staying in their troubled condition.

Some Peace Keepers will not talk with anyone. Some will only make jokes about problems to their co-workers but talk to no one seriously. Some Peace Keepers turn to tobacco, drugs and/or alcohol or become workaholics to escape the difficult feelings for a while… Some leave home and family to try and escape. Many use the excuse of placing all blame on the other person who is in the troubled relationship with them and see no need for assistance for themselves.

I believe there is a cure for anyone with any of these problems but the cure starts with talking about it with someone that can and will help you. Communication is the key to all of these difficulties. If there is more than one person involved as in a marriage or a family, then there must be communication with every one involved until the problems are identified and possible solution can be initiated. The problems took some time to develop to serious life affectation… The solutions will take some time to discover and implement… BUT EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS MUST BE INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS!!! One half of a marriage cannot heal the marriage… A family cannot be healed unless all members of the home and family are involved in communication, discovery and implementation… This is true of all relationships, even work relationships when there is unresolved friction between members of the work/duty force.

I spent fifty years learning, looking, listening, instructing, assisting… Sometimes even holding people while they wept over the situation in which they found themselves and those they loved… During most of that fifty years I was married to the same woman until her kidneys failed and she died in spite of Hemo-dialysis… We raised four children and usually had at least one of them living with us even after they became adults… During over forty of those same years I have been in pastoral ministry in six churches as well as serving as a Police Chaplain in Virginia Beach for thirty five of those years, twenty nine of those forty years I was also a police officer. Personal, emotional pain and I are no strangers… Because I was so involved in so much stress inducing ministry and duty, I became a Stress Management Instructor (to learn to deal with my own stress), a Crisis Intervention/Conflict Management Instructor and a Certified Police Instructor. In the heaviest of it I was also contracting my services to several other law enforcement agencies and several military groups as well as teaching our own recruits and officers.

Stress in human life is always there. We can learn how to make it work for us. We can allow it to work against us. We can try to ignore it but it seldom goes away on it’s own… It usually gets worse if we try to ignore it! There are solutions and fixes. Seldom do they come easy… They require work and commitment!…

I learned long ago in my own life that no problem is so great that it cannot be dealt with if the people involved want to deal with it and gain a better condition… If anything of any kind is hindering you and you have not been able to cause the condition/situation to get better… Do not put it off!!! Find someone who is willing to work with you to find and implement a workable solution as far as it depends upon you!!! You will gain by it. Life will be more enjoyable. Rest will be more relaxing/restorative! Do what you can… Ask for help… Do not stop looking until you find the person(s) who might be able to assist you. Needing help is not a weakness! Asking for help is not a weakness! Keeping your mouth shut and not asking for assistance is neither smart nor wise!

Peace Keepers, you spend much of your time trying to help others who need assistance, even some who do not want nor welcome your help… But you try to bring them a resolution anyway because you are sworn to do it!!!
When You have an unsolved, difficult situation, apply the same commitment to helping yourself that you have applied to helping others… Seek someone who is willing to try and help you, ask for the help, commit yourself to cooperating as best you are able and keep at it until it is brought to a resolution as far as you are concerned. Each of you are worth far, far more than you can imagine… You all, together, are the glue and mortar holding this nation’s foundations together… There is a helper that can and will help you if you will seek them out… Peer Counselor, Chaplain, Clergy, Employee Assistance Program and numerous other professionals if you should need them. Begin somewhere now!

Peace Keepers (Law Enforcement and Military), you have given so much! My Commander-In-Chief and I and so many others in the support/helping business care very greatly and deeply about you and for you. If you had a physical injury/wound you would seek to stop the bleeding and initiate healing… Emotions can bleed just as badly but it must get to a difficult place before others will see your emotional bleeding and want to get involved. Please treat physical and emmotional wounds with the same amount of care and concern… You will be glad that you did. THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE AND FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR ALL THE REST OF US!!! BE EVEN GREATER BLESSED AND GO HOME SAFELY AT THE ENDOF YOUR TOUR!!!

“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 still in the hospital. Two major surgeries so far… Needs still more… Needs a central line for IVs. Pain is terrible. The wound is from the top center of her thigh of her left leg to the right and down around the inside of her thigh in a most sensitive area and almost joins with the previous surgery site where a lymph node was operated on with a bad infection that is still not totally healed. The wound continues to swell and be hot and red. Send prayers her way, please.

Donnie is not working steadily… Too much rain. Truck transmission needs to be replaced.

I am still getting better physically. I restarted my vitamin program again. Thanks for the responses, the care, concern, good words and prayers. My blood pressure and pulse were perfect again today.

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 23452-3501
=================================
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 23452-3501.

05/06/13 – AFGHANISTAN – The weekend deaths of seven U.S. soldiers and a member of the NATO-led coalition made the casualty toll one of the highest of the year in the war in Afghanistan.(Google Search)

===================

05/06/13 – ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, DATELAND, AZ (AP) – Officer Tim Huffman was killed in an automobile crash after a tanker-truck struck his patrol vehicle. (NLEOMF & LawOfficer.com)

05/10/13 – MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Two officers were shot while chasing a suspect on the city’s south side and returned fire, killing the suspect. (PoliceOne.com)

05/03/13 – HAMBURG, NY – An off-duty officer, Frederick Garrasi III, 24, travelling on his motorcycle was killed when he was struck by a vehicle. He had only just joined the Evans Police Department full-time in February after working part-time starting in 2011, according to WIVB4. (PoliceOne.com)

==================================

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/06/4221125/mounting-deaths-and-slush-fund.html#storylink=cpyNot all challenges/dangers are faced on duty… Some of them come when we are off duty, living personal lives.

Peace Keepers live in a very different world when on duty that flows over into all of their world whether on duty or off. That was something that I learned very quickly… Especially when someone involved in one of my cases showed up at the front door of my rural home, sometimes when I was not there and my young family was… I learned very quickly that you are never away from being a Peace Keeper… That’s why I kept a large watchdog chained beside my front door! Sometimes you are on duty, sometimes you are off duty, but you are a Peace Keeper 24-7. The hardest part of that knowledge is to keep it from adversely affecting your family.

Most of us started off young and somewhat naive… Young and vigorous… World changers… We would make a great difference in relation to the things we had seen and heard that were destructive to human life and property… Lawlessness had to be quelled… Especially in relation to what we saw and heard from TV and movies. In my youth I read adventure books constantly for years, mostly western lawmen, detective stories and war stories. I saw western movies, police-detective movies and war movies. In those days there was no blood and guts displayed in the movies nor on TV. You could get an abundance of it graphically described in books. My psyche was prepared but I learned quickly that it needed re-educating in the events of the world experienced by Peace Keepers. Making the adjustment was easy for me… I accomplished it very quickly on the first duty station and, continuously throughout my career, as I applied what I knew from reading, observing and from Basic School, but my real re-learning and preparation started in the first year of my 44 year marriage to my dear, Sweetheart/wife, Sue.

Newly weds expect a blissful relationship all of the time. That is because of the romantic stories we were taught, the books we have read and the movies/TV that we have seen and some of the real life couples we have known or known about… It might work that way for those who have easy jobs and who do not experience the first pregnancy soon after marriage and have to manage that along with job and household. Pregnancy can be easy or hard. When it arrives, those nine months bring reality with them, sometimes very harshly! I have lived through both easy and hard pregnancies with my wife. We had two children by the time I became a Trooper… We had three children of our own (the third one born while I was on my first duty station), adopted one son and cared for 17 foster children. I had to learn that no matter how I felt or what I wanted in relation to intimacy sharing, life closeness with Sue, that there were many times that she was just not available to me for anything, sometimes that included meals. Babies change our lives drastically and they need excessive amounts of attention initially. At first, I saw that as the baby getting all the attention and me getting none… We communicated and quickly came to an understanding… We worked it out!… Communication was the key.

Sometimes she was tired. Sometimes the excuse was headache. Sometimes a baby/infant/toddler was ill. Sometimes the child was fretful and someone had to be up with it when it could not sleep. If I had to go to work, it was her… If I was off, it was me… But I could go to work and get away from the chaos at home… She seldom could unless I took over the household and let her go out to visit a friend or her mother. When the finances got too tight, I took on second and third jobs… Then it was all back on her… Sometimes I had to take off from work to care for both her and the children. Life was seldom very romantic for either of us until we learned how to work at it and provide for it whenever the opportunity arose, whether it was spur of the moment or planned. Sometimes that was several times daily… Sometimes it did not happen for many days. Occasionally, intimacy was not available for weeks.

Then add to this the terrible event of my father’s suicide while I was in Basic School and I had to leave school to go home and take care of all that was involved in that event. One of the Training Staff Sergeants called me to the office on Monday morning before class to inform me of my father’s death by his own hand within the past hour or so. I was told to get out of uniform and be ready for Troopers to transport me home by relay across the state. That was the quickest way to get there. I had to arrange transportation of his body, funeral services in our home town, find and care for my mother, who was estranged from my father, as well as caring for my own family in such difficult circumstances.

