TO AND FOR PEACE KEEPERS OF THE MILITARY AND ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT
AT ALL LEVELS AND ALL OF THOSE IN THEIR SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND ALL
WHO CARE ABOUT THEM AND THEIR WELFARE.
CHAPLAIN CORNER IS DEDICATED TO ALL PEACE KEEPERS, CURRENT AND
RETIRED, THOSE LIVING NOW... AND THOSE WHO HAVE PRECEDED US AND
PASSED ON FROM THIS EARTHLY SCENE. MY TERM PEACE KEEPER COVERS
ALL SECURITY, JAIL AND PRISON ATTENDANTS WHATEVER THE TITLE; LAW
ENFORCEMENT AT ALL LEVELS INCLUDING JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS;
MILITARY IN WHATEVER BRANCH; AND
THE SUPPORT SYSTEM PERSONNEL FOR ALL CATEGORIES IN WHATEVER
COUNTRY OF THIS WORLD YOU HAPPEN TO BE. YOU ARE VITAL TO OUR
WORLD AND MY COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF AND I CARE GREATLY FOR AND
ABOUT YOU. YOU ARE THE MINISTERS OF RIGHTNESS IN THIS WORLD...
AND THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT COULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT YOU!!!
IN ADDITION IT IS FOR THE PEACE MAKERS OF THIS WORLD. SOMETIMES
THESE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE AS PEACE KEEPERS... SOMETIMES THEY ARE
NOT... BUT PEACE MAKERS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY AS
ARE PEACE KEEPERS NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT.
PRAYERS ARE SAID DAILY FOR ALL WHO HAVE REQUESTED MY PRAYERS...
FOR ALL FOR WHOM I HAVE PROMISED TO PRAY... FOR ALL FOR WHOM I HAVE
BEEN INSTRUCTED TO PRAY... FOR PEACE KEEPERS... FOR FIREFIGHTERS...
FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL... DOCTORS... NURSES... TEACHERS... COUNSELORS... AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE ENGAGED IN THE TRANSPORTATION
OF THE GOODS WHICH WE NEED IN ORDER TO LIVE AND BATTLE THE EVIL IN
THIS WORLD...AND ALL OF THE FAMILIES AND ALL OF THE LOVED ONES OF
ALL OF THESE PEOPLE... FOR LEADERS OF THE WORLD... LEADERS OF THE
CHURCH... AND FOR SPECIFIC PEOPLE THAT HAVE SPECIFIC NEEDS...
PLUS YOU ARE INCLUDED IF YOU ARE READING THIS MATERIAL.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<+>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
MY DEEP GNAWING ACHE
Attitude, Stress and People kill... I look into your faces and I see your lives lived out each day. As you pass through my consciousness and my memory I note many things which adversely affect your lives and performance. What I see drives me to pray for you often. You are so vital to our way of Liberty and Freedom that I often weep and shudder at the cost I see in your faces, your lives, your relationships, your bodies and your spirits.
I shared the "FIVE PIECE PUZZLE OF STRESS MANAGEMENT" several times in these years. Those five things must be active in my life daily or I cannot function and be successful. I know from experience the cost of NOT applying those coping techniques. Three Stress Burnouts and several more very close calls with it have taught me that it must be applied and followed judiciously or we have no chance of escaping the deleterious affectations of neglect... IF WE DO NOT LEARN AND DO WHAT WE CAN WITH WHAT WE LEARN WE WIND UP FLAT ON OUR BACKS LOOKING UP AND WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO ME???
Much of life is arbitrary... you did not cause it nor can you avoid it. It must be dealt with as it comes with whatever resources you have at hand. If you prepare ahead of time and build up coping resources you will have what you need... BUT YOU MUST LEARN ABOUT AND USE ALL PIECES OF THE PUZZLE OR SURVIVAL WILL ESCAPE YOU. YOU MUST DEAL WITH THE STRESS OR IT WILL DEAL WITH YOU. This goes far beyond your formal warrior training.
Review the history of Peace Keepers and you will find there people who quite probably denied that the job would cost them what it cost. Some of the costs CAN be avoided with proper attitude and effort,BUT NOT IF WE DO NOT LEARN AND PRACTICE!.
I have a tape and book library on the cost of denial of stress... or more properly distress. I am a Stress Management Instructor. My material covers all those things that take life and health from law enforcement personnel and military personnel... plus my experience of the cost many times over. As I sit here, think on you and write... I ache inside and all over because of what I know is happening to many of you in this very moment that you are on my mind and heart. Many of you are suffering...
and I am trying to reach you with a message of hope for your lives and for your success in your profession. Some times I have to stand by and watch until you gather a certain amount of load upon yourself before you will hear me... or heed what I write. I know this is true because I have been a young person who felt invincible; I have been a career Peace Keeper... I have been a husband; I am a father, grand father and great-grand father; I am an instructor who teaches practical application of life and health often... and yet I must stand by and wait until the crisis arrives before I see the info heeded... often they must come back and ask to have the info be imparted again... because it was not important enough to absorb the first time... nor the second time... nor the third time... and on... and on... and on...
We who teach had to learn a very simple process ourselves... Tell them what you are going to teach them... tell them what you have to teach them... and THEN TELL THEM WHAT YOU TOLD THEM... REPETITION!!!
