Diocesan priest to lead chaplains at Baghdad HQ

In 1990, Rev. Donald Rutherford had been in Kuwait for only nine days when his battalion clattered over the border and entered Iraq in the vanguard of the Desert Storm invasion, making him one of the first military chaplains to enter the country.

"That morning, all I knew was that we were moving pretty quick," the priest of the Albany Diocese recalled.

At the end of January, Father Rutherford, a native of Kinderhook who has been an Army chaplain for 15 years, will return to Iraq to take up a position with the Multinational Corps, which oversees combat and stability operations in the war-torn nation.

He will be stationed at the Corps' Baghdad headquarters, where his duties will include coordinating Catholic services and events; advising the Corps commander on religion, morals and faith; and serving as the head of over 100 military chaplains from coalition countries, including Poland, Australia and Great Britain.

Feelings on deployment

"I think that anybody who goes over there and says they're not apprehensive would be either very brave or very stupid," Father Rutherford told The Evangelist last week while visiting his family in Kinderhook. "I wouldn't say that I was afraid. It's a big place, a dangerous area, and that's why we're over there -- and why we've been through thorough training to make us ready."

When he arrives in Baghdad, Father Rutherford, who is a colonel, will be the only priest at the Corps headquarters. He will be in charge of pastoral ministries, such as hearing confessions, running the RCIA program and offering Mass. He'll also be responsible for information and consultation related to the beliefs, holy days and workings of Islam.

He will also serve as a "barometer" for the commander, linking him to information about soldier morale, and weighing the progress of projects related to re-deployment and chapel issues.

Tribute to soldiers

Father Rutherford called the soldiers stationed in Iraq "the finest young people you'd ever want to meet" and the newest "greatest generation." He said that one of the most rewarding parts of his position will be serving them pastorally.

Father Rutherford termed Baghdad a "mature theater," meaning that infrastructure has been developed to support military operations in the area. That's unlike the first time he was assigned to Iraq, when his service to soldiers meant "sleeping on ground or on the hood of a Humvee," attending to the needs of injured soldiers, and celebrating Mass for soldiers in the field.

"Soldiers aren't living in holes," he explained. "They're being taken care of now. They have good food and a fairly decent place to live."

Changing his life

As he prepares to deploy, Father Rutherford said, "You've been sitting in the states where life is good. You have everything you'd ever want to have. You're going to an austere environment, and seeing things that really aren't pleasant. The country itself is a combat zone, decimated by war, and we're going to be building it up again. It's a tough place to be.

"Pray for the soldiers, for the command and for the Iraqi people, that this will end soon, and that they'll be back to taking care of themselves and have peace in a very troubled area."

(This will be Father Rutherford's fourth tour of duty in the Middle East. Besides the time spent in Iraq during Desert Storm in 1990, he was assigned to the area in 1996 and 1998 during an escalation of border tensions.)

(Father Rutherford will be in Iraq for the country's first elections, scheduled for Jan. 30. He hopes to see the Iraqi government take control of the country, and the Iraqi army assume some of the duties currently handled by American and other coalition forces.)

(1/13/05)