Dad’s family was on the defensive, they did not like the arrangements that I made. One of his sisters blamed his death on my mother and wanted to fight at graveside… I had to referee and keep them apart. Then it was over and I relayed back to school with more Troopers. The only time I had for dealing with his death personally was during the twenty minutes I waited outside the Training Academy for the first Trooper to pick me up… A few tears, a prayer, a lot of emptiness… Then straighten up and get ready to explain what was going on to each Trooper I rode with on the relay ride home and back because each one cared and each one asked… They were good guys and a comfort to be with.

Add to all of this, that when I became a Trooper, I was trained to never take any of the job home and never share any details of my work with spouse or family… Keep it all to yourself or share it only with close Trooper buddies. That worked for us because Sue understood that I would not talk about the events of the job. She never knew any of the details of the many times I was in danger or when people tried to murder me. If I came home moody, she left me alone, except to ask if she could do anything for me. I pressed my own uniforms because she did not have time nor did she understand military creases. Sue was an amazing woman, God’s kind of woman described in Proverbs 31… In fact I used that Scripture in both of her Memorial Services, here and at home in the mountains…. I loved her from the first moment that I met her until I bid her goodbye and she breathed her last… God. I miss her!!! I never expect to stop missing her!!! She has been gone thirteen years.

I had the best trainers available all through my career. They prepared us well during each phase of training all along the way. Major changes took place in relation to training received from time to time. They even entered into teaching us how to deal with home problems and on the street problems to the greatest depth possible. In the process of all of my training I became an instructor in many fields. I wanted to make as much good affect as possible with my duties and all of my personal actions… I believe that training is the place to be if you want to have the greatest, most powerful affect upon Peace Keepers, our home lives and citizens. Being involved in research and training made a great difference for me… But I also must give credit to my Commnader-In-Chief because I also entered into His training program and it affected positively everything else I ever learned. The education I received from Him was what had been missing my whole life until I met Him in March of 1968… Before I met Him, I was a good Peace Keeper… After I met Him, I was a vastly better Peace Keeper.

I shared this message today because somebody out there greatly needs it. Life for us often involves a competition between home life, personal life and professional life… Watch carefully, the job can overshadow any other phase of life and actually compete with and destroy our home and personal lives.

Peace Keepers, THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE CHANCES YOU TAKE, FOR ALL THE DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES YOU FACE, FOR ALL OF THE TIMES YOU HAD TO PERFORM DISGUSTING DUTY AND KEEP IT TO YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU DID NOT WANT TO REMEMBER IT NOR TALK ABOUT IT. Most of you have family, spouses or significant others. Some of you have children. Some of you are longtimers like me and are even great grand parents. I know that somewhere along your professional journey, the job has cost you greatly. I wish that all people knew what it costs you as you serve each tour of duty throughout all of your career. I know because I have been there and experienced it for myself. Most cannot comprehend what it costs just one of us… My greatest effort is to comprehend what it has cost all of us. Learn all that you can… Apply all that you learn when it can be applied… Be successful… SURVIVE… Be greater blessed and go home safely at then end of your tour of duty!!!

“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 back in the hospital, had a new PIC Line installed, was put back on IV Antibiotics and had surgery on a new abscess that formed right beside the previously opened abscess wound. The infection had started growing immediately after the previous IVs were stopped. It grew terribly fast and she became systemically infected with the local infection spreading around her thigh and down to the knee…

Donnie is still working…

I am doing much better with strength and stamina but my eyes are acting up and getting tired and uncomfortable easily, even the eye that does not see. I learned long ago that one eye will react sympathetically to whatever is affecting the other eye of a discomfort nature. If the seeing eye gets tired, theunseeing eye does also. Sometimes the unseeing eye gets uncomfortable first and then the seeing eye follows.

Thanks for the responses and questions/requests received from last week’s message. They all contained good, encouraging, comforting words. Thanks for the care, concern and prayers… Keep it going!

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 23452-3501
===============================================================
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 23452-3501.

05/02/13 – NEW CASTLE, PA – Officer William “Jerry” McCarthy IV, 60, was killed Thursday when a pursuit ended in a violent crash with the suspect. He was pursuing a woman who was driving with a suspended license when she crashed into his cruiser. Another officer was injured and hospitalized in fair condition. (PoliceOne Staff and WTAE)

No news from Afghanistan and Iraq was received.

—————————

There was a great amount of activity on my old duty station at our oceanfront resort strip last weekend, 04/26-28/13. I spent a lot of time the first of the week gathering news and remembering my first experience in a similar weekend in 1989 that led to my last major assignment of overseeing and directing the chaplain program for my department on a day-to-day basis. Since that assignment covered twenty years the memories just would not stop coming up. The best part of the memories was my working relationship with the Chief who appointed me to that assignment working directly under him.

I was tasked with leading and directing a most unique program that utilized training from Chaplain Larry Edwards of Daytona Beach, Florida PD, that they used on the resort strip in Daytona Beach. Then we expanded upon what we learned from him and put our program into actionon the resort strip here.

We were trained in CRISIS AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT and INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES to confront unruly people on the oceanfront resort strip, explain to them where their disruptive activity would lead them and ask them to cease the unruly activity and go on enjoying their time on our resort strip. It worked very well and we received great cooperation most of the time. Those who did not listen and cut out their unruly behavior would then be dealt with by police officers. We would then assist the officers by forming a protective shield of eyes, ears and bodies, facing the crowd to keep the officers safe. Sometimes we also assisted officers with unruly people under arrest and usually were able to calm them as well.

Our efforts and results were a great surprise to most of our officers and to most of the citizens with whom we had contact. They did not expect it to work. The officers thought that we would just be someone else they would be responsible to protect and lookout for. We wore well marked, readily identifiable, black uniforms that displayed the word “CHAPLAIN” on all four sides. Chaplains who were not Christian wore no collar and did wear the identifiable insignia of their faith on their shoulder patches and caps – Christians wore the cross on their shoulder patches and caps and a clergy collar. We were constantly approached by people who wanted to know what we were, who we were and why we were there. That gave us an excellent opportunity to do public relations and gain good public support for our peace efforts on the resort strip for our citizens and visitors.

At first we worked as a team with one chaplain and two officers. Then it became obvious that we needed to be more flexible so we assigned the chaplains into two to three chaplains together in a team and assigned them to specific areas to patrol unless they were needed in another location. Each team had one radio. All of us were assigned to four blocks covering the Boardwalk/beach, the two parallel main streets and two cross streets. We walked foot patrol in these areas and concentrated on any known hot or busy locations, especially in front of nightclubs during late night-early morning hours until they closed at 0200 hours. We assisted in keeping the walkways open and passable on the sidewalks by asking standing people to move to the side while standing and talking or watching. Sometimes we were there to see the sun rise before the funseekers got tired and went home or to bed at their hotel.

We put in a lot of miles walking those small areas and responding as many chaplains as needed to trouble spots requiring much attention to quell disturbances and reassure people of their safety in times of upset, agitation and/or rowdiness. The affect was always good, the goodwill was usually well received with thankfulness, especially when they inquired and were advised that we were volunteers and received no pay for our duty among them.

During my years of leading the chaplain unit we cooled a lot of hot spots involving crowds, assisted many individuals in meeting many of their needs, kept people under arrest from creating worse problems once they were under arrest and occasionally assisted officers in making arrests by helping to calm a rowdy person into submission in order to keep the officers safe and keep the rowdy person from being injured when they would not calm themselves and submit to arrest. Occasionally chaplains saved the lives of severely injured or very ill citizens until we could get medical attention to them. Often we were helpful in finding lost children and adults.

In addition, chaplains assisted with drowning cases and ministered to family/survivors of the deceased/missing person who disappeared while in the water. The survivors and the victim were often from out of town and needed assistance in many ways. We usually waited with then until the missing individual or their body was located. This usually took several hours and depended upon tides and winds. Most of us knew where to start looking if we were not involved with assisting the family and other survivors. We accompanied family members when making identification of the deceased when the remains were found.

I loved the duty. It was most interesting and I still miss it even though I cannot be there in person anymore. Medical problems have relieved me of duty!

As I read the news… As I handle phone calls… As I pray and meditate upon the great blessings that Peace Keepers and Chaplains are to all of us in this nation… I still marvel at how great a job each of them do for all of us under such adverse circumstances. PEACE KEEPERS, AND CHAPLAINS, YOU ARE ALL AMAZING PEOPLE!!! It was my pleasure to be one among the more than 800,000 Law Enforcement/Peace Keeper personnel and thousands of Peace Keeper Chaplains in this nation for all of the years of my career. You are thought of, meditated upon , prayed for and loved by many who know your great value to us and marvelous service to us. I am just one voice among many.

THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO FOR ALL OF US! THANK YOU THAT YOU ARE THERE DOING A GREAT JOB UNDER ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES AND YOU KEEP COMING BACK TO DO THAT JOB STILL MORE AND MORE!!! BE EVEN GREATER BLESSED AND GO HOME SAFELY AT THE END OF YOUR TOUR. “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 still at home. The IVs were stopped. The PIC line was pulled. The infection is now growing again. She can tolerate only so much of the IV antibiotic until it affects other body systems. It makes her hard of hearing. It can shut her kidneys down completely if run too long. It makes her sick to her stomach. The IVs were stopped earlier than planned because a lab test showed depressed kidney activity. Now the infection is gaining a new hold on her system and she will need hospitalization again soon… Plus a very dear friend of hers who became her replacement mom when Donna’s mother died, died yesterday, and that has hit her hard.

