D. Castle-Shepard Transcript

November 25, 2007

Announcer: Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.

Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors Radio. Today is the day after Thanksgiving and we’ve got a lot to be thankful for. We have some troops over in the Middle East that is also celebrating Thanksgiving. We think a lot about military all the time and with the upcoming elections and all sorts of things. We have a unique opportunity today to speak with a fellow who often interacts with our troops. He has operated as a military chaplain for many years, he’s a 27-year citizens’ soldier and a veteran of Iraqi freedom in 2003. He also does practices social work with low-income clients.Welcome to the show, D. Castle-Shepard.

D. Castle-Shepard: Thank you.

Kent: What do you have planned for Thanksgiving this year?

D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I think we’re going to have a lot of family members here at our house, and I think we’re just going to relax. Relaxation is something that I feel is long overdue for this house. So, that’s the plan.

Kent: Your new book is titled Faith in the New Militia. What exactly does it mean, “Faith in the New Militia”? What is the new militia?

D. Castle-Shepard: Well, that’s an interesting question. Having been a National Guard member all my adult life, I notice that there wasn’t really a lot of good material to explain what the militia is in America. Of course, there’s a negative connotation to it because of the presence of some of the anti-government militias and in this age of terror that probably doesn’t help any.But I became very intrigued by the fact that in the founding of our nation, militia organizations that were really grassroots, the work of the people, the local communities produce them, they represent the neighborhoods. I just see in this age of a lot of confusion; I see a need for a new sense of renewal. Of course, in the time of globalization, I think we need a sense of localization because the globalization takes so many of us out of touch with people that we know that live around us. I think that is very much the heart of the society is, is the militia.So I see the militia as I say it in terms of not just the citizen soldiers today but also volunteers, people in the health care field who work in emergency situations, law enforcement, public health and all those things. I really see just a sense, a need to focus on that part of our society to sustain us.

Kent: In the area of elections, this is the most-I would say exciting-but it’s also the most drawn out election process that we’ve ever had. In this kind of climate, what do you see as this country needing? Do you see in one of these candidates or in several of these candidates, do you see what you’re looking for?

D. Castle-Shepard: A little bit. I’m one. I don’t publish this but I haven’t voted for the winning President for the past four elections. Some of those is just me personally, but I do see a good variety in the Presidential candidates this year. I guess what I hope is that we won’t allow major corporations to decide who should lead our country, but we can find somebody who truly captures the passion of grassroots Americans. I think caucuses especially are useful in the early states.I won’t make too many comments about my own political opinion here being under having some obligation to support my Commander-in-Chief. But I do see a good variety of candidates. I think there is real hope and I certainly maintain hope for finding the good leadership in 2008.

Kent: Now, you used to be a card-carrying member of the Christian Coalition. I know that you’re a man of very deep faith, and of course you are a practicing pastor. Tell me a little bit about your disillusionment with religion in politics.

D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I try to keep an open mind, but I have had a passion. I see a lot of the same passions that I’ve had all my life still being played out in various ways today. I almost wish I could say, “Hey, I’ve been doing this for 20 years. You ought to hear what I’ve learned.” But I watch the Christian Coalition, the religious right in general and I see a lot of things going in different directions with that now. Pat Robertson recently endorses Rudolf Giuliani, and that certainly surprises a lot of his supporters.But it’s occurred to me that while the religious right focuses so much on things like abortion and homosexuality, the issue of adultery being legal seems to be almost ignored. In the military for example, we are told and military personnel can be put in jail for an affair. That’s a fact for the military.But it’s not always true in the civilian life, and I don’t know if that could be a shock for a lot of soldiers who transfer to active duty for his deployments. They have to abide by a new sense of rules. But I ask why the religious right has been so focused on abortion and homosexuality and not even noticed the legalization of adultery. It’s a big issue but I think that if they’re going to be brave and bold, they should be able to tackle that one as well.

Kent: So have you had experience with the troops on Thanksgiving?

