Randy Ridenour

I went to Taji last night to visit three soldiers. It was the wildest helicopter ride that I’ve ever had. We went up, then down, then rolled onto the left side, then the right side, then shot some flares out, then repeated the cycle for an hour. Just when I thought I was going to [...]

It’s been a relatively easy couple of days here. That has given me some time to work on a small project for the corps chaplain’s office. There are two chaplain’s assistants who are headed to a meeting to discuss ethics issues in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, and I have been asked to provide some [...]

Tim Youmans left a comment to a previous posting, so I had an opportunity to browse over to his blog. I saw a post concerning a major issue in philosophy of religion, and I couldn’t help but leave a comment. It was sure nice to get to say something about philosophy. I’m missing the excitement [...]

I had to call the office about a student’s grade from last semester. I got to talk to several people back at the university. It was sure nice to hear some voices from home. I also got several messages and pictures from colleagues.
The best, though, is that I now have a working internet connection in [...]

It was an exciting night last night. I had a Bible study in the office at 2000, and caught the 2100 bus back to my quarters. I live in a trailer pretty close to the edge of the camp. As I was walking from the bus stop through this open area to my trailer, a [...]

We just finished the prayer service at the battalion. This is a big base, and there are a lot of different services for different faith groups. So, there’s a service for everyone, but some of my soldiers either don’t feel that they can get away from the office, or they don’t want to go to [...]

I may have committed the unpardonable sin. I threw two boxes of books in the dumpster. Or more accurately, I had the sergeant throw two boxes of books in the dumpster. This is the Army, after all.
Before I got here, I think I have only thrown away one book in my entire life. It was [...]

War has probably always presented a good opportunity to reinvigorate one’s prayer life. There are some large mosques nearby, and if you are out at the right time, you can hear the call to prayer very clearly. I’ve decided to use the sound of gunfire as a call to prayer. Several times a day, I [...]

After the desolate pictures of the desert in Kuwait, I thought you should see what difference some water makes. This is a picture from my last trip. We flew over this very nice date orchard and a few farms.

 I was out running this morning when an explosion shook the ground. I think I set a [...]

Here are two pictures from the clinic that we go to on Saturdays. The first is a child who has a new toy. The second is of a group of teenagers who work there. They were just finishing up building a new wheelchair out of a plastic outdoor chair.
We could use some more toys, and [...]