For God and Country is the story of a Band of Brothers, a unit of United States Marines, who faced some of the fiercest fighting of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the battle of An Nasiriyah – and subsequent events, and the life lessons we all learned. I am finally writing this account at the urging of a number of friends and colleagues who have heard, as well as for many, have lived, the accounts recorded in these pages. In all honesty, I initially refused these requests for fear that some would read the testimonies presented here and see them as too fanciful to be accurate.
Chaplain Brian K. Waite currently serves as a Chaplain for the Naval Submarine Support Center (NSSC) in Norfolk, Virginia, where he is responsible for the spiritual and emotional support of over 1,700 Sailors and their families. In particular, NSSC, Norfolk provides operational, material, ordnance, medical, legal, supply and personnel administrative support to twelve nuclear submarines, both SSN and SSGN, and their parent squadrons.
He reported to this command in August 2004. Since this time, in addition to the myriad of counseling cases and training opportunities afforded to the day-to-day responsibilities of his position, Chaplain Waite has also written a new manual for ministry within the Submarine community that has become the new standard of how Chaplains and RPs should function in relation to the Submarine Force world-wide. Not one to sit idle, he has also used this time to serve as a liaison to the United States Marine Corps in their establishment of a new system of how warriors returning from combat operations can be transitioned back into normal society with the least amount of disruption possible. In conjunction with these efforts, LT Waite has also lectured extensively in the areas of "Truamatology" and "Crisis Response" in an age of Terrorism to military, political and civic leaders alike. He was also recently selected by the United States Institute of Peace as their primary case study! concerning how a Chaplain can be used as a liaison/negotiator in the area of cultural/religious issues while serving in a combat environment.
Before reporting to the 2nd Marine Division, Chaplain Waite served with the 3rd Marine Division from 1992 to 1996. In 1996 he reported to COMSUBRON TWO, as the Command Chaplain, in Groton, CT. In December of 1996 Chaplain Waite left active duty to care for his terminally ill mother and pastor a church near his hometown of Dallas, TX. During this sabbatical from active duty, Chaplain Waite became the Senior Pastor of a 3,600-member church, authored three books, and rose to the rank of 04, before he felt the leading to return to active duty as a United Stated Navy Chaplain – largely due to the events of 9/11. In order to return to active duty, Chaplain Waite resigned his commission and accepted a new commission as a Navy Lieutenant, with follow on orders to the above-mentioned 2nd Marine Division.
He holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies, a M.Div. in Biblical Languages (Hebrew and Greek), a M.B.A. in International Relations (Middle-East), a D.Min. in Religious Studies, and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. Chaplain Waite has also served in the post-doctoral studies program at the University of South Africa, as well as taught at numerous Universities within the United States (most notably, the University of Maryland). He holds diplomat status with the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the position of a certified "Field Traumatologist" with the International Traumatology Institute at the University of South Florida.
