God at Work at Army ROTC Advanced Camp

LTC Greg Lane, USAR

Last summer I was a platoon TAC officer at Army ROTC Advanced Camp at Fort Lewis, WA. When I was assigned, I didn’t know I was headed into a wonderful six weeks of spiritual and professional blessings!

The principle of Matthew 6:33 (seeking God’s kingdom first and other things flow from that) came alive for me as a platoon TAC officer for forty cadets at Advanced Camp. Keeping in mind Jesus’ warning about not being ashamed of Him (Mark 8:38), I identified myself as a Christian as part of my welcome brief to the platoon. This opened doors for Christian cadets to freely approach me later with a variety of questions. The resulting discussions were refreshing, inspiring, prayer-inducing, and thought-provoking. I was impressed with the depth of faith of some of my platoon members.

Soon my platoon of cadets began garnering awards. Our platoon average on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) was highest in the regiment, earning us the first guidon streamer awarded. In short order, we won five other streamers. That was exciting, but so were events on the spiritual front.

Brandon Saguil, a cadet from Xavier University, took the lead in getting platoon devotionals going. Reginald Foster from the University of Texas led a platoon prayer for our cadets who were retesting on the written land navigation test and on the APFT. Ed Blount of New Mexico State University helped out with platoon devotionals.

In addition to cadets in my platoon, I also had a chance both in my regiment and at chapel to meet and encourage other Christian cadets. I tried to stimulate them to love and give witness to other cadets. I talked and prayed with Jennifer Aurelius of Morehead State University, a cadet in my regiment and then encouraged her and prayed for her as she strove to live a Christian witness as a fairly new Christian during the entire camp. At chapel, I met Hope Farris of East Tennessee State University, Wallace Boswell of Marion Military Institute, and Rebecca Lykins of Ohio University. Hope, by the way, was her school’s cadet battalion commander, which placed her in a great position to work for the Lord! Just before graduation, I met Linda Simpson, another Christian cadet in my regiment, who is in OCF at Ohio State University.

Chaplain (LTC) Dwight Riggs, and other camp chaplains, were very supportive of OCF. They allowed OCF cadre to talk about OCF each week at chapel, and they helped host the late Tom Hemingway’s visit.

Speaking of chaplains, the grand spiritual finale for the platoon and me was an outstanding devotional given by a friend now serving at Fort Lewis, Chaplain (CPT) Paul Lasley of the 2nd Ranger Battalion. He gave a devotional two nights before graduation on being prepared to live by being prepared to die. Using John 3 as his text, he gave a very clear presentation of the Gospel. A very bold message, it went over well with the cadets, who were also awed at seeing a Ranger chaplain up close!

It took the Lord’s intervention to put me in a position to even be in the cadre at Advanced Camp. Since I was involuntarily separated in August 1992, I had tried several times to reenter the Army. All efforts were unsuccessful, and finally in the fall of 1998, I had resigned myself that the Lord did not want me working full time for the Army. However, almost miraculously, God used Army officer personnel shortages and an employment initiative through the defense contractor MPRI to allow me to be hired as a full time Army ROTC instructor at my last active duty assignment, Austin Peay State University (APSU). Eventually I was even promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. The stage was set for me to be at Fort Lewis.

For cadets or cadre headed for ROTC Advanced Camp in 2001, be encouraged. God is there—just look around and don’t be bashful about your faith.

LTC Greg Lane, USAR, is an assistant professor of military science at APSU. He and his wife, MAJ Lucy Lane, USAR, are the OCF area coordinators for Fort Campbell.