Donnie is OK and working.

I am slowly overcoming tiredness and regaining my stamina… Now if I could just convince Donna to not feed me so well and get her to cut down on making goodies I might lose some of this weight I just gained back since she came home the last time. She keeps active whenever she might be able.

Thanks for the care, concern and prayers. Keep it all coming. There is never a day that I do not need it.

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 23452-3501
================================
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 23452-3501.

04/21/13 – Washita County Sheriff’s Office, OK – Deputy Sheriff Douglas Leon Hanna was killed in an automobile crash. (NLEOMF)

04/21/13 – Boston, MA – A police officer shot and wounded while pursuing the marathon bombing suspects last week, VMI alumnus Richard ‘Dic’ Donohue, had to be resuscitated after his heart stopped and he lost his entire blood supply, but doctors and relatives said Sunday he was emerging from sedation and expected to recover. (Roanoke Times and L. A. Times)

04/26/13 – Bartow, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, FL – Deputy Joseph ‘Shane’ Robbins was killed in a single-vehicle crash while on patrol. (NLEOMF and PoliceOne)
————————————
Three Peace Keepers gone in traffic incidents…
One possibly miraculous recovery!
The danger persists… Death still stalks our Peace Keepers weekly here at home. Thank God there has been no casualty reports from Afghanistan and Iraq.
————————————
They are so dear to us, yet so greatly misunderstood and almost foreign to our citizens. Some of our citizens even think they can live their lives with no need for the Peace Keepers who risk life and limb to secure peace and safety for all the rest of us.

I have marveled most of my life as I have contemplated the lives and actions of Peace Keepers whose lives I have followed for entertainment and useful knowledge. I also learn something from my review of every death of a Peace Keeper that makes the ultimate sacrifice of their lives as they perform their duties. Proactive law enforcers and proactive military people are amazing people and I have been fascinated by them most of my life, even from youngest childhood when I first learned who and what they were and are! I have even written fiction basing my characters on some of them… I have learned much from some of them. I am proud to have been one among them for such a long time.

I spend my resting time watching movies, videos, and TV programs. This includes a wide range of subjects and topics. On Friday night I watched a TV show called “BLUE BLOODS” that was much better done than most police shows. The major thrusts involved a detective doing a murder investigation and a case of an off duty police officer stopping a store robbery/hold-up and apprehending the perp without firing a shot… The kicker in relation to the off duty officer was that he had been to a retirement party and smelled of alcohol. The on-scene supervisor chose to run a breath test and the off duty officer blew a .08. Of course the news media went ballistic calling the off duty officer a drunk and clamored for his dismissal from the force. The department charged him with not being fit for acting in the intervention and making the arrest, according to departmental rules of being required to be fit for duty at all times whether on duty or off duty, because he blew the .08… There was no commendation for sacing lives and apprehending the perp without a shot and without any injuries.

He was found guilty by the judge and the judge recommended he be fired from the job. The Commissioner has latitude to agree with the court or use other punitive measures. The Commissioner ruled against the firing, suspended the officer for 30 days and kept the officer on the job because he was a good officer with a good record except for blowing the .08 when he acted to stop the robbery and apprehend the perp… Tough but just. The Commissioner said that this officer was just the kind of officer he wanted working for his police department.

In the murder case the detective had a partner that considered the case solved very quickly when the boy friend was found with his chest covered in blood and no memory of anything to do with the incident in the hotel room… But the lead detective could not be satisfied with the decision. The lead detective began to backtrack on leads previously followed. He uncovered facts and activities that took the case in another direction, exonerated the boy friend suspected of murdering his fiance’, found a team of women using memory erasing, mind altering drugs to ensnare victims and rob them… They had netted and drugged the boy friend, went with him to his hotel room, and while they were trying to rob him, his fiance’ walked in on them and one of the robbery team stabbed her to death and stole her engagement ring. The boy friend held his fiance’ to his chest while she bled badly on his clothes and died in his arms… But he did not remember any of the facts after meeting one of the women in the robbery team and she subsequently drugged his drink. The two women in the robbery team were charged with murder and robbery. One of them was found to be wearing the stolen engagement ring.

This program involves a family of law enforcement people… A retired Commissioner whose son is the current Commissioner… Three sons of the present Commissioner are involved in the police department, the oldest son, who was executed in a mob hit while on duty, the next son who is the detective and the youngest son who is a patrol officer… The current Commissioner’s daughter is an Assistant District Attorney. Tom Selick portrays the current Commissioner. He does a great job and the supporting cast usually does a very good job also. Some of the programs are excellent, like the one on 04/26… Others can cause varying degrees of response from the viewer from anger to satisfaction. All things considered, I really like the program most of the time but the detective can really get under your skin sometimes… He plays his part well as do all of the cast. This program on 04/26 was exceptionally good.

I am now and always have been very interested in movies, books, and TV programs involving law enforcement from westerns to contemporary, the military and wars of any era and trains, especially steam locomotives and building railroads. I am having a great time researching for an article I am involved in writing about an old railroad that operated in my home county. Life holds many interesting possibilities if we are open to opportunities as they come to us. That is why I love being a Peace Keeper so very much. Opportunities were endless even if you had to look diligently to find them. One Friday morning when I was a Trooper, my trainee wanted to know why we had only three summons issued in that week… Here it was Friday and our last day for the week… I asked him how many he would like to have at the end of the day? He had no answer so I taught him how to find violations that needed attention. We wrote 17 that day for a wide variety of offenses. All he could say was, “WOW!”, and he commented often that he learned a lot that day. An experienced Peace Keeper knows where to look whenever there is time to look.

I learned from some masters in the business of law enforcement. I learned to not be predictable in my actions and activities. I learned how to see what was there in front of me that most others could not see. I owed most of my success to the ones who taught and trained me at home, in schools, in Basic School and on the field. I took advantage of all of those influences to use my own talents and faculties to learn from books, movies, other people’s actions and attitudes and any other learning opportunities… Some of that knowledge came through tragedies… Some of it came through enjoyable experiences… None of it happened accidentally… All of it happened because I used opportunities and my own faculties and talents to note, retain and use any useful information until I learned how to use it all to successful advantage in whatever facet of life to which any of it applied. I enjoyed learning, gaining information, turning information into knowledge and turning knowledge into wisdom.

Peace Keepers, you have been great to share life with. Be even greater blessed. THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE AND FOR WHAT YOU DO AND HAVE DONE… BE SUCCESSFUL AND RETURN SAFELY HOME AT THE END OF YOUR TOUR BY BEING 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 but having a very difficult time. We are running two types of IV Antibiotics. They installed a double PIC line that has already clotted in one passage and the other is threatening to close. She is also on a new blood thinner and it can create new problems but clots are our greatest danger currently. She is also cleaning and packing the surgery site on her thingh where the abscess had to be removed. Life gets tedious but we are surviving.

Donnie is working and doing well.

I am still tired and not getting a whole lot accomplished because my one eye gets so tired that it stops focusing on close items and print… It just becomes a blur… Then I stop and rest. When the eye feels better I go to work again.

Thanks for the responses and good words. I have been blessed that someone usually responds with encouraging comments. Thanks also for care, concern and prayers. We are in all of this life endeavor together.
May you always receive what you need!

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 23452-3501
===============================================================
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 23452-3501.

04/14/13 – Opelousas Police Department, LA – Assistant Warden Peggy Sylvester was killed in a single-vehicle crash. (NLEOMF)

04/15/13 – NEW YORK – A New York City police officer shot her boyfriend, turned the gun on her 1-year-old son and then shot herself in an apparent double murder-suicide at her home Monday morning. (PoliceOne.com)

04/18/13 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Department, MA – Police Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. (NLEOMF)

04/19/13 – WEST, Tex. – Mayor Tommy Muska confirmed that 14 bodies had been recovered from the exploded fertilizer plant, including those of five volunteer firefighters – one of whom was the city manager – and four emergency medical technicians. (WASHINGTON POST)

04/15-20/13 – BOSTON, MA AND ENVIRONS – Two explosions at the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured over 180 – MIT Off. Collier shot and killed – A Transit Officer shot and is in critical condition – One bombing suspect killed in gun battle – One bombing suspect apprehended in badly wounded condition and hospitalized. (ASSOCIATED PRES, WASHINGTON POST, VIRGINIAN PILOT, WORLDNETDAILY AND OTHERS)

===================================

TERRORIST BOMBING, NEIGHBORHOODS LOCKED DOWN, TRAFFIC SHUT DOWN, TRANSIT SYSTEMS SHUT DOWN, MURDER, SUICIDE, TRAFFIC FATALITY, HEART ATTACK, INDUSTRIAL EXPLOSION LEVELS NEIGHBORHOOD AND PLANT, FLOODS STRIKE CHICAGO, SEVERE WEATHER TEARS ACROSS MID-SOUTH INTO EASTERN SEABOARD, SNOW WHEN IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE SPRING, AND ON IT GOES…

Sometimes we suffer through much as a nation, as a community and as individuals… Sometimes Peace Keepers suffer much… Sometimes other Public Safety suffers much… This week we all suffered much!

