By Bryan Cribb
Jeff Struecker’s war is on two fronts. As a chaplain in the 82nd Airborne, the Southern Seminary graduate is participating in “Operation Enduring Freedom,” the United States’ post-9/11 attempt to purge the planet of terror.
But Struecker’s most difficult fight is against another foe – not against Osama bin Laden, not against terrorists, not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places. It is this battle, Struecker says, that is the most urgent and the most dangerous, despite the obvious peril of the nation’s “War on Terror.”
“My greatest challenge is the urgency of the Gospel,” he said in an interview from the frontlines of the battle in Afghanistan. “I could tell you about the burden that I personally feel for the success of their (the soldiers’) mission so that September 11 will never happen anywhere in the world ever again. I could tell you of the burden that I feel for the speed of their success so that they can be reunited with their families once again.”
“But mostly I could tell you about the burden that I feel for the souls of these men and women.” Struecker is responsible for more than 1,000 men and women in a dozen different units. Unlike some chaplains, he is actually sent out with the soldiers – eating, sleeping, and sharing tents with the soldiers assigned to him. Struecker said he had not slept in his own cot for weeks.