D. Castle-Shepard: I have. My experience when I was in Iraq in 2003, we spent Thanksgiving in Iraq. We had a very good Thanksgiving meal and that was memorable. I got a chance to serve myself along with some of the other leadership. I was their chaplain. I remember that, and of course, that was a time when they were all away from their families.We were about or maybe lesser than an hour from Baghdad in a small little camp called Kalso. There were a lot of hardships, but I did get to see the way that troops can experience a sense of togetherness, a sense of community, and Thanksgiving for all to have and even in harsh conditions. That’s what little knowledge I have of troops at Thanksgiving.

Kent: Over there right now, are they in a different place than they were back in 2003?

D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I’m told that and, of course, I haven’t been there since January of ‘04. But I’m told that troops that come back and officers who come back in the last few years say that if you have not been in Iraq in the last three months, you don’t know anything about it. So I don’t know anything about it, I guess.But I hear on the one hand, the month of October for example, was encouraging in the sense that the number of US fatalities went sharply down. However, the year 2007 is still being said to be the bloodiest year, a very hard year for US troops. So I have to believe it as a different place and probably different in the sense that the troops are all the more exhausted by now. The tension maybe higher today than they were five years ago.

Kent: I know that you spoke about how the troops have a lot to be thankful for and that’s very true. My question is what is it your job as a chaplain–and I know you might at some point go back over there–is to bring them back to their home, bring them back to reality. You’ve done and something that they’re familiar with. In what sense did some of the men not feel that and how did you assure them of that?

D. Castle-Shepard: Well, that is a very hard and almost a painful question just to even think about because there are many who come back, and the first that comes to my mind is after their marriages failed. I remember one soldier, a senior ranking individual who had been married for I think close to 30 years and his marriage failed. So it is very difficult to help them understand, “Yes, you are back home now.” But of course, one thing that chaplains would have to tell you at some point is that it’s very important to be there. We talk about the ministry of presence. A lot of times, the chaplain doesn’t get to do a whole lot more than just be there with the soldiers.So I think in practical terms, bringing the soldiers back home involves certain things like community events. Not a bombardment of community involvement but certainly events that allow the soldiers to realize and to accept appreciation that’s being offered to them–dinners and those kinds of things. Just small things that don’t have to become big and overblown, but just small things to let the community interact with the soldier returning to know their appreciation. I think the handshakes we get even one that we’ve gotten just back from the overseas theater or what. We give a lot of handshakes in these civilian communities. I certainly see the appreciation, and I encourage soldiers to accept that.

Kent: Your book is titled “Faith in the New Militia”. It’s available online, from your websitewww.DCastleShepard.com and from BloomingTwigBooks.com, and shortly, will be hopefully available from many other locations. Tell me a little bit about what your goal is after this book.

D. Castle-Shepard: Well, I thought about this a lot and of course I did spend several years working on this and Lars Clausen just said recently some authors spend six to eight years. I think I’m still chewing, aren’t I? I see it for myself, for one thing, as having been already a kind of therapy for me. It’s been a chance for me to express a lot of my thoughts and put them into words and I’ve done some journaling. The book is not a whole lot about me personally but it’s been a chance for me to put some things in perspective that are very important for me.Then I see myself being able to go to people that I know, and I’m being very cautious about how I do it. I’m not rushing into it, but I hope to approach universities and other gatherings where I can talk, through Christians, about the need, and not just Christians, but people of faith about the need. What I mention here is moralistic presumptions in the book. I think it’s important at a time like this to put presumptions down and be sober about the world we live in. So I hope to be able to speak to community gatherings and just dialog, interact and know that I’m teaching and I’m offering something useful to the people there.

Kent: D. Castle-Shepard’s new book is called “Faith in the New Militia”. It’s a real guidebook for us to look at in the new decade, in the new century, the new President to look towards firefighters, police and other small active militias to guide us into the new time.Thank you so much for being on the show.