By:Jeff Lipton
Chaplain (Major) Carlos Huerta has accepted an invitation to address the community at 8 p.m. at Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst, at Broadway and Locust Avenue. The event is sponsored by The Five Towns Jewish Council, in conjunction with Temple Sinai of Long Island in Lawrence.
Huerta is a Jewish Community Chaplain at West Point who volunteered to serve with the 101st Airborne Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 2003 to December.
Since 2000, Huerta, who is a rabbi, has served as the chaplain of the 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment at West Point, assigning and managing programs for more than 70 Jewish men and women who are West Point cadets. As battalion chaplain, Huerta counsels cadets and conducts classes on suicide prevention. He-s also an associate member of the Department of Foreign Languages, teaching a class in Hebrew to the cadets as well as math.
He volunteered for a 10-month stint in Mosul, Iraq, with the 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Unit of the 101st Airborne Division and was there when the division was maneuvering away from enemy fire late last year, causing a helicopter to crash. More than a dozen troops were killed, including five of Huerta-s friends.
He said it was a shock to his system to pull out the bodies [from the wreckage] to put them in body bags and to bury them. They were friends. They would stop a bullet for me, just like I would stop a bullet for them. It doesn-t get more real than that. We just have to continue with the mission.
Huerta said that when a soldier goes into combat, it-s not about the soldier, it-s about the team. It-s a team mission which goes on, and I feel very comfortable with that.
He said that in the 10 months he spent in Iraq, the mood of the troops was generally upbeat. Naturally, they miss their families, but, said Huerta, 53, a Brooklyn native and the father of 12, they realize the important task at hand: to contribute to the fight against terrorism. They-re fighting to keep their loved ones safe back home, he said. When the soldier goes on a mission and gets shot at, he knows his mother, his wife and kids are driving safely to a mall in the U.S. without worrying about a bomb going off at the mall.
When he served in Iraq, Huerta said, his job was to care for the soldiers, whether they were Jewish, Christian, Muslim or atheist. He took care of their spiritual needs and counseled them in tough times. When human beings see their buddies die, I have to put it in perspective for them and help them make sense of it, he said. War is not a natural state for a human.
My job was to keep them in the fight safely and not let them get distracted.
Huerta said his job was also to help build up Iraq, assist Iraqi children, bring food and water to the schools, help get factories up and running and provide security.
He said news reports have focused on the Iraqi people who are at odds with the troops. What isn-t often seen is the children welcoming the troops to Iraq and the smiles on their faces when American troops greet them, he said.
The kids chase after the troops and give them the thumbs up. You don-t see that human side [on TV reports], Huerta said. Most of the Iraqis want us to be there. The little kids smile and shake hands with the troops.
Huerta also pointed out the impressive Jewish history in Iraq, going back thousands of years to the time of Abraham. He said he visited the graves of historical Jewish figures and saw many abandoned synagogues. It-s so touching and so heart-breaking, he said.
Huerta said that in his May 3 talk at Temple Beth El, his aim will be to put a human face on the sacrifice being made by our sons and daughters in Iraq.
He said the troops realize the price they may pay in their efforts to fight terrorism. The morning after the helicopter crash, he recalled, he thanked God that I have the honor to put on a combat uniform. He said one of the saddest moments for him was burying Pfc. Hawk Eagle, a Native American from a tribe in North Dakota whom he befriended during the war. Huerta said he brought back a feather from his friend to his tribe in North Dakota. He said Hawk Eagle carried around a picture of Iraqi children that he had taken to show his tribe.
The Five Towns Jewish Council said it was honored that the chaplain accepted the invitation to speak in the Five Towns. He brings to it a very unique perspective, said Ronald Goldman, council president. He-s a very interesting guy to talk to. He called Huerta a true hero for serving the men and women in the best American and Jewish tradition.
Geri Gindea, the council-s executive director, said, We feel very privileged to have him in our community. He combines two worlds that are most dear from a Jewish historical aspect. He sees things through a Jewish historical lens, and what is current in our American struggle to counter terrorism.
We want to hear his views, his experiences and what exists there now.