History is filled with such bunches of terribly destructive events so the happenings are not unheard of… But those of historical events seldom had any immediate affect upon us unless they were in recent times…. But this week we all hurt as we heard the news of the week in the Homeland. To escape it all and give my mind something constructive and not painful, I turned to restoring an old map to readable, usable condition. I did that because it was something that has been needing doing… My favorite Friday night TV program was not available, my daughter is back in the hospital and I was not bothered by anything nor anyone that might interrupt the needed concentration and I needed to be doing something to tire my body and my mind… It was indeed a welcome break from some things and a welcome break to gain the opportunity to get a project moved along in progress. I worked until my eye would no longer focus on the fine detail… Then I had to rest.

As I prepared the above news list, I shuddered several times. Disasters are terrible events to experience…

Though hearing about them is less painful than being involved in them, they still affect the caring, compassionate heart… Great pain gets spread around even if we would rather avoid it.

I have seen the human organism in every level of suffered pain of all varieties. I have heard the cries of the wounded… The cries of the injured and dying… The cries of those devastated in mind/emotions/spirit that hurt just as pointedly and painfully as any physical injury. In all of these conditions, all that we can do is sometimes not nearly enough… Sometimes what we see and hear or hear of causes pain to us that is so excruciating as to be intolerable… But we live through it, most of us, and we manage to go on with life as best we can and to help the helpless. Some cannot manage that getting through and going on… To them in those terrible moments, leaving this life appears sweeter than surviving and recovering. I know these things from being in close company with those suffering the terrible condition of not wanting to live. Sometimes life is tedious, rough and downright hard! Peace Keepers who have been in the profession for any length of time know these things from experiencing them with others and sometimes from personal experiences including addiction, injury, disease, loss, discouragement, PTSD, etc…

In such times there is not much we who are not having the same difficulty can do, except to be there and go through the experience with the ones who are suffering. Staying in someone else’ problem is not natural… It is natural to want to escape any unpleasant experiences! The condition of care and concern called compassion is what causes Peace Keepers, other First Responders and loved ones to hang in there with the one who is suffering… Compassion means going through what another is suffering with them, sharing their pain.

Our job is to do what we can and to help the helpless in those times when they need it! Sometimes all we can do is be there… Sometimes we can touch a shoulder or hand, or hold a hand… Sometimes they need a hug. If they reach out for you, try not to pull back. In that moment they need strength that they do not have and your strength is the nearest available strength they are able to see. That has happened to me many times and they always benefited from the touch or the hug when they knew they needed it… Some have even requested a Bear Hug and voiced great appreciation from receiving it.

Sometimes the opposite reaction will overcome them and they will seek to literally, physically run away from the immediate area and the pain they are experiencing… You may have to quickly follow after them and assure them of your concern for their peace and safety… And then bring them back to where they ran from. I have seen some just take off running… Others try to get into a car and drive away…

As I viewed the injured lying on the pavement in Boston I could recognize the full gamut of pain and agony, including that which was beyond the physical. Larger scale catastrophes can be so greatly demanding upon the First Responders. The injured need to be evaluated as soon as possible… Sometimes you are the first to arrive and you are alone… For those first moments it is a difficult thing to do to have to look for the ones with the greatest need and ignore others with lesser injuries even as they scream and call for you to give them attention. In such situations, intent and focus must be maintained and evaluation must be done as quickly as possible. Only when evaluation is complete can you stand for a moment and scan the full scene for the one most needing attention next… Hopefully help will arrive quickly and relieve you of all of the evaluating responsibility.

Life can be highly demanding for a First Responder when there are numerous injured… Breathing must be maintained or restored for the severely injured… Bleeding must be stopped… Shock is dangerous to victims and must be cared for as soon as possible in the first aid process.

Peace Keepers are sometimes the First Responders for what may seem like forever… I know how it is to have to sort and evaluate the injured. I know how it is to be the one that has to do all possible to maintain life and try to assure the survival of the injured. It can be rough but we are all they have until more help arrives. Thank you for being there. Peace Keepers are amazing people and you do amazing things when the demand is high and the need is great. THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE! MY COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND I APPRECIATE YOUR WILLINGNESS TO BE THERE IN THE MIDST OF LIFE AND TRAUMA AND DO WHAT YOU CAN!!! BE EVEN MORE GREATLY BLESSED AND RETURN HOME SAFELY AT THE END OF YOUR TOUR! WE SEND OUR THANKS ALSO TO THOSE PEACE KEEPERS WHO PERSISTED AND APPREHENDED THE BOMBERS… WE MOURN THE LOSS OF LIFE, THE LOSS OF OFFICER COLLIER, THE INJURY OF THE TRANSIT OFFICER BUT WE GREATLY REJOICE THAT ALL OF YOU AND EACH OF YOU WERE THERE TO DO YOUR JOB!!!

“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.

Daughter Donna is in the hospital today. She had surgery on an abscess that was caused by an improperly administered injection during her stay week before last. She has been in the hospital since Wednesday on IVs and had surgery on Thursday.

Son Donnie is working.

I am tired. It seems that my body currently needs a lot more sleep than usual. Paperwork demands were very high this week but one more demand was met and that was so good to achieve. Pray with me that the recipient will be satisfied with the transmitted material and not require more correspondence.

Thanks for all of the responses and good words. Thanks for the care, concern and prayers. Keep up the good work.

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 23452-3501
===============================================================
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 23452-3501.

04/08/13 – ISTANBUL – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday railed against the “cowardly” terrorists responsible for the attack that killed five Americans in Afghanistan, including a “selfless, idealistic” young diplomat on a mission to donate books to students. Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old diplomat originally from Illinois, and a civilian interpreter for the Defense Department, and others were among victims of the blast Saturday. Three U.S. soldiers were among those killed, according to the ISAF statement. Four other State Department employees were injured, with one in critical condition, Kerry said. The other fatality was not named.
(BOSTON HERALD & BLOOMBERG NEWS)

04/08/13 – by REP. ANDRÉ CARSON – Three hundred forty-nine members of the United States military committed suicide in 2012 — a total higher than the number of combat casualties in Afghanistan during that same period. This 15 percent increase over the year prior points to a dangerous national epidemic and a failure to address the invisible wounds of war inflicted on members of the proudest military force in the world.(Politico.com)

04/09/13 – ‎KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A NATO helicopter crashed in a field in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two American service members. (Times of India)

04/11/13 – by Michael Munk Salem-News.com, Portland, OR. – Last two weeks – 51 US AfPak War Casualties – US foreign fighters in Afghanistan suffered 51 casualties in the 2 weeks ending April 10 March 27.
AFGHANISTAN THEATER: US foreign fighters suffered 48 combat casualties in the 2 weeks ending

April 10…
IRAQ THEATER: No new military or civilian DOD casualties were reported during the period ending

April 10…
Total killed (6,678 – 4,488 in Iraq, 2,190 in Afghanistan),
Total wounded in action (50,625 – 32,221 in Iraq; 18,404 in Afghanistan),
Total dead include 1,417 (961 in Iraq, 456 in Afghanistan) who died from “non hostile” causes,

Almost 25% (332) were suicides (as of Jan 9, 2013),

At least 18 died in Iraq from faulty electrical work.

NOTE: It’s unclear whether the AfPak number for WIAs at some point started to include medical evacuations for non hostile injuries and disease.

LIBYA: Operation “Odyssey Dawn” launched in March, 2011 officially ended Oct 31, 2011 with no reported US casualties.

=============================

LAW ENFORCEMENT

04/06/13 – CAMDEN, N.J. – Two Troopers were hurt when cruiser was struck by an alledgedly drunken driver at an accident scene. The cruiser sustained extensive damage. (PoliceOne)

04/08/13 – Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office, ARKANSAS – Deputy Sheriff Hans Fifer suffered a fatal heart attack following a SWAT training and tryout session. (NLEOMF)

04/09/13 – Barwick, GA – Chief of Police Anthony Barfield died of a heart attack while on duty.
(NLEOMF)

04/11/13 – FLAGSTAFF, AZ – Authorities are investigating an explosive device addressed to Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America” known for his tough treatment of jail inmates and cracking down on illegal immigrants. The device intercepted in Flagstaff late Thursday was in a package addressed to Arpaio at his downtown Phoenix office, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. (PoliceOne.com)

04/07/13 – FULTON COUNTY, GA – A man who witnessed a crash between an officer’s squad car and an SUV rushed to the officer’s aid, saying he knew he had to help him escape his now-burning vehicle. Michael Ashford was riding his motorcycle Sunday when a black SUV hit Officer Matthew Williams in a head on collision… The emergency lights were on as Officer Williams was answering a call. (PoliceOne.com)

==============================

I never cease to be amazed by the incidents and evidence that I see and hear. This causes a lot of meditation on my part… Plus it makes me think back over those places where I was hung out like a sheet in the wind as I did my duty exactly as I was trained to do it… And then did a lot of thinking about those times I was out there like that to see if I could do it a better, more safe way and still get the job done. I found that examining my past actions could and did teach me safer and more effective ways… I am most thankful for that… But I am also most thankful for all of my instructors who made sure that I had the opportunity to receive the best they had to give. I was simply wise enough to build on the education that they gave to me.

