The Army Chaplain life can often be imperfect, messy, and mainly spent outside your office. But there is no set method or place for healing. Owen Chandler wanted people to understand more about military life besides what gets shown on TV, so he wrote A Bridge in Babylon: Stories of a Military Chaplain in Iraq.

Owen shares the struggle to hold onto faith and hope in the midst of battlefields, opening readers’ hearts to the challenges of military chaplaincy and the plight of veterans shattered by their experiences. A Bridge to Babylon inspires readers and provide tools to create bridges to our veterans, especially Reserve soldiers with shockingly high rates of suicide and substance abuse.

As an Arizona Army Reservist, Chandler was deployed to Iraq as chaplain of the 336th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, leaving behind his wife, three young children, and a congregation for more than a year. In this painful but eloquent memoir, Chandler shares his story of serving as an “embedded presence of hope” in Iraq through personal letters, journal entries, scriptures and photos exchanged with family back home. Expanding far beyond the military chaplain caricature of M*A*S*H’s Father Francis Mulcahy, Chandler reflects on the brutal realities of war, his fellow soldiers, and the families waiting for them all to come home.

Listeners, if you would like to learn more about Owen, check out his website here or connect with him on social media via Facebook. You can order Owen’s book A Bridge in Babylon: Stories of a Military Chaplain in Iraq here.

Empowerment Patrol Report with Amanda B.

Today we are showcasing one of our volunteers who is an MRE winner, which by the way, that stands for Motivated and Ready to Empower. A huge congratulations to Army Wife Network Command Team Member, our Content Curator, Chrissy Gibbs!

Chrissy married her husband in 2010 and jumped right into her milspouse role. She knew that life would be more adventurous and sometimes more difficult, but it would always be worth it. She had previously received her teaching degrees from Niagara University in Special Education and spent a few years teaching, but once she began having children, she chose to put those talents to work in her own home. Chrissy is a mother to four energetic boys and one husky pup (also a male), so you could say she’s the queen of the castle! Chrissy and her family are currently living in Fort Leavenworth but will have another PCS on the horizon.

In her free time, you can find her working out, at a playdate with close friends, on the hunt for the next geocache, or hiding away binge-watching her favorite guilty pleasure TV shows. She is super excited to be a part of the AWN team and can’t wait to connect with new friends.

So much thanks goes out to Chrissy Gibbs for doing your part to empower military families all across the globe.

News 6 with Jolene

Here is this week’s News 6 mashup of stories for the week of Feb. 28, 2022, straight from AWN News 6 Correspondent, Jolene McNutt:

Water Woes Continue near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

Military members and their families stationed in Hawaii are still working through months of contaminated drinking water. According to NPR, in January, the U.S. Navy agreed “to remove fuel from a massive underground storage tank facility near Pearl Harbor” that is believed to be the source of contamination. Visit the IDWST website for up to date information.