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PATROL BASE MEADE, Iraq (July 21, 2008) - Army Chaplain (Capt.)
Eric Light gives a weekly sermon and is available for counseling
whenever a Soldier might need it. But he is not your ordinary
chaplain.
"When I was in college, money was kind of hard to come by, so I
became a stunt guy to pay for college," said Light, who serves with
the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry
Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
In the late 1980s, Hollywood was experiencing a writers' strike.
Feeling the pinch from a lack of work there, some of the companies
in show business took their shows on the road.
"A guy who was a stuntman moved into town and would put on a
Wild West show while trying to obtain the contracts for movies when
they came through," said Light, a native of Kingspen, Tenn., and a
graduate of East Tennessee State University. "We happened to go to
the same church, and he took me under his wing, teaching me the
ropes."
Light began working at the Wild West show, which led to
performing a few stunts for television shows such as "Unsolved
Mysteries" and "Rescue 911." The work on those shows paid most of
his way through college.
Following college graduation in 1993, Light quit the stunt man
life and began what he said he believed to be his true calling,
ministry. He started working with college students in a
counselor-like role at the University of Michigan, then at the
University of California State in Fullerton.
After the university's program diminished due to a lack of
funding, Light found himself without a job. He struggled to find
employment for a few years, eventually distributing a resume with
the hope someone would contact him for work.
He finally got a call, but from an unexpected place: the
Army.
"I got a call from a retired Army chaplain asking if I'd be
interested in being a chaplain in the military. I told him, 'No,'
because I wanted to work with college-age kids from 18 to 25 years
old." Light said.
"He kind of laughed at me after that statement, because Soldiers
of that age make up a lot of the Army. After that, the light bulb
came on, and I knew this was what God was calling me to do."
Over the next 15 months, he lost 50 pounds to meet the Army's
weight standards and headed off to basic chaplains training. After
graduation, he was assigned to the 1-187th Infantry Regiment, where
he received word that he would be deploying to Iraq.
"Getting deployed was never a problem for me," Light said. "All
of the active-duty people in my class were getting deployed, so I
knew it was a matter of time. What good would I be if I could not
deploy with the Soldiers I am here for?"
Light said he constantly is learning and trying to improve
himself as a better chaplain during his first deployment. Recently,
he had an experience that served as a confidence booster.
"I was sitting outside reading when the company commander came
walking by and told me I was a good chaplain," he recalled. "For
someone outside of the Chaplain Corps to randomly come up to me and
notice what I was doing, that really proved to me that being here
was the right thing and that I was doing a good job."
While he isn't outside the wire all the time, Light said, he
knows his job is equally as important. He must be there not only
for the Soldiers who are deployed, but also for their families back
at home.
"Never in our nation's history have families had to give up so
much," he said. "While I'm not out there on the front line
fighting, it's my job to be there for [Soldiers] when they come
back. If I can help prepare these Soldiers to go back to their
families, I'm doing my part."
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