Putting the Bible in the Hands of Soldiers

The weaponry… technology… and threats are much different than they were decades ago… What hasn’t changed is the physical and mental stress of life in a combat zone.   
 
Army Chaplain, Major Matt Cassady, served two tours in Afghanistan.
“As a chaplain, you go everywhere that your soldiers go and when you're deployed, every sense that you have is working at 110% capacity because it has to, because your life depends on it, and the person next to you's life depends on it.”
 
He received the Purple Heart for injuries sustained when his Humvee was attacked by a group of Taliban.  “And then, when you start getting shot at, it becomes a lot more real. Then there’s the mind-numbing routine, hours without sleep, and thoughts about home.  According to one study, a third of the troops serving on the front lines develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

But one ministry hopes to change that statistic using a bit of ingenuity and the word of God.
    
Major Cassady says he used this technology to de-stress while he was deployed in Afghanistan. At night when he was off duty he would listen to the New Testament on a military Biblestick developed at Faith Comes by Hearing.

According to Major Cassady, “The dramatized version allows you to feel like you are there.  It has immersed you into that day and age and you're more calm.  You're more comforted. You are more relaxed.  You are less anxious.  You remember again what your faith is about.  You remember your family, and a lot of recalling of those things that have grounded you.”

Troy Carl, the Vice President at Faith Comes by Hearing, says the military Biblestick project was developed with today’s soldier in mind.  The average age of persons serving today, forward deployed, is about 24 years old.  Providing the word of God in an audio form gives them a way to engage with the Bible that's close to their generation.  It's the way they think.  It's how they're wired.”

When asked “How many Biblesticks are currently issued to troops on the ground today? Carl responded, “We’re barely keeping up with all new recruits that are coming into the military, so praise God, 720,000 military Biblesticks have been distributed.

Engineer Mike Jayne created the Biblestick.  A veteran himself, he understands the challenges facing these troops.  “And so that allows them to have sustainability out in the field.  But also one of the things that we've heard that has hit a sweet spot with the military is that they'll go out on a deployment or a patrol and they'll be out for 16 hours, 18 hours, and they come back exhausted, but they're all keyed up from being out on patrol and they'll pop the earbuds into their head and turn it on and lay down on their cot, and it allows them to pull away from everything that happened through the day out and, where they'd be perhaps too tired to sit down and read their Bible, this allows them to get themselves into a good place and listen to scripture without exerting any extra effort, cause they're exhausted.

By all reports, hearing the word of God is helping put their minds at ease.  
 
Mike Jaynes happily reports, “The testimony we do get back that I’ve been able to read talks about people that have been at the end of their rope emotionally, spiritually, physically, and that this is something that allows them to have something to grab ahold of.  This sustains them in difficult times.”

Troy Carl added, “So I can tell you that the best testimony is directly from a Master Sergeant that, after being deployed in Iraq, he was hit by an IED and he got a military Biblestick while he was in Iraq.  And he came to our ministry because he needed a replacement for the device and he said, ‘You've got to understand that this device is probably the most valuable tool for me.  I suffer from PTSD.’ and he said, ‘you know, my body will naturally repel the shrapnel that's in the flesh, you know, it works its way to the top of the skin and then the VA cuts it out.  He said, ‘But Troy, what do I do to repel the mental shrapnel that I’ve suffered from?’
He said, ‘The word of God, when I listen to it, it helps me get rid of the mental shrapnel that I deal with.’"

Troy and the team at Faith Comes by Hearing say giving soldiers access to God’s word not only helps relieve the stress of combat, but helps them answer the most important question of all.

Troy Carl commented, “Imagine being a young man or woman, serving in harm's way, and you're being faced with the very real circumstances of your own mortality.  Don't you want to know more than just a sermon or maybe something you heard?
You want to know, ‘What did Jesus really say?  And is my eternal salvation secure?’
Major Cassady added that ‘Our nation’s warriors and veterans deeply appreciate the profound, yet simple, gift of respect. ‘”

Chaplain, Major Cassady, closed by saying, “About 3% of-of Americans are Vets.  That means there's 97% of the people out there that can love on some Vets, let them know that they're cared for, that they're loved, that they're honored, that their service was not in vain, that their country loves them and supports them, in some real tangible ways. Thank them!”