Supplements

archived ISSUE

faith gives strength during difficult days

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

An ordinary story for a soldier these days, and in 2002 when Lt. Col. Mickey Addison was stationed in Kuwait, where it was, according to him “ a bizillion degrees.”

A parishioner at St. Clare Parish in O’Fallon, he looks back at 2002 and the job he had to do. Presently, Col. Addison is the Deputy Mission Support Group Commander at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville.

At the time, national policy was being formed, and a war with Iraq was contemplated. Col. Addison, commander of an engineering squadron, “knew something was coming.”

He would be right, of course, as war was declared that March, and so began what is now the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His job, at that time was to prepare the area for expanded personnel and airplanes. The changes anticipated would be from 1,200 people and 30 airplanes to 9,000 people and 200 airplanes.
“We were trying to figure out whether it would go or not go,” he said recently.

Col. Addison said he was blest to be quartered with a military chaplain, and he attended daily Mass whenever he could. The presence of the chaplain, prayer and Scripture study, and time with the Blessed Sacrament saved him.
“I asked for help,” he said. “There was a lot of pressure to get the work done. I would have collapsed without the support of the rosary and prayer.”

Col. Addison said he never goes anywhere without a rosary in his pocket.
He remembers the debate in Congress in the fall of 2002 and the words of the late Pope John Paul II that war was a defeat for humanity.

“We were steadfast in wanting to avoid war,” he said. “All of us felt the same way, but we were prepared to do our duty. We were praying it would not be necessary.”

That turned out to be a prayer that has gone unanswered. Col. Addison stayed in Kuwait for a year.
Easter was particularly moving for the colonel. During his time there, “it felt like a long Lent — preparation, pressure and combat.”

Easter was a “very intense” celebration with the chapel “packed to overflowing” where weapons were slung or stacked at the back of the chapel.

During the consecration, the soldiers heard the Muslim call to prayer — Allah akbar (God is great) — and somehow seemed appropriate at the time.

Col. Addison learned about the Muslim faith so that he could talk about his own faith with the people working in construction projects at the base.

His faith “was strengthened with the experience,” he said, partly because he adopted a monastic style of life and prayer he adopted during his time there. Prayers to the Blessed Mother, he said, were “very effective” and important in his life as they continue to be today.

Col. Addison said he believes “in the mission” of the military. “Without the coalition troops a lot of evil people will take advantage of weakness in their government. It’s a fledgling government, and they need our help,” he said.
He also believes Memorial Day “is very special. It is important for us to reflect on the sacrifices men and women have made” for their country.