News

Prayer Luncheon draws record-breaking crowd

  • Published
  • By Lanorris Askew
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  For 90 minutes, the Robins chain of command took a back seat to the ultimate chain of command and the idea of faith as 520 Team Robins and local community members joined in the name of prayer during the Robins National Prayer Luncheon Tuesday.

The message, delivered by Chaplain (Capt.) Jeff Struecker, 75th Ranger Regiment chaplain, Fort Benning, centered on faith and how it can be tested. His journey to a better understanding of faith was captured in the book and later the movie "Black Hawk Down." Hearing the story first hand brought applause from the audience.

"Faith is important when bullets are flying," he said as he recounted how in 1993 he and a group of Army Rangers were tasked with several recovery missions in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The missions were under heavy fire from an armed militia bent on revenge. The loss of one of his Rangers at the beginning of the mission shook everyone's faith in their ultimate success.

"I've never in my life experienced fear like in the back of that Humvee," he said.

He said God gave him a sense of peace and comfort he had never had before or since.

"That's the difference between someone with faith and someone without," he said.

At that moment he decided everything would be fine because he was going home after the battle.

"I knew I would either be going home to my family in Georgia or home to my father in heaven," he said.

He said that thought alone gave him the ability to go back out into harm's way and endure another life threatening mission.

The following morning brought with it a line of Rangers asking how he had been able to keep his composure under such circumstances.

He explained it had been his faith and that cemented his new career as a chaplain.

"Those who wear the uniform will be put in harm's way," he told the audience. "Settle your faith with God."

He went on to speak to others.

"Those not in uniform, don't take for granted that you will be here tomorrow. You need to settle the issue too," he said.

"Capt. Struecker was an awesome speaker. He is a living testimony that if you have faith in God, he will never leave you nor forsake you," said Tokasa Lane, 78th Force Support Squadron secretary. "Because of his strong faith, God sent His angels of mercy to protect him during battle. If anyone ever doubted the scripture that says, 'no weapon formed against thee shall prosper,' Captain Struecker's message should alleviate any doubt."

Chaplain (Capt.) Joshua Payne, Robins chaplain, said the audience was the largest since the event began here and tickets sold out in two weeks.

"It was a great turnout," he said.

Attendees were from across the installation including soon-to-be residents from the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 733 command section which flew in from Atlanta. Also in attendance were the Army JSTARS Det. 7 command section, 116th Air Control Wing command section, the Air Force Reserve Command chaplain's office and members of the local business community.