I have been studying the same material for many, many years and I often find things I did not retain before. Sometimes it is as though it was never there before... BUT CHECKING PROVES THAT IT WAS. EVERY time I study I adjust my attitude and pray to be taught. My Eternal Captain and Master of my life taught simple things that we MUST do daily... BUT IT TOOK ME YEARS TO GET THE VITAL PRINCIPLES INSTILLED AND PRACTICED CONSISTENTLY.
This morning I watched a movie in which a new Deputy Marshal acted out just the same attitudes and actions I have seen so many times... The price of his education and awakening was far too costly.
This last couple of days I listened to and watched video from 2 officers being ambushed in Southern Indiana as they approached a motel on a call one night this week. The report was illegal drug activity. They were both ambushed and shot, but survived due to quick response from other officers and quick treatment by the arriving backup officers. Both wounded officers were hospitalized. One has a chest wound. One has a leg wound. The shooters escaped but were found later... Two were alive and one was dead by his own hand. Drugs and pipe bombs were found in the motel room.
On site filming gave the sights and sounds of the duty and the aftermath. I listened to the radio traffic. We can get some idea of the cost from those... BUT WE CANNOT EXPERIENCE HOW IT SMELLS AND FEELS. IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN THERE YOU CANNOT TRULY KNOW. One who has never been in a place to fight for life and survival CANNOT IDENTIFY WITH ONE WHO HAS!... IF YOU HAVE NEVER LOOKED DEATH IN THE FACE AND SURVIVED... YOU CANNOT IDENTIFY WITH ONE WHO HAS.
We have traveled a very long journey to this moment... me and my own experiences and my experiences with many Peace Keepers. In those experiences I have looked into the faces of thousands of military, law enforcement officers and battle weary veterans of both services. Some of them have never achieved a lasting peace for themselves. They could not find what they sought and could not allow any one to assist them... They had to be self sufficient or die trying... and some of them did just that... they either lost the zest for life and died while still moving and breathing... Or life left their shell of a body here and departed... by their own hand or because of overload and/or neglect. This leaves a deep gnawing ache within me!
MY CRY TODAY IS THAT THIS NOT HAPPEN TO YOU!!! If I could uncork a place in your head and pour this information into you and then activate it, I would spend the rest of my life doing just that!... but, I cannot!
If I could do anything more than I do to awaken you before the crisis comes I would do it!... BUT I MUST TRUST THE SPIRIT BY WHOM I WORK TO ENLIVEN MY WORDS ON PAPER SO THAT THE WORDS MIGHT GAIN AN ENTRANCE INTO YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS AND INTO YOUR SPIRIT. IF I COULD NOT COUNT UPON HIM WORKING WITH ME I WOULD NEVER SIT DOWN TO THIS KEYBOARD... I WOULD NEVER SEND A MESSAGE... BUT YOU ARE SO VITAL AND VALUABLE TO HIM... AND THEREFORE TO ME AS WELL, THAT I WILL USE ANY MEDIUM AVAILABLE TO ME TO TRY AND GET TO YOU.
IF IT BECAME MY DESTINY TO USE EVERY WAKING HOUR DOING JUST EXACTLY THAT... TRYING TO GET TO YOU... I WOULD GLADLY SPEND AND BE SPENT IN THAT MANNER FOR YOUR GOOD.
MOUNTIES, TROOPERS, SHERIFFS AND DEPUTIES, MARSHALS AND DEPUTIES AND ALL OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT... ANCIENT WARRIORS... SOLDIERS, SAILORS, MARINES, PILOTS AND PEOPLE WHO GREATLY AFFECTED THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD FOR GOOD HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MY HEROES. THE INFORMATION I QUOTE IN THESE MESSAGES ILLUSTRATES THE CRISIS STRIKING MY FAMILY (ALL PEACE KEEPERS). I CARE FOR YOU AS MUCH AS I CARE FOR MY CHILDREN, EVEN AS MUCH AS I CARE FOR THE ONE WHOSE WOUNDS I TEND DAILY. O GOD, HOW I CRY OUT THAT ALL OF YOU WILL ABSORB THAT WHICH WILL WORK FOR YOU AND PUT IT TO DAILY USE.
There is no one group of people anymore valuable to our society than the Peace Keepers. I know and see the marvelous things you accomplish against such tremendous odds... I know your hearts when you are on the field and in the battle. I personally know the thoughts, feelings, reactions and aftermath that follows costly duty. I know the physical letdown that follows life threatening episodes where you have faced death and destruction and survived victoriously... And I am so very glad that you are there doing all of the things you do that makes it possible for all the rest of us to have Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. We all owe to you a debt that it is not possible to ever repay. I will be for you, support you and cheer you on for as long as I have life within me.
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary. Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others. See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you. Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.
Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.
My daughter, Donna, is progressing slowly. We are still dealing with IV antibiotics, wound cleaning and packing and much bed rest but we are still doing better after this last surgery than after any of the other dozen or so in the last three years.
As it has always been... So it still is!!!
"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu
Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process.
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety)
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
===============================================================
All rights reserved. May not be duplicated without permission, except to be
forwarded with all source information for any quotation intact.
To subscribe to this free e-mail message for Peace Keepers,
write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.