In the process of all of my concern for the Peace Keepers themselves, today I take time to give specific thanks and appreciation to two very dear special groups of people that greatly assisted me and every Peace Keeper I ever knew to do a better job than could ever be done alone.

The first group is the family and loved ones of Peace Keepers… If they had not been willing to give us up to our career, our goals and our absences from their lives, we would have had to give up either them or the job…

Those of us who have traveled the Journey all the way through have seen and experienced some hard lessons demonstrated to us by others and upon us by ourselves. Think about how many have problems of family stress over the Peace Keeper’s career… Estrangement, separation, divorce, extra-marital affairs… Sometimes it comes down to one committing suicide and leaving the significant other… Or one committing murder and then killing themselves… If you have been in this career very long you have already seen some of it… We in the peace keeping professions must be extra vigilant to keep up our guard on ourselves and to see to the peace, safety and welfare of our loved ones if they will let us and cooperate with us. Please remember the relationship began with us and them being so powerfully attracted to one another as though we were physically connected together!… Remember the thoughts about your loved ones when you were away from them and deeply wanted to be close to them in that very moment!… Sometimes that desire for that closeness would not cease nor give you respite and you could not go… You could not get together because of the duty to which you were sworn…

Remember the times they did not want you to go to duty!… And you had two choices… Go or quit… There was no other immediate solution… When I left for that first assignment I did not know if I would be back in a week or a month or longer… Once it was especially hard as I stood bent over the crib of my six month old, first daughter as she slept and I had to leave… Even now I can remember the scalding, burning tears… It took all I had to turn and leave her sleeping and walk away from her to my son and then my wife and feel the hole grow larger and larger inside me… Give it up or get into the car and drive away!!! No amount of words nor embraces would soothe the ache and emptiness… NO AMOUNT!!! Sometimes parting was so hard that words could not be used to express the experience and I and every Peace Keeper has had to face it and endure it many times…
Or give up the career – which we would not do, though some did – we had to continue onward in dedication and service to our blank check oath!

I will forever remember the times I had to leave and go far away for what sometimes felt like it would last forever… That first assignment that took me from my world to serve in an entirely different world in which many of the human inhabitants I would see and deal with lived very different lives than mine. I had read about it and seen it in movies but then I had the assignment that took me into the heart of their lives where I would experience unbelievable sights, sounds, smells and language… I was to receive a whole new education and it was good for me to be away from all that was dear to me while I traveled through this new time of experiences. On that assignment I learned how to submit to authority… I learned what it meant to be under authority that was governed by very strict rules and procedures. I learned the whole gamut of human emotions and how easily we could be manipulated to move from one of good experience and intent to one of not wanting to practice restraint but knowing that you were under an authority that had no mercy for those who did not maintain control of themselves as they did their duties, no matter how unpleasant those duties were!!! I learned what it was like to be the target of promiscuous women on the one hand and to be under the terrible never missing anything eye of one of the toughest trainers that I ever knew… What a wide field of education I received in a short time!!!

None of that of which I have just written had anything to do with physical injury or death as I did the job… But it did have to do with all of the widest range of emotions, encounters and experiences that I suffered as a young back-woods, country boy who had just thrown himself into what some people would have readily called Hell, when he did not have to do it… No one but me made me do it… But there was a driving force that would not, could not be denied!… There I was expected to survive, live, thrive, prosper and become the best of the best in my chosen profession of peace keeping… And by Grace, Training, Learning, Knowledge and Experience I learned the Wisdom of survival and good function. I learned how to keep the profession and my personal, private life separate from each other… I learned how to guard against the overflow of one into the other by some very tough lessons, but I learned and I am still here and still sharp enough to remember and write these experiences to you, for your edification (up-building, warning, helping).

The other group so valuable and important to me as I look back, and as I pray and remember the job, is my dispatchers… They are Peace Keepers too!!! Even today, after two years of not being able to be out there on the streets and roads, I still call the Communications Supervisor on duty and chat for a moment… I tell them they are still my Angels (Angels are ministering spirits and that is what they all were to me)… I still love them and pray for them daily… Every moment of every duty, they were my lifeline. Anything that I needed and did not have already out there with me was obtained by and sent to me by a Dispatcher… I have depended upon, known and loved hundreds of them over my fifty years in peace keeping. No Peace Keeper could be successful today without them whether they are your radio link, your computer link, your phone link, or in the administrative chain that makes assignments of duty… They are your resource… They send everything from information to assistance in gaining and sending you resources and manpower to get the job done… They are your link to job success in the field… If you need anything, they send it to you… If you are out there too long without communicating, they call or send a message to check on your welfare… Ministering Spirits?… YOU BET!!! EVERY DAY, THEY ARE, AND THEY COME THROUGH FOR YOU!!!

THANK GOD FOR FAMILY, LOVED ONES AND DISPATCHERS!!! THANK GOD FOR EVERY PEACE KEEPER STILL IN THIS WORLD TODAY, WHETHER RECRUIT, EXPERIENCED AND FUNCTIONING WELL, ADMINISTRATIVE-SUPERVISORY-COMMAND OR RETIRED!

My Commander-In-Chief and I love and appreciate all of you and each of you, family, loved ones, law enforcement, dispatchers and military!!! BE SAFE, AND BE MORE GREATLY BLESSED!!!

“BE AS CAREFUL AS POSSIBLE 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 was hospitalized this week for stent surgery. The stent was totally blocked and her body was suffering badly because of it. It has been cleared and she is home again doing remarkably better.

Donnie is doing well and working often.

I am tired and need to take breaks often. I have some very demanding obligations that are draining me. They all require great persistence to resolve and satisfy. One satisfactory answer was obtained by a very long telephone conversation yesterday. The instructions had been greatly confusing but I dared not assume an answer without conferring with the source. In the beginning of the conversation even the source was confused. I asked if I could give my opinion of the proper conclusion and was allowed to do so. The person being conferred with agreed and I was able to relax for a while with a great sigh of appreciation and relief for one more problem resolved!

Thank you for the great responses to last weeks message. Thank you for care, concern and prayers. Keep it all coming my way. I need the prayers and you need the practice! Be even more greatly blessed!

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 23452-3501
===============================================================
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 23452-3501.

03/29/13 – SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois State trooper, James Sauter, 28, was killed Thursday night in an on-duty traffic accident with a semi-truck. He was in his squad car when it was struck by a semi from behind, causing both vehicles to burst into flames. (PoliceOne.com)

03/31/13 – Beaumont. Tex. – Corrections Officer Brandon Kountz, 26, dies of heart attack while running to assist other officers handling inmates. (PoliceOne.com)

04/03/13 – Mingo County, W. Va. – Sheriff Eugene Crum was shot and killed inside his vehicle by an assailant in another car that drove up and shot him at “point blank” range. The Sheriff had a habit of eating his lunch in his car on the street most days according to a statement. (NLEOMF and other sources)

04/03/13 – David Gordon, a civilian diesel mechanic working on a contract project in Kabul, Afghanistan, had been detained by Afghan authorities and taken to an Afghan prison where he was attacked and beaten. There were no charges and no due process. At one point they threatened to turn him over to a local tribe. Two days later, after actions involving companies, embassies, elected officials and the news media, it still hadn’t stopped. Finally on Friday, David Gordon was free and headed home to Virginia Beach.
(Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, VA)

04/04/13 – Jackson, Mississippi – Police Detective Eric Smith was shot and killed while interviewing a murder suspect. (NLEOMF)

=======================

Afghanistan is still volatile! The same with Iraq… The same with most of the Mid-East… North Korea ia making war threats… The continent of Africa is in great unrest… Our own economy at home is terrible and the rest of the world economy is worse. Political unrest is in the news, daily… Theft, car jackings, home invasions, rapes, robberies, murders, kidnapping… Crime rates are down in many places but the activities are still there in the daily news.

WHEREVER WE ARE… WE ARE WHO ARE ARE… WE ARE WHAT WE ARE…

ANY TIME, ANY PLACE… That UNWANTED event may catch up to us and we can be captured, injured or killed… Something we did not see… Did not HEAR… Did not KNOW!!!… Most of these deaths can be avoided if we think ahead and take the proper measures and precautions… But the only way we may avoid most of these events is to just not be there, just not be a Peace Keeper at all. For most of the world that is their solution… But it is not the solution for Peace Keepers of law enforcement and the military. We have already said by an oath that we are there to be sent wherever our duty takes us… “WHEREVER!!!” Sometimes no one else understands this is the way it is for us… Most family and loved ones do not understand! The crook, the criminal, the tyrant do not understand. Saddam Hussein thought he could hide in a hole in the ground and he would no longer be sought… But Peace Keepers found him!

