Photo By David Poe | Maj. Timothy Morgan, a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment “Night Stalker”...... read more read more
Maj. Tim Morgan believes God has a plan for all of us, and he said he was reminded of it the night he saw God in a rural Kentucky field in 2023.
As a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (A) A/MH-6M Little Bird helicopter pilot with almost 40 years of military service, the self-proclaimed “oldest major in the Army” modestly admitted that he didn’t know how he became someone who’d be asked to speak at something like the annual National Day of Prayer breakfast at Fort Bliss, Texas, May 8, 2024, yet there he was.
“Some of you may be thinking, ‘I've got a really sideways career,’ and ‘Why is some guy who's just a major here today?” the special operations veteran with notable Global War on Terrorism experience said. “I don't know. It's just – God. He's silly that way, but I would tell you that God truly has a plan for all of us,”
Hosted by the installation Religious Support Office and the worship community at Bliss, guests, which included Soldiers and leaders from across the ranks, as well as retirees and civilians, were treated to a breakfast spread, which included breakfast burritos.
Chaplains from several faiths shared their blessings for the safety of Fort Bliss and its troops. The 1st Armored Division Band woodwind quartet and members from the Fort Bliss Gospel Service choir performed spirited arrangements during the morning program.
The RSO, a garrison directorate-level organization, is the center point for Constitutionally protected worship services, as well as a hub for chaplains and enlisted religious support specialist Soldiers stationed at Bliss.
The National Day of Prayer is a Congressionally mandated observance started in 1952 following the onset of the Korean War and is subject to a presidentially signed proclamation.
Although temporarily halted in 2010 while U.S. courts ruled on the constitutionality of the observance that urges all Americans to pray on this day, it resumed with a proclamation by President Barack Obama in 2011 and today carries the same legal makeup as Thanksgiving in the U.S., which is secular in its official definition.
Morgan originally retired from the Army and the 160th SOAR(A) in 2012, when he then became an ordained minister. Since then, he returned to service in 2020 as a “Night Stalker” instructor pilot and has logged more than 4,000 flight hours, many of which were flown in austere conditions.
During his remarks, he recalled a mid-air collision between two Black Hawks near the Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 2023. As a frequent law enforcement chaplain in his community, after he received a call about the accident, he said he was drawn to his pickup truck and sped to the crash site to help
As one of the first on the scene, he recalled a tragic sight as nine Soldiers lost their lives.
“The coroner had to had to leave to go to the morgue with five of the bodies and come back with more flags and more body bags,” he said quietly. “And so as we stood there in this field, this the acrid smell of burning helicopter, and one of the Soldiers – where we had stopped and we stood over his body – there was a few of us and his phone was laying out, and his phone, every time his wife would text, it would illuminate, and you could read the first parts of the text with more and more fervor and frantic.
”And. just be honest with you, man, I had all I could take. and I walked over, and I laid the phone upside down because Tim was at the end of what he had to offer, and I remember looking up and I thought, ‘Man, I just, I just can't do this again,” he said. “And I looked up and I saw God. What I saw in the middle of that field in rural Kentucky, in the near absence of ambient light, was a sky that was filled with stars. And on the very Sunday before that, I had preached a message and I had talked about a God who loves us so much that he carefully and lovingly, he didn't throw those stars into the sky. He placed them. And I looked up and I saw those stars, and I thought, ‘I'm here because God put me here. I'm here with my brothers that I trust in battle, because a cord of three strands is not easily broken.’
“Don't ever think that for one second that the God of all creation doesn't see you and the events happening in your lives before you see them,” he said. “And don't ever think that for one second, he doesn't absolutely expect you to respond with the love of Christ. He knows, He cares. He wants you in our service to our great nation that we all share.”
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.14.2024 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 471241 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 150 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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