Army Major
Jeff Hawkins is the 2nd
Brigade Combat Team Chaplain
for the 82nd
Airborne Division. He
holds services in
warehouses, in bunkers, over
the hoods of Humvees, in
mess tents and as it could
be described – in the
trenches. Jeff, shown in
the insert, leads troops in
prayer at “Old Mod” in
Baghdad during a current 15
month deployment. Jeff’s
home is in Fort Bragg, NC
where his wife and son
live. His daughter just
graduated from college.
Jeff is an Illinois native
and a graduate of the
University of South
Florida. Upon graduation he
joined the Army and became a
Green Beret. As his first
tour in the Army was ending,
Jeff says he was “ambushed
by God.” He went to
seminary and rejoined the
Army as a Chaplain.
This
year, Jeff describes
Christmas as a day of
incredible highs and painful
lows… From the joy of Army
cooks outdoing themselves in
marvelous ways to feed
soldiers a dinner they would
not forget, to the pain of
hearing his Commander shout
above the prop-wash of the
helicopter as they board to
hop from one Combat Outpost
to another, “Jeff, we’ve
lost another soldier this
morning.” Then, upon
landing to hear yet again,
“We’ve lost another
Soldier.” - one more painful
low on Christmas Day.
Jeff
describes these hops from
Outpost to Outpost as being
like a progressive family
dinner with body armor.
However, these family
members are different from
those at home, they wear
body armor and they don’t
smell near as good. His
Chaplain’s Assistant carries
an M4 rifle and is his
bodyguard. Their transport
sleigh was a Blackhawk
helicopter because there was
no armor available for the
Rain Deer. In these
series of
progressive Christmas
visits, Jeff sees hundreds
of soldiers that he has seen
many times before – those he
has prayed with, cried with,
slapped on the back and
exchanged high fives with –
they all get a “Merry
Christmas.”
Jeff has,
thankfully, done more
baptisms than he has
memorial ceremonies.
He publishes
a monthly Newsletter called,
under orders
with interesting short
articles and great photos of
what is happening now!
Contact Jeff at
Jeffrey.d.hawkins@us.army.mil.
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