We took one week of vacation to spend with family before making a three-day drive out to Lawton, OK, home of the Ft. Sill Army post and field artillery school. I reported on 13 June, and signed into my new unit--the 2d Battalion, 2d Field Artillery (Big Deuce)--on 18 June. I am thoroughly enjoying my service as an Army chaplain at Ft. Sill. I believe I am making a real positive difference in the lives of the Service Members I serve not only in the Big Deuce battalion, but also in the 3d Battalion, 30th Field Artillery Regiment, the Ft. Sill Ministry Team, and the New Post Chapel Community. I have counseled numerous couples and individuals alike, offered hope to a few suicidal individuals, comforted many who were bereaved, preached in both the field and chapel settings, taught the Protestant Youth of the Chapel Sunday School class, conducted one ceremony for the reaffirmation of wedding vows, participated in one memorial service and conducted another, conducted one retiree's funeral, conducted two services of child baptism, and offered public prayers at numerous unit and post-wide functions. In addition to all this, I've also been tasked by the Post Chaplain to be the creator and webmaster for the Ft. Sill Ministry Team web site and to be the Project Officer for the upcoming National Prayer Breakfast on 18 February 1997, featuring Mr. Josh McDowell as the guest speaker. As you can see, it's been a busy first six months for me in the Army, and besides all these duties, I've also been invited to and attended countless social events. Ellen and the kids have had just about as hectic a schedule as mine. Ellen has been invited to and attended numerous social events, too. As both an officer's wife and a chaplain's wife, she meets regularly with both the Officers' Wives of the 30th Regiment (of which I am a part) and the Chaplains' Wives groups. Furthermore, she has attended practically every other social event I have. She says she loves it, too!
On top of all these social events, there have been school functions for both Amy and Josh. Amy is in the band again this year, and in honors classes, and Josh is taking violin lessons. Amy attended her first dance this fall, and so did Josh. Amy walks to school, since we live just across the street from it. Josh rides the bus, because his school is about a mile away. Despite tremendous busyness and demands on our time, life is still good. We have enjoyed our first six months in the Army chaplaincy at Ft. Sill, and we're eagerly anticipating the next year.
We're coming home for Christmas, and hopefully, we can see some of you to wish you a Merry Christmas personally, but for the rest of you, we pray that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!! Please call or write us by either "Snail Mail" or Email. The addresses are as follows:
XXXXXXXX - Street Address
XXXXXXXXXX - City, State and ZIP
(XXX) XXX-XXXX - Home Phone
(580) 442-2128 - Office Phone
mlwhite700@ibm.net - Email (no longer assigned to me - you will be redirected to one of my hotmail accounts)
For those of you who are already online, check out these websites, too! Here are the URLs:
Chaplain Michael L. White Is Online!
http://www.angelfire.com/al/mlwhite700/index.html
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Ministry Team Home Page
http://sill-www.army.mil/chapel/fsokchap.htm
We look forward to hearing from you soon. God bless!!
IHS,
Chaplain (CPT) Michael L. White
and Family