Christmas can be a time of separation and grief for our servicemen and women in hot spots around the world. Helping shoulder the heartache are the Army Chaplains. Heather Grant reports.

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 As the Last Post echoed across Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera, Padre Lyall Cowell cringed.

 “I have come to hate that tune,” he muttered.

 The bugler was preparing for the memorial service of Corporal Ashley Birt, a member of 1^st Topographical Survey Squadron and one of three Australian soldiers murdered by a rogue Afghan soldier in October.

Ordained in 1973, Padre Lyall became a military chaplain in 2003. In his two years at neighbouring 2^nd Combat Engineers, Padre Lyall has officiated at two funerals for fallen diggers. Sapper Darren Smith and Sapper Jacob Moerland died after an improvised explosive device detonated during a patrol in Afghanistan.

 As more troops prepare for deployment in 2012, Padre Lyall reflected that this Christmas season would be “bittersweet”.

 “The army is like an extended family. When someone is lost, we all feel that loss. Corporal Birt’s death has renewed the grief,” Padre Lyall said.

“This Christmas we have soldiers scattered all over the place – Timor, Solomon Islands and Afghanistan, doing their jobs.

 “They are professional soldiers. Everyone knows the job in Afghanistan is risky but Lord, no one could have expected the losses we’ve seen…

  “We’ll be gathering as we do for Christmas, and there’ll still be the sausages sizzling on the barbeque and kids running around having a ball, jumping in the bouncy castle, but the undercurrent of apprehension, trepidation, is keener at this time of year for the families of troops overseas.

“And I’ll need to be excused by my own family for having the mobile glued to my ear because I’ll be speaking with the partners of those deployed making sure they are alright and no one is alone at home for Christmas.”

Military chaplains—called padres in the army—are, according to the Anglican Chaplains brochure, ‘sent out from the church to minister wherever opportunities arise’.

Padre Lyall’s immediate congregation, 2^nd Combat Engineers, has an enviable 300 young people, aged 25 and under. “It is the largest youth group I’ve ever had!” he exclaimed.

“Many have not been church goers prior to joining the Army. During basic recruit training, there is a requirement to attend church which may be the first contact with a padre, there’s a whole series of lectures on the role of padre and the padre lectures recruits on moral values.

“Guys also get to know that if you’ve got problems, go see the padre. We’re known to open backdoors to make things happen, to network.

“Too right,” piped up Sapper John Wainwright, 19. “The Padres’ network is the best communication system, with a direct line to the Big Fella and our chain of command!”

Wainwright was on deployment in Afghanistan earlier this year when his father suffered two strokes. Within hours, padres in Brisbane and Tarin Kwot had lobbied for his urgent return to Australia to be by his dad’s bedside.

Military chaplains assist soldiers with their wills and financial planning, counsel them on grief and loss, and deal with tough questions.

 ”When Diggers ask why the Big Fella let an incident happen, it’s an opportunity to explore God,” said Padre Lyall.

 “Australian soldiers do not have a history of shooting women and children. Yet who is the enemy in Afghanistan? The Taliban don’t wear uniforms. So who is your opponent…that chap sitting over there smoking a cigarette, that child in the centre of the road staring at you, the woman walking by in a long flowing burka? In fact, is it a woman? With only the eyes showing you don’t know? Is there a bomb under that burka? Part of my ministry is to support soldiers who struggle with the knowledge of the action they may be required to take.”

 Padres also keep an eye on the home fires, supporting family.

“The padre and my XO [executive officer] rang my mum a few times during my time away to check on her. She thought that because she worked in Defence, she’d handle me being away. But I guess it’s different when it’s personal,” mused Lance Corporal James Darby, 26.

Mowing, cooking, and an ear to vent to all are part of the service Padre Lyall offers. As is the unenviable task of breaking the news of loss.

My first Christmas

Padre Lyall Cowell knows what it is like to be away from family at Christmas.

“My first Christmas away from my own family was during deployment to East Timor in 2006,” he recalled.

 “It was the hottest Christmas I have ever known. I did three Eucharist services that Christmas. For the first I was dressed in a t-shirt under camouflage shirt with a white alb and stole over that. By the second service, the shirt was gone. By the third, I stood there in t-shirt and stole!”

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Heather Grant is a freelance journalist. This article was first printed in Focus – The paper of the Brisbane Anglican Diocese.

Chaplain Lyal Cowell was also interviewed in Novemeber by Brisbane Radio’s Terri Begley. You can listen to Lyal on the 612 ABC site here.