Sometimes you have to run

I just returned from my fourth deployment to the Middle East. In my service as a physician for the Air National Guard, I’ve seen many different operations, but at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq, we needed to wear armor much more often than my other tours. Wearing the helmet and flack vest with the attachments for lumbar and pelvic protection is uncomfortable. It’s heavy (about 30 pounds) and cumbersome. Once, I dropped something on the floor of the aircraft and when I tried to pick it up, I used muscles I did not know existed in my body!

In full armor, everyday tasks became challenging. Going to the chow hall or heading to the bathroom became significant events. But I get it. The risk of harm was high. We received daily threat assessment briefs: some days the threats were low and we could walk around with just our 9mm Barretta, but most of the time that was not the case.

Carrying all that armor around made me think of the scripture in KJV Ephesians 6:11. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” I have pondered the meaning of “the breastplate of righteousness,” “the helmet of salvation,” and “the shield of faith.”

It is not always easy to wear the armor of God, but it does provide us with needed protection. There are times when we don’t need all the armor because we’re in a safe or protected place. During my deployment, we called those safe places “hardened facilities:” where we did not need to wear everything and we could walk and move about like normal. I believe all of us have safe places, but once we are outside those places, we need to “armor up” and be prepared.

The Iraq briefings we got always provided a threat assessment, and we would adjust how much or little armor we would wear based on the assessment for the day. Many people in the intel community worked really hard to give us a proper, complete, and accurate assessment; however, on January 7, 2020, our brief took a significant turn.

I can still see his eyes very clearly as my commander said: “I need to talk to you for a second doc.” We went into a secured room where he told me that the unit had received a credible threat that up to thirty theater ballistic missiles were planned to launch at our base in the next few hours. He then asked what would I need medically, to pack up before we bugged out. I asked him how much time I had and he stated, “thirty minutes!” I looked at my clinic and began to throw a few things into my bag when that thirty quickly changed to fifteen minutes. I thought to myself, “Is this for real?” but you go to your training and autopilot and complete the tasks you are given.

I had so many thoughts rush through my head. I thought of our hardened facility, our armor, and our many planes, helicopters and other defensive weapons. But at this moment, the best line of thinking was to preserve our people, to preserve our aircraft and to ultimately save lives by moving to a different location until the threat passed.

I will admit that my commander took a lot of heat to move almost 300 people with minimal notice. As the word got out, people were literally running from their rooms, leaving everything behind and going to the aircraft to fly off. One aircraft had over 100 souls on board as we took off at maximum speed.

I returned less than 24 hours later, and our compound had taken two direct hits. My clinic was a complete loss as one landed less than 50 yards from my front door. Fortunately, there was no loss of life and the injuries were minimal thanks to a commander who made the tough call. I am sure that if we had stayed, many would have been wounded or killed in the two waves of missiles that hit the base. It was a very humbling experience.

As I have thought about these events, I can identify times in my life when I should have fled (spiritually speaking), even leaving things behind. Despite my armor of God, despite being in a safe place, a direct attack was coming and I needed to get out, as there was nothing that would protect me. Sometimes you just have to run; run away from the evil and badness and live to fight another day.

Are you in a situation where you should flee from evil? Perhaps you are with the wrong group of people, a bad employer, or a bad relationship, or in one of a hundred other bad places. Deciding to run is not always easy and not always popular, but it is the right thing to do. Armor is a protection, but it is not impenetrable. May we always wear the Armour of God, but may we also be wise to know when the armor is not enough. The Lord wants us on his side. May we recognize and run from danger to stay safe and strong, is the prayer in my heart.

John Boston is a local physician who recently completed his deployment with the Alaska Air National Guard. He is a father, husband, grandfather, believer in Christ and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.