Two LDS men, dressed in U.S. Army desert camouflage in the middle of Ar Ramada - the city the U.S. Army believes to be a staging area for Iraqi insurgents - kneeled together one Sunday afternoon to bless the sacrament.

It was the first time in weeks that one Marine, the only member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stationed at Ar Ramada, was able to take the sacrament.

Col. Kevin Reidler had traveled to the Army base west of Baghdad on temporary assignment. While there, he joined the Marine so the two could partake of the sacrament.

"We came together as two priesthood holders; just the two of us in the middle of the desert," Reidler said.

An estimated 1,000 faithful LDS military men come together weekly in predominantly Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan to find strength and peace in the middle of conflict in a land steeped in Biblical history.

Iraq is home to the ancient land of Babylon, where the Jews were held captive 70 years; Ur, where Abraham was nearly sacrificed; and Nineveh, where Jonah went to preach after he spent three days in the belly of a whale.

Here in this vast desert, a place where the Bible tells of ancient prophets communing with the Lord, LDS soldiers are not lost to God either. The LDS church, in collaboration with military chaplains (commissioned officers in the military who may not be church members), ensures soldiers the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and receive spiritual support while they are deployed.

Reidler, who has spent most of his military career in active duty since his graduation from West Point in '81, and many other deployed soldiers benefit from the church's organization while away from home.

When Reidler first arrived at Baghdad's Camp Victory in 2003, members of all denominations, including LDS servicemen, met in a tent outside the motor pool area for their various church services.

Soon after the war ended, they moved into an entrance of Saddam's palace. Riedler compared it to a huge marble cathedral. During the weekly two-hour-long LDS service, members' voices echoed off the marble floors and vaulted ceilings while they sang hymns and shared testimonies.

"Some of the testimony meeting that we had were incredible," Reidler said.

The influence of church members was felt not only on military bases, but also in the effort to organize the Iraqi elections, Reidler said. A 70-year-old member of the church, who had studied Arabic for years, came to help with the elections and while there, gave a fireside attended by both Muslims and Mormons.

One unit in Iraq saw three of its servicemen join the church, said Chaplain Brent Douglas Jones, a LDS chaplain for more than 21 years.

Despite being at war, ordinances like baptism and the blessing and passing of the sacrament must be done by priesthood authority and within the structure of the church, as well as the structure of the military.

A unit's military chaplain must authorize church meetings before they can be held.

"A chaplain is to take care of all the religious needs of the unit that he serves, whether he is Catholic or Protestant or Jewish," Jones said. "I am the staff officer and as such I watch and encourage the soldiers while they are away. I encourage them to be God-fearing people."

If a unit has an LDS chaplain, he will preside over LDS church meetings, but that is unusual. Usually a LDS member from the unit will preside as a group leader. Group leaders are set apart by their stake presidents before being deployed. They receive a certificate of appointment and a letter explaining their responsibilities that they must show to a chaplain before they are authorized to organize meetings.

Group leaders are responsible for identifying LDS members in their unit, organizing home teaching if time allows and reporting meeting attendance and activities to the local church organization. Groups generally range from fewer than 20 members to about 70, but some may be much smaller.

"[The group leaders] don't function as a bishop," Jones said. "They don't collect tithing, listen to confessions, [or authorize baptisms]. He is given the stewardship to make sure that sacrament is held and other meetings as well."

Permission to perform baptisms must be given by the local mission president or stake president. However, if there is no local church organization, the area presidency may conduct baptismal interviews and preside over baptismal services; it can also delegate those responsibilities to the group leader.

In much of the Middle East there is no local church organization, so group leaders report to Elder William K. Jackson of the Eighth Quorum of the 70, who lives in New Delhi.

There are currently three LDS chaplains and 83 group leaders stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Servicemen's church records remain in the ward from which they were deployed. If LDS servicemen need to confess transgressions, their home ward bishop or a member of the area presidency can help, said Richard Waylee, who served as a group leader in Kuwait in 2003.

The organization of the LDS church on military bases allows them to attend sacrament meeting, helping them feel peace as they are reminded of their covenants and take a break from their work, Waylee said.

"For some of the guys that weren't as strong in the gospel or have a hard time, it helped them to be with other members of the church so they knew they weren't alone," Waylee said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 9 Oct 2006