CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where
the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous
dust, there's an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool
water.
It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water
shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for
weeks, as an opportunity.
''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get
baptized,'' he said.
And agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and
come up clean for the first time in weeks.
''They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed,'' Llano said.
First, though, the soldiers have to go to one of Llano's hour-and-a-half
sermons in his dirt-floor tent. Then the baptism takes an hour of quoting
from the Bible.
''Regardless of their motives,'' Llano said, ``I get the chance to take
them closer to the Lord.''
A blue-eyed 32-year-old with an abundance of energy, Llano goes out every
day to drum up grimy soldiers for his pool.
He talks to truck drivers, tank drivers, computer specialists -- anyone
and everyone. He goes out to the combat zone to the fighting soldiers and
the combat support soldiers who keep them in supplies.
''You have to be aggressive to help people find themselves in God,'' he
said.
He calls himself a ''Southern Baptist evangelist,'' and justifies the war
and killing with a verse from the Gospel of Matthew, which he often
recites: ``Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the
things that are God's.
''This means we are called upon by our government to fight and that is
giving unto Caesar, as the Bible tells us,'' he said.
Earlier this week, word went out that portable showers might be installed
here soon, but Llano was undaunted.
''There is no fruit out here, and I have a stash of raisins, juice boxes
and fruit rolls to pull out,'' the chaplain said optimistically.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/iraq/5554317.htm
