cover image Faith Under Fire: An Army Chaplain's Memoir

Faith Under Fire: An Army Chaplain's Memoir

Roger Benimoff, Eve Conant. Crown Publishing Group (NY), $23.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-307-40881-5

An ordained Baptist chaplain, Benimoff spent two tours of duty in Iraq providing spiritual guidance to American soldiers, many of whom were teenagers just starting their one-year deployment. He helps soldiers, thousands of miles from home in a dangerous country, through crises of faith and morality, religion and responsibility; leads prayer and memorial services; consoles and councils the bereaved. His experience takes an unexpected turn, however, when he begins experiencing symptoms he had been trained to spot in recruits and veterans: difficulty adjusting to home (""Iraq had felt like a giant race I hoped to survive... safely back on U.S. soil, I couldn't stop running""), emotional withdrawal from loved ones (his wife, Rebekah, and their sons, Tyler and Blaine), increasing irritability. Most significantly, Benimoff starts questioning his belief in God. Though this religious ambivalence significantly underscores his narrative of life at war and what comes after, Benimoff balances issues of ethics and faith with a gripping military account that should prove insightful for vets, their loved ones and those for whom the war represents a personal and spiritual conflict.