Tag Archives: Desert Storm

Hidden in plain sight (John 14:15-17), March 30, 2017

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

 

  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. Have you ever been around someone you should have known but didn’t? Or you were with someone you thought everyone else should know but didn’t? Today’s lesson talks about that problem.
  3. Scripture
    1. John 14:15-17
    2. Jesus: If you love Me, obey the commandments I have given you.  I will ask the Father to send you another Helper, the Spirit of truth, who will remain constantly with you.  The world does not recognize the Spirit of truth, because it does not know the Spirit and is unable to receive Him. But you do know the Spirit because He lives with you, and He will dwell in you.
  4. Devotional
    1. I do some part-time work training senior medical staffs on the use of some software I was a part of visioning almost two decades ago. At that time, the then future Surgeon General and I were in discussion about what would be useful for commanders to know to better anticipate medical needs on the battlefield.
      1. Wrote the medical support plan for Desert Storm
      2. Commanded medical units in the field
      3. Trained medical units of all sizes
      4. Had a pretty good idea of what would help if the right information could be collected
    2. Enter more recent technology
      1. Higher speed Internet
      2. Hardened machines that could handle the rough treatment of field conditions
      3. Electronic medical records
      4. Processing speeds that could assimilate information rapidly
      5. Databases with the power to analyze information on the fly
    3. I get to teach and train some of those systems for decision making
      1. Retired more than ten years
      2. Senior commanders now were captains and majors when I retired
      3. Many weren’t in the service when Desert Storm happened and those plans were written
      4. Some of their staff weren’t even born
      5. They don’t know me or my expertise
      6. They don’t know I’ve been where they are or authored the changes to doctrine they are using to support the battlefield
      7. Just another contractor to most
    4. But to some
      1. They’ve read the records
      2. They remember the conflicts
      3. They’ve seen the documents that supported the doctrine
      4. They’ve seen my picture in the halls of the schoolhouse
      5. And remember
      6. With those, I often have long after hour conversations during those training days as they ask questions about how I came up with the plans, how the training was orchestrated, how the plans were written, how the communications were executed, how the casualties were evacuated and accounted for under such austere conditions. They pick my brain…what little is left.
    5. Imagine what we can learn from the spirit of God when we recognize Him!
      1. Jesus let His disciples in on the secret and passes it on to us
      2. Believe in Him
      3. His spirit will live in us
      4. We will recognize Him and He will give us incredible knowledge and empower us to become more like Him each day
  5. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Don’t get lost in despair! (John 14:1-4), March 26, 2014

Leave a reply

Today’s Podcast


Subscribe in: iTunes|Download

 

  1. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
  2. Have you ever been lost in despair? We probably have all had those moments at one time or another. I found myself in one of those spots many years ago and it took God to pull me out.
  3. Scripture
    1. John 14:1-4
    2. Jesus: Don’t get lost in despair; believe in God, and keep on believing in Me.  My Father’s home is designed to accommodate all of you. If there were not room for everyone, I would have told you that. I am going to make arrangements for your arrival.  I will be there to greet you personally and welcome you home, where we will be together.  You know where I am going and how to get there.
  4. Devotional
    1. I’ve told the story before, and you can read the long version in my book “The Dream” which you can find on Amazon if you want to read it.
    2. Desert Storm August 1990, Saddam Hussein crossed into Kuwait
      1. Medical planner for XVIII Airborne Corps
      2. Spent a couple of weeks planning the defense of Saudi Arabian – Kuwaiti border
      3. Started planning the offensive campaign in September
    3. 24th Infantry Division wanted to move across the desert to the Euphrates River with blitzkrieg speed.
      1. Crush anything in their path and move on
      2. Planned to move 635 miles as fast as possible – 5 to 10 days
      3. Intelligence said Iraq would use chemical weapons since they had used them on their own people, the Kurds, in the NW to quell their revolt
      4. With chemical rounds available, estimated 3,000 casualties per day
    4. Army had never moved that fast against that formidable a force according to our intelligence
      1. Soviet weapons systems
      2. Chemical munitions
      3. Dug in positions
      4. Distances would stretch across 600 miles of desert, too far for helicopters to fly without refueling
    5. Medical support for that kind of warfare seemed impossible
      1. My responsibility to write the plan to save those 3,000 lives per day
      2. Casualty meant died or wounded, most would be wounded and need medical support
      3. How do you put the right medical support within reach of the soldiers on the front line when it takes five days to set up a hospital in the field?
      4. Platinum 10 minutes; Golden hour; Surgery in two hours
      5. Moving 600 miles in five days,
      6. no organic vehicles to carry all the equipment required to set up the hospitals, they are stationary once established
      7. Shared vehicles moved ammunition, water, food
    6. I couldn’t figure it out
      1. No precedence in history
      2. No current doctrine to support that kind of move without a lot more assets than were available
      3. If the estimates were right, thousands would die
      4. Despair
    7. October 12, 1990
      1. Awoke from a dream
      2. Maps of the battlefield showing all the medical unit movements
      3. Knew how to support the movement of the corps through their rapid movement
      4. Medical units did treat thousands of casualties, but not American
      5. Wounded Iraqi soldiers abandoned by their units as they retreated under the pressure of the Allied attack
      6. Desert Storm medical support changed Army doctrine in many areas, but especially in the medical support of active combat
    8. Dream came from God, convinced of it
      1. Don’t get lost in despair, believe in God and keep on believing in Jesus. He comes through at just the right time…always.
      2. You can read the whole story in my book, “The Dream” available on Amazon.
      3. God truly is an amazing God.
  5. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.