I decided to become a Chaplain because of an intense love for God and Country. I joined the Army to serve my country, though I also knew I was called to minister. The Chaplaincy is awesome, because now I am a Soldier and minister each and every day to Soldiers where they live and work.

My relationship with the Soldiers changed dramatically as we went into the field. The more time spent on a deployment and in combat, or even just time in garrison, the more rapport is built with them. They trust me and open themselves as I reach out to them and interact with them.

I remember a night in which the squadron was moving towards the Euphrates River to capture a bridge. There were five firefights that lasted a total of over eight hours. During those firefights we were involved with, I was the driver/radio operator/navigator while my Chaplain Assistant — Sergeant Santiago Iriarte — rode in the passenger seat scanning with his M-16 rifle providing security for the Unit Ministry Team (UMT). That night was a defining moment for me. It was there that I knew what it was to rely wholly on God and experience what the Chaplaincy was all about.

"Ministry of Presence" means being with the front line troops in the midst of combat giving encouragement, prayer and support. Before we contacted the enemy, one of my Soldiers said to me, "Chappy, I'm glad you're in the vehicle right behind me. Now I know we will make it."

I love the fact that every day I go to work looking forward to doing my job.

Chaplain Balog was instrumental in assisting me in my own search to find God. Shortly before deploying, I began to attempt to repair my relationship with God (I was a devout atheist for the last twenty years). Chaplain Balog was always available, getting me religious reference materials whenever I asked and spending many hours answering my questions or providing new ideas to think about.

Once we deployed to Kuwait (to enter Iraq), I cannot stress enough the positive role model CH Balog represented and what lengths he went to be with'and be seen by'the troops. Even when he was stationed miles away from our troop, he seemed to be around on a near daily basis. He was the most inspirational Army Chaplain I have ever seen in my thirteen years in the Army.

There were no special circumstances that brought the Chaplain and me together, except that he always seemed to be around, spreading positive energy and raising morale wherever he went. The biggest contribution he gave was listening to my questions and guiding me towards finding the answers myself. He never tried to "force" God or his views on me, but patiently gave me room to make the discoveries for myself.

We could just look at him and say, 'Hey, all this isn't affecting him, so obviously things are pretty good.' Chaplain Balog was a tremendous, positive influence'he was always there, a constant source of calm and reassurance when everything could get pretty chaotic.

I am now pretty devout and growing stronger. In fact, not long ago I talked to Chaplain Balog to find out what it would take for me to become a Chaplain myself.

The good thing about Chaplain Balog? When he talked to us he was able to relate to us on our level. He used to be an enlisted Soldier in the first Gulf War, so he knew what we were going through. He's been there, done it before. Plus being right there, he was going through it, so he knew how everyone else felt. He was having the same type of feeling, so you knew when you approached him what you were going to get, because he understood exactly where you were coming from.

I remember approaching him to have him hold onto a letter I wrote to my family in case something happened to me. To be able to confide in him about things like that, that's kind of special.

He always tried to take his Scriptures and relate it to the aspects of what we were doing as Soldiers and everybody always got a kick out of that. He would always reference things like, 'What would you do with your Bradley [a tracked vehicle]' and compare it to the Scripture and stuff like that. Everybody always got a kick out of it, because you really had a Soldier there giving you the sermon. It wasn't just a preacher standing up there on a box.

Just prior to us crossing over the boarder into Iraq [from Kuwait], he was putting a lot of miles on the Humvees, because we were spread out. We were going to lead the whole Division across. It was the day before we departed. He came out and he had some holy water and blessed all the vehicles. I watched him going from vehicle to vehicle on that Humvee.

We led the whole 3rd Infantry Division all the way to Baghdad. We were saved by the grace of God. I had a mortar round land two feet from my vehicle and stick in the mud; I had a rocket propelled grenade glance off my track one foot from my face an explode into a building. All of my fellow Soldiers have stories like this. God is the reason and 'Chappy' was the man who kept us close to him.

As far as that letter goes that I had him hold onto for my family? I talked to him about it and he said he still had it. I said, 'You know, I'm probably going to have to get that letter back from you. I don't think I need it anymore.'