Liberty Grad Chaplains Help Change Lives in the Persian Gulf
By Kim Davis McBride received orders to leave for Saudi Arabia The Gulf War resulted in recognition for Gen. Norman Schwarzkoff, Gen. Colin Powell and only two weeks after he had been placed on active thousands of military men. Chaplains, however, duty and stationed at Fort Bragg, N C . The news came as a shock to his family. "We often got lost in the crowd. Their stories were not told in newspapers or magazines, but they will be weren't prepared for it," McBride said. "My family was really hit hard, and I didn't know when I would told in a book - the book of life. "What an opportunity to share the Lord," Chap- come back. They told us that w e could be gone lain (Capt.) Terry McBride said after returning anywhere from 12 to 18 months." McBride instantly began debating whether or not from the Persian Gulf. "The soldiers were away from friends, family, booze, drugs - there was he had made the right decision in becoming an A r m y chaplain. nothing to help them out but the Lord." "I began wondering if I had made the biggest It has been reported that thousands of U.S. military m e n and w o m e n trusted Christ as Savior mistake of m y life," he said. "I felt really overduring the Gulf War. Before returning to the U.S., whelmed and scared, because I didn't know what to McBride was able to baptize 28 of the 65 soldiers he expect." O n Sept. 27 McBride left for the Persian Gulf and had personally led to the Lord. "I baptized them in a baptism pool w e made out was assigned to the 18th Airborne Corps. H e began of the wooden flooring that was in the bunkers," he holding five Bible studies a week, Monday through said. "It was a real blessing. I'll probably never see Friday. that kind of ministry unless I go back into combat." "The guys were very responsive to the gospel, McBride graduated from Liberty Baptist Semi- especially when w e first got there," McBride said. nary in M a y 1990. While he was in school, he "The chapel services were packed." served in the A r m y reserves and pastored a church H e held five church services on Sunday. During in Roanoke. this time the soldiers received Bibles, sang from hymnals and took communion. "We had to use Kool-Aid and Saltine crackers," McBride said. "It was all w e had out there." McBride also helped with the work that had to be done. H e filled sand bags, built bunks, and set up tents, barbed wire and camouflage netting. "I pulled m y weight, and I was accepted very well," he said. From September to December, McBride's unit was stationed 35 miles southwest of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. They then moved to King Khalid Military City on Jan. 2. After the air war started on Jan. 16, they moved again, traveling approximately 450 miles to a location six kilometers from the Iraqi border. The 18th Airborne Corps, along with the 24th Infantry Division, engaged the enemy for the first time on Feb. 24, day two of the ground war. The unit then moved on to Al-Basara, where they came into combat with the Republican Guard, an elite Iraqi force. After the cease-fire came into effect, McBride and his unit were given orders to return to Log Base Charlie, their previous location, six kilometers from the Iraqi border. The ground war had been short, but intense. During this time McBride saw some of the most
