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Duty Done In Iraq, Pastor Returns To Family

Photo courtesy of Dunaway Family

Army Chaplain Sam Dunaway, left, prays with soldiers in Iraq before they go out on a convoy.

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 25, 2008

Sam Dunaway heard a common theme among the troops he counseled this year as an Army chaplain in Iraq.

Family is what matters most, they told him. Some were learning it the hard way, through separation for months by miles and time zones.

Dunaway understood. He missed his family, too.

A year ago, his number came up. The Army has a shortage of chaplains, so the Riverview pastor was summoned to active duty for 400 days. It had been 10 years since the 51-year-old had donned a uniform. At an age when he was eligible to join the AARP, he went to war.

He left behind his wife of 25 years, Robin, six kids - three teens still at home - his infant grandson and his flock at Simmons Loop Baptist Church in Riverview.

And so it was with great excitement that he left Iraq last week, if only for a brief family reunion. It had been nine months since he'd kissed his wife and kids good-bye. The family drove to Camp Shelby in south Mississippi to meet him; no one wanted to waste a single day together.

Then, as with so many classic Christmas stories, Dunaway got his greatest gift from the most unlikely of givers: the Army.

Mission complete, came the orders last week. Go home to stay.

The 1-151 Calvary of the 39th Arkansas Brigade, the unit he was attached to, was released as of Christmas Eve from active duty, months earlier than anticipated.

"You don't get a better present than this," Dunaway said jubilantly by phone Saturday, a few hours after hugging his wife and kids at Camp Shelby. "We're all safe and we're all together. I deal so much in hurt and brokenness, so I can appreciate this more than ever.

"This is the greatest blessing."

Army Didn't Change Much

It's not that he didn't want to serve his country again. Sam Dunaway just wondered whether he had the physical mettle this time around.

He first joined the Army Reserves as a chaplain at age 36. He was already an ordained Baptist minister and a family man, but he felt a call to serve, and the extra money helped. He had tours stateside, in Germany and Kuwait.

In 1997, he went on individual ready reserve status as a major, receiving a $10,000 annual annuity. As the years rolled by, it seemed less and less likely he'd ever be called up again.

Dunaway had been leading his Simmons Loop congregation in Riverview for eight months when a delivery person dropped off an official looking manila packet at his doorstep last December.

Inside were orders to report to active duty. He would be part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"The Army hasn't changed that much," he told the Tribune before he left, as he packed up his regulation 70-pound duffel bag. "It's all about beans, bullets and mail. As long as a soldier is getting contact from home, he's usually pretty faithful and pretty strong."

But Dunaway had changed.

He went to Fort Jackson, S.C., for several weeks to make sure he could pass muster on the physical test for his age group. He did that, but after deployment to Iraq, he had other tests. Such as giving up his privacy, with community showers and the occasional lack of bathrooms.

Some of his fellow officers were half his age, prompting good-natured teasing. As a minister, he was taken aback by the profanity and colorful expletives used so freely by younger soldiers.

"I guess I'm just too old for locker-room humor," he admitted.

What he won't ever forget is their bravery. For that, he will always be grateful.

As a chaplain, he is considered a noncombatant and does not carry a weapon. Every time he traveled with a convoy "outside the wire" and into the war zone, the soldiers pledged to protect him. With that assurance, and armed with his worn Bible, he usually felt safe. The times he felt real fear for the troops and himself were the unexpected moments: when indirect fire slammed close to the base and violently shook his containerized housing unit, or when he and the others happened on an improvised explosive device out on the field.

He prayed with troops before they left on missions. Most bowed their heads; some stepped away from the group.

However, he wasn't there to provide spiritual guidance alone. His role was to listen as the soldiers shared their hearts and their struggles. That part, at least, was familiar.

He understood when they talked longingly of family back home. He had the same heartache. He missed "gazing into the tranquility" of his wife's eyes, and feeling his arms around her. He missed the ordinary tasks of being a dad, such as helping the kids with their homework at night.

Dunaway missed his grandson's first birthday, his silver wedding anniversary and teaching his teen daughter how to drive. He felt guilty about saddling Robin with the burden of running the house, dealing with school issues and keeping tabs on the children still at home - Danielle, 14, Robert, 15 and Becky, 17. Daughter Jesse, 22, lives nearby, a single mom juggling school, work and raising son Marc. The two other kids are in the military - 24-year-old Amber in the Air Force, 21-year-old Samuel in the Marines.

One month after Dunaway left, Robert was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a digestive system disorder. Dunaway wasn't there to deal with the medical tests, the visits to the doctors and the adjustment in his diet.

"There are things you take for granted when you have a spouse around," Robin says. "Things like 'Honey, can you pick up the kids?' Well, Honey's not here."

At first, she kept in touch with her husband by phone, spending close to $2,000 the first few months. That strained the family's tight budget. She learned of a way to place free calls to overseas military and became adept at daily e-mails. From Iraq, Dunaway recorded DVDs of him reading bedtime stories to Marc.

Robin never wanted her husband to worry about her, because he had an important job to do. Someone must really need him over there, she reasoned. She prayed a lot and believed that God would watch over Sam.

Still, when she turned on the evening news and heard about another American death in Iraq, she couldn't help but get scared.

When terrorists launched attacks in India, she wondered how it would affect her husband's unit.

"Sam is not the type of chaplain who sits in his office," she says. "I know he's on the road with the troops on convoys. It was always better to talk to him when the mission is over, instead of before. Then I know he's safe."

At Thanksgiving, Dunaway learned he was about to gain a son-in-law. Amber, based in Oklahoma, announced plans to marry a fellow airman. She scheduled the wedding for two days after Christmas at the Camp Shelby chapel so her dad, then scheduled for a short leave, could meet her betrothed and give her away.

The Dunaways, staying in cabins they rented south of Hattiesburg this week, are getting acquainted with Jeffrey Thomas, their newest family member - and reacquainted with each other.

Anxious To Resume Home Life

Next month, the readjustment to home and church life begins.

Associate pastors Richard Hosea and Larry Cusick are sharing the leadership role at Simmons Loop, ushering the congregation through difficult financial times. Attendance is steady at about 200, but members are struggling with the church's $700,000 debt from a building project.

Every Wednesday night, they offered prayers for their pastor in absentia, asking for God's protection as he served his country in Iraq.

Dunaway says he is eager to resume the challenges of raising three teens and ministering a close-knit congregation. He will miss the friendships he forged in the past nine months, and won't forget the soldiers he left behind. Faith, he believes, is never static, and his grew from his experience.

According to Luke's gospel, angels heralded the birth of Christ to the shepherds below: Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. For Dunaway, that Scripture has taken on a much more personal message.

"I feel a need for a quiet togetherness this Christmas season," he says. "No anger, no fear, no turmoil. Just a quiet peace with my family and friends to share the hope of Christ and the blessing of God."

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The Dunaways reflect on life without Dad in Michelle Bearden's "Keeping the Faith" segment Friday at 5:30 p.m. on WFLA-TV. She can be reached at (813) 259-7613.

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