In recent days there have been multiple attacks upon and against numerous keepers of the peace… And against an American Contractor in Afghanistan just because he was there and worked for a specific company.

The attacks against Peace Keepers have involved enforcers, prosecutors, administrators, guards and military… Numerous Peace Keepers have been killed through carried out plans and spur of the moment opportunities. Some of these opportunities were provided by the Peace Keepers themselves…. Opening front doors without knowing who or what was on the other side of the door… Taking a bad position or not watching the person in custody or being dealt with… Being predictable by doing a similar action regularly and publicly long enough to let others become aware of where you will most likely be at a certain time on most days… Not being aware of our surroundings is very greatly dangerous!!! Taking a bad position can be very greatly dangerous!!! Failure to watch the hands and activities of the people all around you can be very greatly dangerous!!! Whether or not we survive is mostly up to us for ourselves and for those we may be working with to keep them covered as well!!!… But often we are alone and then it is solely up to us to keep ourselves as safe as possible.

One of my early instructors once said that every duty related death is preventable. I don’t know that I agree that all are preventable if we go where we must go… But I do agree that most of them are preventable by good training and constant use of that training… Good practice and good mental and emotional attitudes are vitally necessary all of the time. THERE IS NO TIME THAT THEY ARE NOT NECESSARY INCLUDING OUR OWN OFFICES, RESTAURANTS, ON THE ROAD IN A VEHICLE, IN A STOPPED VEHICLE, ON FOOT, DIRECTING TRAFFIC, SURVEYING A NEIGHBORHOOD ON ANY FIELD, ETC!!! Being mentally, physically and visually alert plus listening at all times are the only defenses we can use while we do our jobs!!! We can train ourselves to see and hear most things if we will practice those activities… Do Not allow yourself to be distracted!!! Know what is around you!!!

I know these things from experience. I have been there… Thousands upon thousands of miles of vehicle patrol… Many, many, many miles of walking patrol… We must know and practice all of the defense and survival activities available to us if we are going to be successful at the job and survive the job!!! My Commander-In-Chief and I want you to be successful and survive!!!… That’s why we send these messages!!!

Read the top of the page… Note all of that information again!!! They did not go out to be captured, injured or killed… They were there to do a job. The Sheriff was eating in his car to be efficient and available… But he had become predictable and a shooter took advantage of it. The better we do our jobs, the more likely others will try to eliminate us from the job. He had run his election campaign on a ticket of cleaning up illegal drugs. He had been successful. Some did not like how well he did his job… Someone took advantage of an opportunity… I mourn that loss because he is no longer with us! He cannot learn any more but we can!

It is not right that we should have to take life and death chances so often in this job of peace keeping but the world around us will not let us do otherwise… So we must do it as safely and as efficiently as possible!!! Even then some of us will not survive. I was one of the fortunate ones… I survived a full career and had to retire because of medical problems. If my eyes had not failed me with internal bleeding, I would probably still be out there going and doing. Do I let down my guard now and assume there is no danger?… Assuredly NOT!!! Vigilance is now part of my nature… It is a vital part of who I am… My head still scans all directions like a radar antenna… To be alert is to be alive!!!… FOR ME AND FOR YOU!!!… NOW AND ALWAYS!!!… Until we graduate from life on this earth, each in our own time and fullness of days, and fullness of success, and accomplishments, we must function at our very best in all ways!

No place is safe for the Peace Keeper unless the Peace Keeper makes it safe! I will say that to you in some form or another for as long as I have breath and intelligence. My concerns for you cover all that you are… Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual… Every message that comes from me will make some effort to gain and keep your attention on any one or all of these attributes of yours. That is my job now and I take it just as seriously as I took defending other Peace Keepers on the field and myself on the field in our efforts to be effective and do a good job. Today my instruments are words in place of actions, tools and weapons. My goal is to keep you as safe as possible and to keep your attention focused on good process and good results utilizing good procedure and practicing good safety in all of your efforts.

My Commander-In-Chief and I do so greatly appreciate who you are, what you are doing and have done and what you may yet do. We want you to be more greatly blessed with safety and success and go home safely at the end of your tour… WE DO LOVE EACH OF YOU AND ALL OF YOU!

“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 has had a very bad week with pain and more injuries. Today seems to be better.

Donnie is working.

I am surviving very well.

Thank you for the responses, for the care, concern and prayers. I am still praying for you.

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 23452-3501
====================
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 23452-3501.

03/29/13 – A Virginia Beach-based Navy SEAL was killed, and a second one was injured during a parachute training accident near Tucson, Ariz.

Celebrate!… The bad news in relation to Peace Keepers is much less in number today… That can be seen as good news… That is good news to me! It surely is much better than that long list last week.

=============================

Even better news to me is the time of year and the holiday Sunday… Most call it Easter… Easter appears only once in the Bible.I call it Resurrection Celebration. The word rendered as Easter actually is pascha (pä’-skhä) of Aramic origin meaning…
1) the paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the people’s deliverance of old from Egypt called Passover)
2) the paschal lamb, i.e. the lamb the Israelites were accustomed to slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan (the first month of their year corresponding to our month of March or April) in memory of the day on which their fathers, preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by God to slay and eat a lamb, and to mark their door posts and lintel with its blood, that the destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings and not slay their first born in that plague sent upon Egypt by God according to the Bible; Christ crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb in Christianity.
3) the paschal supper
4) the paschal feast, the feast of the Passover, extending from the 14th to the 20th day of the month Nisan
It comes from pecach (peh’·sakh) meaning…
1) passover,
a) sacrifice of passover,
b) animal victim of the passover,
c) festival of the passover.

Passover is the meal Jesus called His last supper with His Disciples… “The Last Supper” (as Michael Angelo titled his painting of the event) that Jesus celebrated with His Disciples the night before His arrest, judgement, punishment of whipping and abuse, crucifixion, suffering, death and burial. On that night during that meal He instituted a new meaning for the belief system that would begin because of Him… The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ now Called the “Eucharist” in the Roman Catholic Church and “Love Feast” or “Communion” in most of the rest of Christianity. Communion means having life in common or as in the words of Jesus Christ… Those who believe in and follow Him, HAVING His Very Own Life IN THEM to lead them, guide them direct them and keep them. The very same life IN them as IN Him!

If His Body had stayed in that tomb there would be no Christianity! True believers know that He was resurrected and His Body became immortal (meaning it has been changed, no more death will ever happen to it ever again). Those true believers have met Him, Had a living experience of receiving His Life into them, learn from Him and His teachings and walk with Him daily following the instructions and directions of those teachings… In this Journey with Him, they never stop learning, going, growing and doing. You know them by who they are and by what they do with what He taught them… You can see it in action in them… And Peace Keepers are called His Ministers of Rightness and a blessing to those who practice good and right living… Peace Keepers are described as Executors of His Wrath upon those practice evil and will not do right. Peace Keepers, we need you and love you! Thank You for taking your place on the front lines between goodness and evil to keep and restore the peace when evil trys to prevail!

All of this is why I am perpetually excited about the event the calendar marks as Easter but I call Resurrection Celebration Sunday!!!… He is real to me in my life and I love Him and I am dedicated to Him… Every day is Resurrection Celebration to me!!! Because of Him and the life I live in Him, I also love you and am and have been dedicated to you! Without Him I would be nothing. With Him I have made this long, eventful, exciting Journey in life and in peace keeping with all of you!!!

Peace Keepers, family members and friends of Peace Keepers, my friends and family members, may you come to know and experience the fullness of the meaning of this that I have written of today, if you do not already know it. He is the reason for the season called Easter and Passover. If it were not so I would never tell you of it! SELAH! (that means stop and think on that!) THANK YOU ALL FOR WHO YOU ARE AND FOR WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TO ME, TO MY COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND TO OUR WORLD. My Commander-In-Chief and I deeply love and appreciate you all. Stay safe, be successful, be ever more greatly blessed… Live Long and Prosper!!!

“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 ia still having problems with her right arm, right hand and abdomen… Plus, the pain is still not under control.

Donnie has helped me with my furnace again this week and is now working.

I am snowed under with paperwork as usual but otherwise fine.

Thank you for the responses and good words, for the care, concern and prayers. Keep them coming. You are always in my prayers on my mind and on my heart… Be ever more greatly blessed.

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 23452-3501
=================================
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 23452-3501.

