LtCol Eric Samuelson recently made the local Portland, Maine, news when he flew low level over his community on his retirement flight:

Flanked by two other F-15 fighter jets, Samuelson led the formation from Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Massachusetts, to northern Maine for low-altitude training. After buzzing Portland, they headed for the jetport, where more than 100 members of his church were waiting in a parking lot by the runway…

Samuelson has been a pastor at The Rock Church for some time, and the article noted he found no conflict between his roles as Christian faith leader and military fighter pilot:

Although the time commitments needed for his two jobs conflict, he said, their purposes aren’t at odds.

“My primary mission is to protect and defend,” Samuelson said of his role as a fighter pilot. “There’s nothing in the Christian culture and Scriptures that wouldn’t protect the innocent and preserve peace.”

Even, he said, if that required him to kill.

Samuelson does note that he’s not exactly like every other fighter pilot:

There are things, however, that separate him from most of his fellow fighter pilots. For one, he doesn’t drink, though he’s stood at the bar with his friends for hours, he said. But he sees how their demeanor changes when he walks in a room.

“There’s a different air, a different attitude,” he said.

Christians can and should integrate their faith and their profession, even when (perhaps even more so when) their profession is military service.  Godspeed to Eric Samuelson, LtCol, USAF (Ret).

Also at the Stars and Stripes.

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