'In the Hands of God'

In training, Bailey qualified as an expert marksman. He trusts in his training. He also trusts in God, though that's not a requirement for the job. In chaplain assistant school, Bailey, a Pentecostal, trained alongside a Catholic, a Buddhist, and an atheist. What's required of chaplain assistants is a respect for all religions. That, and a keen interest in office work.

Bailey's chaplain, Jamie Deason, is strapped in next to him. Chaplain Deason is a captain, not quite old enough to be Bailey's father, but with more power over him than most fathers of twenty-one-year-olds like Bailey. In the past week Deason has lectured Bailey about making sure his ammunition is secure at all times, monitored his jetlag, and told him when to sleep. Deason has joked with him, sung with him, planned religious services with him. Still, some of Bailey's fellow young enlisted soldiers are too intimidated by officers to go to a chaplain if they need help; they're more likely to open up to an assistant like Bailey, who can then get them to Deason.

The C-130 touches down on FOB Diamondback. In the darkness of the fuselage, Bailey hoists his rucksack, picks up his M-16, and files down the C-130's ramp with the other passengers -- soldiers and Department of Defense civilians. Beyond the tail of the plane, the tarmac stretches bright and exposed all the way to the terminal buildings. Bailey checks over his shoulder for Chaplain Deason. Right behind him. Bailey steps off the ramp into the warm, jet-fueled breeze of the C-130's engines, expecting to hustle his chaplain to safety. Instead, a civilian member of the groundcrew leads the passengers across the tarmac at a leisurely stroll.

That's the first surprise. Then a first sergeant shows Deason to his quarters, a small metal shipping container. It's one of a whole neighborhood of containers jammed side by side into long rows. The first sergeant leads Bailey away through the rows. To keep down the dust and mud, the ground is smothered beneath smooth landscaping pebbles. This forces them both to walk slowly and awkwardly; their steps sound like they're kicking bags of marbles.

Bailey slogs behind the first sergeant to the far corner of the housing area. He notices a concrete bunker along the way. He knows this FOB gets mortared from time to time. He doesn't see how he can protect his chaplain from so far away. "Uh, first sergeant? I thought I'd be in the same room with the chaplain."

The first sergeant rounds on him with a glare. "You don't stay in the same room as an officer!"

The next morning, Bailey makes sure he's waiting outside when Chaplain Deason opens his door. Together, they head over to the FOB's low-slung, dusty headquarters -- in a combat zone the chaplain assistant goes everywhere the chaplain goes. When Deason disappears into a closed-door meeting, Bailey waits in the hallway.

The sergeant major comes down the hall. With a pistol strapped under his arm, the battalion's senior enlisted man looks like a kindly uncle who can also kick your ass. He gestures at Bailey's M-16. Since Bailey is required to carry it everywhere, he's carrying it in the most comfortable way he can find -- slung to the front, muzzle down: the low ready position, as in, low but ready to bring up and fire.

The sergeant major shakes his head. "The low ready is a threatening stance." He shifts the weapon around to Bailey's back. "We didn't come to scare the Iraqi civilians around here."

When Deason emerges again, Bailey tramps behind him, his long M-16 banging uncomfortably against his back.

A week later, just before Bailey's first chapel service in Iraq, he picks up his M-16 and hustles for the door. In chaplain assistant school, he learned that whenever the chaplain holds a service in a hostile environment, the chaplain assistant stands guard. On the way out, he tells Deason, "I'm going outside to provide security."

Another chaplain assistant watches him go. The assistant, a kid in a man's uniform, snorts derisively, like someone only too glad to find a greener rube than himself. "Did he say 'provide security'? Give me a break."