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Major Ernie Carroll, director of missions for the Friendship Baptist Association in Alabama, returned this spring from a 13-month deployment to Iraq as a chaplain in the Alabama Army National Guard. He was stationed at Camp Falcon in Baghdad, Iraq, with the 231st Military Police Battalion.

"I am still in the process of discovering how this life-changing event has changed me," Carroll said in an interview with The Alabama Baptist after his return. In a question-and-answer session, Carroll talked about his experiences and those of the soldiers he serves.

Among the questions he was asked was, "What is the greatest need soldiers have, and how can Alabama Baptists meet it, and what were some of the ways churches ministered to deployed soldiers?"

His response: "Each soldier needs prayer and they need to know that you are praying for them. The prayers of Alabama Baptists were effective and used by God for me and my ministry. The corporate prayers of Christians are the greatest resource deployed soldiers have available. We need to remember in prayer the families of those soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice and not let their service be forgotten."

"The churches sent care packages, phone cards and prayer notes. We were all on the Wednesday night prayer lists, and we knew we were being kept before God by Christian people at Wednesday night prayer meetings," said Carroll. "It told the soldiers they were not forgotten and that they were supported back home. By taking the time and money to send care packages, the churches were saying, 'We remember you and we care.' It made my work as a chaplain more effective, because I had something tangible to place in the hands of the soldiers. It became a ministry of care and comfort."

When asked why he felt he was now a different person, Carroll explained, "I am a combat veteran. I understand what my dad experienced as a combat veteran in Korea. My deployment to Baghdad, Iraq, was a life-changing event. Probably everything in my life will be referenced to as that was 'before Baghdad' or that was 'after Baghdad.' I am still in the process of discovering how this life-changing event has changed me. I have a deep appreciation for freedom. Having fought for freedom, I view it differently than I did before."

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