To and for peace keepers of the military and all law enforcement at all levels and all of those in their support systems and all who care about them and their welfare.

Chaplain's Corner is dedicated to all peace keepers, current and retired, those living now...
And those who have preceded us and passed on from this earthly scene.
My term peace keeper covers all security, jail and prison attendants whatever the title;
law enforcement at all levels including judges and prosecutors; military in whatever branch;
and the support system personnel for all categories in whatever country of this world you happen to be.
You are vital to our world and my commander-in-chief and I care greatly for and about you.
You are the ministers of rightness in this world...
And the world as we know it could not exist without you!!!

In addition it is for the peace makers of this world.
Sometimes these are the same people as peace keepers...
Sometimes they are not...
But peace makers are just as important and necessary as are peace keepers necessary and important.

Prayers are said daily for all who have requested my prayers...
For all for whom I have promised to pray...
For all for whom I have been instructed to pray...
For peace keepers...
For firefighters...
For emergency medical personnel...
Doctors...
Nurses...
Teachers...
Counselors...
And all of the families and all of the loved ones of all of these people...
For leaders of the world...
Leaders of the church...
And for specific people that have specific needs...
Plus you are included if you are reading this material.

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SACRIFICE

Sacrifice has brought us to where we are today.  Hundreds of thousands... Probably millions by now... Have paid a tremendous price of deprivation, injury, pain and loss to guarantee to you the freedom you are exercising today.  We have not the capability of comprehending the amount and weight of this total sacrifice.  We can with humility and gratitude put it to very good use for the benefit of all of those we love and of all of those we serve.

I know about sacrifice personally.  I do not have the time nor inclination to list what it has cost me in many ways to have served as a Peace Keeper, but my sacrifice is as nothing in the face of some of the single sacrifices that others have given in their actions and careers of keeping the peace for all the rest of us.

For a very long time I have been absorbing and meditating upon the cost of our Liberty and Freedom.  As I try to wrap my mind around just what I know I find my ability to comprehend it all to be woefully inadequate.  I have a tremendous imagination.  I know pain from experience.  I know about serving my duty when I really should not be there but just gritted my teeth, set my face, endured the pain and discomfort and served my tour.  I know the grief of being on duty when heart and mind would take me someplace else.  I know the demand of working over when you had planned to be somewhere else doing something else... Working even into a full double shift.  I know the terrible emptiness brought on by having spouse and children ask why I could not stay home with them.  I know the grief of a lost relationship because I chose duty over the presence of someone whom I loved dearly and they refused to communicate with me again for a very long time... Plus I lost the relationship!.. But when I compare my personal experience to the aggregate of what has been suffered in sacrifice by so many Peace Keepers of the Military and Law Enforcement, my experience pales as nothing and I am humbled and awed to have been just a tiny part in the great company of Peace Keepers who have preceded me and paid these great sacrifices.    

To Lucasta, Going to the Wars

Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind,
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.
Richard Lovelace (1618-1658)

The heart of the true Peace Keeper always echoes the words of Lovelace... and sometimes to our own detriment.

I could give you a roll call of all of the famous battles and a lot of unknown battles... I could tell you of incidents known only to a very few... I could list numbers and statistics to make my point... But if you are a Peace Keeper and have been one long enough to complete Basic Training, you already are beginning to know.  To get that far you sacrificed.  If you have been a Peace Keeper in action for the peace, liberty, freedom and welfare of our people you already know... You know some others who have sacrificed and you will continue to sacrifice as long as you are in the service of peace keeping.  Some cannot keep spouses.  Some cannot get along with their children.  Some have other problems created by being a Peace Keeper but they are very good at being a Peace Keeper.  I know you.  I know your hearts.  You are my Compadres!!!  We are people of the same heart!!!

This message, today, is a Tribute to all those Peace Keeper/Warriors who have preceded us in keeping the peace...  It is also a message of Tribute to all those who have left the service of peace keeping for whatever reason... Disillusionment, distress, injury, overload or retirement... The reason you are not among the active is not the important part... The important part is that you were there when you could serve there.  It is, in addition, a Tribute to all of those currently serving wherever you are serving now on foreign fields and at home.

Tribute - a gift, testimonial, compliment, or the like, given as due or in acknowledgment of gratitude or esteem.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

I am but one among all of you but I am highly affected by all of you.  I was highly affected by all of the Peace Keepers of whom I read and whose journals I read from my youth onward.  I was practically overcome by the presence of the Trooper so long ago who was as large as a mountain to me when I was ten years old.  I was so affected by his presence that I wanted to touch him but did not dare to try.  I can see him today as clearly as I saw him then... So sharp, so professional, so thorough, so AWESOME!  Many years later we were in an in-service training together and I told him of my experience and his inspiration upon me.  He was both elated and saddened.  He was saddened because he knew what I would have to experience in order to be successful and he told me so that day.  I could not fully comprehend it that day but I do now... I DO NOW!

Don't mistake my comments for sadness nor disappointment.  If I had it to do all over again and had any of the knowledge that I have now, I would do it sooner and I would do it better.  In the beginning, I had the zeal but not the knowledge to be really good.  It takes a while to gain the knowledge but we can all become really good.  Even now forty five years later, some the Peace Keepers with whom I work are astonished at the things I find and have to turn over to them to get the best results.  They have the powers to do some things that I cannot do so I gladly get them involved so that we may obtain the very best results.  One said to me yesterday, "Is it only my zone that has all of this ---- in it, or do you find this in other zones too?"  No, it is not just his zone.  I am a detail observer.  I learned to see and follow up on what many others just do not see.  Follow up brings out the information and the violations.  I handle what is in my area of power and responsibility and call the other officer to handle what is not mine to do.  That way we get the very best results... Plus the fact that sometimes one computer will find information that another computer did not receive.  That happens more often that most would believe.  Even the same computer might receive different info at different times... That happens, too.

My job as a traffic safety officer is very different from most of the duties of a  police officer assigned to a zone.  I am assigned to work the whole precinct that is comprised of eight zones from sparse residential to dense business and resort area.  I have learned where to look,  plus I observe all the traffic around me at all times.  When they get assigned to traffic crashes I go to them as soon as possible to make the scene safe for the citizens and the officers... especially for the officers.  I babysit traffic hazards that cannot be quickly removed without more resources to keep the people, the property and the roads as safe as possible until the problem can be resolved and leave the officer free to handle other more demanding duties.

My life among you is still an adventure and some days, some weeks, it costs a lot more than it does at other times.  It is where I fit among you and I give it my best for the sake of all around me, especially for the sake of the Peace Keepers with whom I work... And for you if you happen to be one of the citizens that I have the responsibility to serve and protect.  This week has been most costly and today I am recovering from the affects of it.

My beloved Peace Keepers, there would be no world as we know it today if it were not for you.  The Peace Keeper has always been the foundation stone upon which our way of life is built.  Without you it would not stand, nor would it flourish.  My Commander-In-Chief and I give to you our Eternal Thanks and Appreciation... THANK YOU!

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others.  See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you.  Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.

Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.

As it has always been... So it still is!!!

"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

Training and practice are everything!
Without it, the best results are not obtained!

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics...  it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. 
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety)
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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