03/19/13 – 7 MARINES KILLED DURING TRAINING AT NEVADA ARMY DEPOT. ANOTHER DIED SHORTLY THEREAFTER.
This event involved a live fire training exercise using a 60mm mortar at Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada.
03/21/13 – QUANTICO U.S.MARINE BASE – 3 DEAD
Apparently two were attacked and shot to death and the shooter took his own life. It occurred in the Officer Candidate Barracks where only staff members live.
03/20/13 – ALASKAN PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER KILLED
Officer was shot to death as he approached and sought entry into a house where he had gone to question a suspect in a Domestic Violence case.
03/19/13 – ENTERPRISE MISSISSIPPI POLICE CHIEF FATALLY STRUCK DIRECTING TRAFFIC
03/21/13 – FORMER COLORADO INMATE SEEN AS LINK TO DEATH OF COLORADO CORRECTIONS CHIEF
A Wise County, Texas, Deputy Sheriff attempted a traffic stop on the suspect on Thursday morning. He shot the deputy and fled, ran into a semi-truck and fired on troopers and deputies who were pursuing him. He also shot at the Decatur Police Chief four times. The corrections Chief was shot at his front door on Tuesday night. The shooter is also a suspect in the death of a pizza delivery man in Colorado on Sunday night.
03/19-20/13 – TEXAS OFFICERS SHOT WHILE APPREHENDING TEENAGER
A teenage boy who shot two Jacinto City police officers was taken into custody about midnight Wednesday after he was wounded during a tense SWAT standoff and shootout.

===================================

Each of the above Peace Keepers and every other person who has or ever will enter the peace keeping forces of law enforcement or the military pledged a blank check to the nation… They took an oath that said they would do their duty as trained, directed and took an Oath to do… They would support and defend the Nation and it’s Constitution against all enemies whomsoever, foreign or domestic… And in the case of law enforcement locally, would support and defend the State and it’s Constitution against all enemies whomsoever, foreign or domestic. Only an experienced Peace Keeper can truly know what that means…

It means that you will do all you are capable of doing to protect life and restore the peace when it is broken.
It means working in the worst of weather conditions… Cold, hot, rain, wind, storm, drought, whatever…
It means going where others do not want to go or will not go…
It means that when others are running away the Peace Keeper is running toward the problem…
It means approaching strangers in darkness and or suspicious circumstances…
It means risking life and limb to rescue and protect others…
It means you could be injured or killed in the line of duty or survive well and get to retire…
IT MEANS BEING AWAY FROM FAMILY AND LOVED ONES ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS AND HOLIDAYS…

Whether we are talking about the newly graduated recruit or the experienced Peace Keeper of umpteen years.
No two calls are the same… No two duties are the same… No two days are the same… No matter how many days the Peace Keeper serves, every day will be different from every other day of their whole career and different from the minute by minute experiences of other Peace Keepers as well… It means whatever the need, the onsite Peace Keeper must try and find the solution to restore peace and safety whether the field is a foreign war zone or a local community… The bottom line for the Peace Keepers of law enforcement and the military is the same… Protect and serve!!! Nothing is to ever be routine! Forget that word and do not use it! Most of all, do not develop routines and habits of doing duties and actions in the same manner, same times and same ways so as to become predictable! Hit some places several times in a few minutes occasionally so that they never know when you might come back…

The actual details of that service may be very different most of the time. Military soldiers work together in groups of a few to hundreds… Law enforcement soldiers work alone most of the time, in pairs for on the job training purposes or, if there is an abundance of personnel as to allow it, in two person teams for patrol or investigation. I worked alone most of my career including walking beat supervisor unless I was training new personnel or when there was only one other person working and I kept them with me because they could not work alone. I have supervised as many as 40 personnel working in two person teams or all working together to deal with a problem needing all of my personnel that were on duty. Many times we faced mischievous crowds and crowds of people about to panic. Our job in those cases was to mingle into the crowd and pick out the problem people and deal with them directly to calm the situation and restore the peace of the members of the crowd. Sometimes we were used to clear sidewalks so that people could walk through the area. Sometimes we cleared streets and crime scenes. Sometimes we protected officers and/or crime scenes or scenes where people were injured and could not be moved immediately.

In the life of peace keeping you must learn very quickly to develop certain habits… Develop the habit of constantly looking around you in all directions unless you have your back against something solid… Your head scans like a radar antenna… You learn to face doors when inside, especially when sitting down… You learn to hear anything that is not within the usual parameters of voice, conversation and sound… You learn to see whole items and the details of those items… You learn to see the front of an approaching car, see the driver and be able to recognize them, note if there were others in the vehicle, note if there was anything wrong with that car that needed immediate attention… When dealing with crowds you learn to see individuals and not the whole crowd as a group only… You learn to recognize unlawful or trouble causing activity even if those in the crowd try to cover and hide it… You learn to control most people by voice and movement rather than touch unless hands on becomes necessary for safety or for arrest… In dealing with fun seeking crowds you also learn to see unusual things that they often try to conceal from you but are used to get reactions from others in the crowd like snakes, lizards, birds and other exotic animals that are illegal to possess in public in the crowded resort area.

Ah… Protect and serve… Peace and safety… Life among the people… Sometimes very busy and very challenging… Sometimes quiet and boring… Sometimes the officers would complain about nothing to do and being bored even as we were watching the constantly fluid crowds going in and out and flowing past us. My usual reply to a complaint of nothing to do or being bored was, “Isn’t that what we are attempting to achieve?… Aren’t we trying to make the area we are responsible for so peaceful that they do not need us? Really, isn’t that the goal of peace keeping?” I would receive blank stares or strange comments until they thought about what I had just said… Then they would smile and renew their vigilance of watching the crowd whether it was sparse or thick… And we would continue our vigil until closing time and end of shift.

Dark alleys, stinky garbage filled alleys, mud puddles (we had to break up a vicious fight that was taking place in the middle of a huge puddle of water in an alley), rickety stairs, dark hallways, filthy living spaces with much refuse of garbage and human waste with only narrow walkways from room to room, bloody scenes, gory scenes…

Since I was a teen I have witnessed things other people would rather not see… Friends torn in half in a wreck, drownings and such.

In peace keeping I have handled suicide scenes that were messy, murder scenes with multiple killings and copious amounts of blood… Auto crash scenes with multiple cars and multiple deaths caused by terrible destructive injuries worse than the human mind could imagine until our modern film makers started trying to see how much gore it would take to shock film viewers… Add to all of this, crime scenes inside busy night clubs… You cannot imagine how those floors might look after a busy crowd for several hours… I don’t mean the sitdown casual type of club… I mean the stand up, constantly moving, milling type of club and crowd… Unless the Fire Marshal is on scene, sometimes these places are so crowded that if someone passes out they cannot fall down… They just lean on somebody and get sick… If someone gets sick, several people get covered with the vomit…

My goal in going into peace keeping was to make life safer and more livable for people. I had some idea what it would be like because I had read and studied criminal cases in detective magazines and man magazines… But what I had learned only scratched the surface of the things I saw on duty. Basic Training Academy gave us some ideas of what we could expect after weeks of criminal cases described to us by investigators and other instructors as they taught us.

Until you have been there for a while it is very difficult for the human mind to comprehend what one human can do to another or how much the human body can suffer before death takes place and what can happen to it after death takes place. It is also difficult to imagine the things you will eventually see and smell of the many conditions of destruction the human body can be put through… Torn into small pieces… dismembered… smashed… dissolved… mutilated… Infants, children, teens, adults, young, old, elderly… All of all of this that I have noted today is in the career of every past, current and future Peace Keeper who takes a place on the front lines in the war of good against evil whether law enforcement or military…

It is for each of these Peace Keepers, those on the front line, that I write. Active Duty, Reservist, National Guard… Deputy, Sheriff, Constable, Police Officer, Detective, Trooper, Highway Patrol, Border Patrol, Corrections, FBI, Secret Service, Marshals, Court Security, Traffic Safety, etc. Full time paid or volunteer… Whatever the position held… You are the most vital group of people that make life livable to whatever degree that it is, now and in the future. Any one of you have made and now make a difference… All of you make the difference… You are, each of you, and all of you, God’s Ministers of Rightness… You are there to be a blessing to the people who live rightly… You are there to deal with the people who live wrongly and try to bring justice… You are God’s Ministers of Rightness for our good!!! THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE, FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, FOR WHAT YOU WILL YET DO… THANK YOU… THANK YOU… THANK YOU! BE EVEN MORE GREATLY BLESSED AND RETURN HOME SAFELY AT THE END OF YOUR TOUR!!!

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 still having a difficult time.
Donnie has been working.
I am over the Crud and doing well!

Thank for the responses, for the care, concern and prayers… Keep them coming and I will do the same for you!

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 23452-3501
===============================================================
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 23452-3501.

Good news for a change…

http://www.lawofficer.com/article/news/virginia-officer-defies-odds-r

Video: Virginia Officer Defies Odds in Recovery
Alexandria officer stuns doctors with recovery progress
JULIE CAREY, NBC Washington | Friday, March 15, 2013

WASHINGTON (NBC Washington) – An Alexandria police officer shot in the head Feb. 27 is defying the odds with his recovery, doctors said Thursday.

In her 27 years in medicine, MedStar Washington Hospital Center Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Janis Orlowski has never seen anything quite like Officer Peter Laboy’s recovery so far.

Laboy was shot while making a routine traffic stop of a taxi in Old Town. Some bullet fragments too difficult to remove will remain in his brain.
“This is one in a million,” she said Thursday. “It really is. It’s a phenomenal recovery.”

Doctors at MedStar credit the instant 911 calls for help, the teamwork at the hospital and Laboy’s fighting spirit with Thursday’s positive progress report.

