On 11 September 2013, more than 400 Soldiers attended a Memorial Prayer Breakfast hosted at the Spirit of Fort Hood chapel.  The guest speaker was retired US Navy Chaplain Ron Swafford, who was one of the few to visit Ground Zero after the attacks:

“I just happened to be there the day that they found those crossed I-Beams that came out of the rubble forming a cross,” he recalled. “It was quite impressive because all the workers just stopped and gathered around and they realized…because the care givers in New York are very religious,” Swafford said.

Swafford said that you could feel a sense God was there protecting those workers and helping them find any survivors.

It may be no small irony that the same cross Chaplain Swafford saw as a significant spiritual event was the subject of a lawsuit by a group of atheists.

Fortunately, within the US military men and women can still gather and celebrate their faith, even if others may disagree.

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