BVA Appoints Hal Thacker as Chaplain
The Beirut Veterans of America (BVA) is proud to announce the appointment of Hal Thacker as our new Chaplain. In this role, Chaplain Hal will be responsible for tending to the spiritual and moral well-being of our members and families as we help ensure the memories of those who made the supreme sacrifice in support of America’s pursuit of peace in Lebanon are kept alive.
About Hal Thacker in his words:
I was a Soldier right out of Field Artillery Radar Repair Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and assigned to C Battery 25th Field Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in April 1983. In late Spring / early Summer 1983, I was one of thirty-three Soldiers selected to replace the Soldiers of United States Army Field Artillery School Target Acquisition Battery (FASTAB). As the United States Army Target Acquisition Battery (ARTAB) was beginning to form, I and other Soldiers were sent back to the Field Artillery School House to learn the operations of the Firefinder Radar Systems that FASTAB had deployed to the “Root”.
ARTAB was set to deploy in early October 1983 and replace FASTAB but due to Operation Urgent Fury or the invasion of Grenada set to take place, our STRATAIR was diverted so the deployment date was pushed back but the unit kept on training. If mind memory serves me correctly, ARTAB arrived in Beirut via Cyprus in late October / early November 1983. The radar site that my section was assigned to operate on the “Haunted Hill” where M198 howitzers was positioned before I got there. An Infantry Platoon, one AMTRACK and Firefinder Radar Section One was all that was on the hill nearest the Lebanese Army Basic Training Center.
As a young Army Private First Class, I learned quickly about the Marine and Navy separation of the ranks to include the different mess areas on the USS Guam, USS New Jersey, and USS Manotwac (where I floated on for 6 weeks). I also learned about the mission of the peacekeeper and was able to give my respect to those that gave their lives on 23 October as I was tasked to clean the BLT Memorial grounds early on in my deployment.
Time went on but the memories have always remained as I reflect in October each year as if having a second Memorial Day for the Peacekeepers. I was too young to have earned a combat patch from Vietnam but I proudly wore my 214th Field Artillery Brigade combat patch even though on many a day NCOs challenged my about the patch on my right shoulder throughout the next four years as I was promoted to Sergeant and a year or so later to Staff Sergeant at the same time I was selected to become a Field Artillery Warrant Officer.
For the next fifteen years, I served as a Field Artillery Warrant Officer and deployed to Bosnia twice in two other peacekeeping missions, and one tour in Iraq with 18th Airborne Corps Artillery but after a total of twenty-five years on active duty with the Army, I retired however, I have kept wearing the uniform as a Junior Reserved Officer Training Corps (JROTC) Senior Army Instructor (SAI) in both South Carolina and now in North Carolina.
About ten years ago, I was shoulder-tapped by the late Julio Davila, a disabled Vietnam Veteran at Rockfish Church to become a Chaplain on the Pastoral Care Team and that is the beginning of my becoming a chaplain. As time went on our current pastor reorganized our outreach capability and there was no place in the church for chaplains, so I prayed and searched for chaplain training and service opportunities outside of my church. Once I found International Fellowship of Chaplains (IFOC) and received training and became a Licensed Chaplain, I began serving as the Training Coordinator for IFOC Sandhills Chaplain Corps and IFOC Region Two for the past two years. I have also been trained as Chaplain Associate and have served over 150 hours visiting patients in the FirstHealth Hospital – Hoke Campus. Once my Pastor came to the realization that there was a great need for chaplains within my church, I attended the first iteration of training to become a Licensed Chaplain with RockFish Church.
I grew up in the Moravian Church but gave my life to Christ in 1991 at Cameron Baptist Church while stationed again at Fort Sill. Service to church and community is a focus in the time that I have when not mentoring high school JROTC cadets. As soon as I saw the BVA Chaplain need, I responded to Mike immediately because I was looking for another way to serve and let the light of Jesus shine through me.