Laboy is able to walk and can say a word or two. He is aware of conversations people have with him, Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook said, and a recent visit from his sons was a “landmark day” for the family.

His wife, Suzi, has been at Laboy’s side through the difficult hours…
(Excerpt from article. Please use link above for full article found in Lawofficer E-news.)

—————————————

Insider attack kills 2 U.S. troops, 3 Afghans
By Heidi Vogt and Amir Shah
Pilot 13 News
© March 11, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan officials say U.S. troops have shot and killed two Afghan civilians as their truck was approaching an American convoy.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi says the victims in Monday’s incident were employees of a company that repairs police vehicles.

U.S. forces’ spokesman Jamie Graybeal says the vehicle failed to heed instructions to stop as it came close to the convoy outside of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the soldiers took “appropriate measures to protect themselves.”

He confirms that two individuals were killed and says an assessment is under way.

The incident in Wardak province was the latest in a series of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces that have threatened to undermine their alliance at a time when they need to work increasingly close together in order to hand over responsibility as planned next year.

The attack also comes a day after the expiration of the Afghan president’s deadline for U.S. special forces to withdraw from the province following accusations of abuse by those under their command.

U.S. officials have said that they are working with Afghan counterparts on coming up with a solution that will answer President Hamid Karzai’s concerns and maintain security in Wardak. The majority of U.S. troops in Wardak are special operations forces.

In Monday’s attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed hold of a machine gun and started firing at the U.S. special operations forces and Afghan police in the police compound in Jalrez district, said the province’s Deputy Police Chief Abdul Razaq Koraishi.

The assailant killed two Afghan policemen and wounded four, including the district police chief, before he was gunned down, Koraishi said. He did not have a death toll for the U.S. troops.

A coalition military official said two U.S. troops were killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose information ahead of a formal statement. A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Jamie Graybeal, confirmed that a man in an Afghan police uniform turned his weapon on coalition and Afghan forces and that there were injuries, but declined to give further details or confirm any deaths.

Five Afghan police officers were being held for questioning by the Americans, Koraishi said.

——————————-

Where did the time go? We are about to have burned up a quarter of a new year and My head is spinning. I am trying to get back into a regular daily life and it just is not happening. Last Sunday I started sneezing and getting stuffy in my sinuses. I knew I was having the first symptoms of what I call Tidewater Crud. Immediately I started taking herbs and OTC cold medication and gargling in an effort to minimize the affects that I knew would follow if I did nothing. I managed to get it under control and not suffer the terrible effects that I have experienced in the past. In the past it has gotten me down and out for as long as three weeks. Today I am doing fine but still tired and trying to restore my energy.
Faith is doing the best you can with what you have where you are and leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible. I did that this week as I fought to recuperate. In my still times I thought on all of you and on your fields of endeavor wherever you are. I am happy that I have no news of any new life threatening injuries among law enforcement in our homeland. Sometimes we do get a break. The news said that over 3000 attended Master Trooper Junius A. Walker’s Memorial Service in Petersburg, Virginia last Tuesday… Some came from as far away as Alaska. I am sorry, I was not able to go.
As I thought on Walker and you, I marveled at how many times I was in places where I should not have survived in personal life as well as in law enforcement… Even while I was working as a traffic Safety Officer in the Community Service Program here… And I again marveled at how few times we are cut down or taken out when the world has so many opportunities to do us harm. I long ago formed the opinion that as long as I am doing the best I can where I am that I survive by Grace (God’s unearnable, undeserved favor, love, mercy and compassion) and I know that all Peace Keepers who do the best they can as they do their jobs, survive by the same process… Doing their best and by Grace.
I watch police shows, military shows, programs actually filmed as the events happen in real time in all kinds of situations and I can come to no other conclusion… Our best and His Grace… After all, my Bible does say that Peace Keepers are His Ministers of Rightness in this world… That we are there to minister good and to bless those who live rightly… There to take action against those who live wrongly and lawlessly… That the Peace Keeper does not carry the weapon for no reason, but that the Peace Keeper is there to minister justice, keep the peace and execute God’s wrath on the wrongdoer who will not stop their lawless action or change and quit their lawless activity. That’s in Romans Chapter 13, verses 1-7 if you want to see for yourselves. That covers law enforcement and the military as they work under governmental authority.
I wrote a message to one of my previous captains in the State Police yesterday congratulating him on reaching his 100th birthday still in good physical condition. He called me into his office one morning long ago to have a discussion with me about a complaint. It seems that local news reporters were upset that I would not return their calls about motor vehicle crashes. The captain asked why I did not return the calls. My response was that I had done all I could to cooperate with them when I first came to that duty station but they would constantly misquote what I told them or they would say that I said things that I did not say and they felt that was not my business to correct them nor complain of their inaccuracies, misquotes and out right lies… So I quit responding to their inquiries.
He informed me that I must give them certain information that they sought if it were available to me. My response was, “Sir, you tell me exactly what I am obligated to tell them and I will tell them that and no more… And if they quote me or attach my name to their reports in any manner that is in error or false I will sue them.”

He responded with, “That is a very harsh attitude!” I said, “Maybe it is from your point of view but I have had to deal with too many upset people that believed what they read in the papers that I did not say so this is how I will deal with it in the future… And I will inform the reporters of that when I give them any information… Quote me right or I will sue you. It would be better for you to not use my name at all.” He did not make it an order to not make that statement… So in future contacts I cooperated and and informed them just as I had said that I would. I never had any more problems with reporters while I worked that area. I thought that I was being more than reasonable under the circumstances. They must have agreed, we had no further problems between myself and them.

In my first LE position as a trooper I worked very large areas alone. Whatever the call, there was no assistance available. Neither Fire nor Rescue responded, in most cases, unless I called for them after I arrived on scene. Half of my area was extremely rural. It was split by a mountain range into two valleys. So I had to cross two mountains and two valleys to get to the western area that was the furthermost away. The other was some rural but mostly suburban and included two Interstate Highways with a mountain range between me and another area in the south end of the eastern area. The suburban area was split by a separately incorporated city. These geographical problems could cause some very long response times if I were across the mountains and at the far south end and had to respond to the opposite area to the extreme northeastern area across the mountains and then across a valley and across the city… Or if I were on a severe, time consuming case the dispatcher would have to call another trooper from another area or call one to duty that was off duty.

All of these geographical challenges also made for some very interesting cases to investigate… Plus severe snow in the winter… And that was the best of my two assigned stations. The first one was even more difficult… So difficult in fact that I used to say that I received ten years of experience in two years on that station before I transferred. On that one I had the bloodiest 15 miles of US Route 1 in the state. I had two metro areas thirty five miles apart. One was in the extreme east end and the other about two thirds of the way across the county east to west. The county itself was 15 miles north to south and 55 miles east to west. Most of the work was in the east end… The jail was 35 miles from the east end… The far end was 20 miles still farther west with an Interstate Highway in that end.

After the State Police, I came here to this city that is smaller than either county I worked before and this city has four precincts and each precinct is divided into duty areas that can be very small but very busy, yet the south end of this city is still mostly rural. Officers here can work urban, suburban and rural areas or be in special units that work the whole city. We have all of the problems and duties of a large city police department but we do the job with about half as many personnel as other cities our size. In addition we have a resort strip along the Atlantic Ocean that can be very, extremely busy in the summer and now it is becoming busy all year through.

When I became an Officer/Chaplain here I was assigned to the least busy precinct. After a year I was transferred to a busier precinct. After five years I was put in charge of the Chaplain Program for the whole department. Eight years later we had a major crowd problem on the ocean front during Labor Day weekend and I was right in the middle of that when it lit off on Saturday night. The rest of the weekend we had 1800 police officers from surrounding jurisdictions and the State Police plus the National Guard. The next summer our chaplain unit went from 4 to 21 to 41 personnel over the course of the summer. I was the Supervisor of all chaplain duty including crowd control assistance on the resort strip. I worked that resort strip in the hottest spots for the next 20 years and wore out two pairs of walking shoes and two pairs of boots. In 2007-08 I worked as a Traffic Safety Officer handling traffic problems, parking problems, abandoned cars and abandoned boats left on city streets.

During my 35 years here the officers and chaplains used to ask me if I ever missed being a trooper. My answer was, “Only every day!!!”

I would like to be back out there with the Peace Keepers but that is not possible now… So I think about all of you, meditate upon all that I was involved in with you and pray for you… I can still do that.

THANK YOU… THANK YOU… THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE, WHO YOU HAVE BEEN AND WHO YOU WILL YET BE AND WHAT YOU WILL YET DO FOR ALL THE REST OF US IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY. LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY, I SALUTE YOU, I APPRECIATE YOU AND I LOVE YOU!

“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 now in a pain management program and doing some better. She is on a wait and see attitude for more surgery with a tear in her abdominal wall and the large intestine is involved.

No news on Donnie except no work.

I am fine but my left eye is still not seeing very well. Improvement comes and goes. The illness and the meds this week made my good eye see less clearly but that has improved today.

Thanks for the responses, the care, concern and prayers. I send the same care, concern and prayers right back to you.

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 23452-3501
===============================================================
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 23452-3501.