Posted: 11/10/06
| Pete and Pam Tarbutton visit with son Will at Fort Hood the day before his deployment to Iraq. |
Principles learned at Miracle
Farm serve alumni in military
By Courtney Cole
Miracle Farm
FORT RILEY, Kansas—U.S. Army Pvt. Josh Butler holds deep convictions about the importance of character and the value of hard work.
“It takes discipline and respect to make a good soldier. At Miracle Farm, I gained both, and I learned to respect others,” reflected Butler, who enlisted in the Army one year ago.
“This experience helped prepare me for my experience in the military.”
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| Pvt. Josh Butler serves with the Army’s Fourth Brigade, 128th Infantry Division. |
Butler spent formative years at Miracle Farm, a residential ranch program of Children at Heart Ministries.
Today, he serves in the Army’s Fourth Brigade, 128th Infantry Division.
Butler, now 20, takes his four-year commitment seriously. Most recently, he and his brigade have been in the field training as they prepare to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.
“I don’t quit, and I’m motivated to keep going no matter what,” said Butler. “I’ve got a job to do, and I’m going do it to the best of my ability.”
Pfc. Will Tarbutton, a Miracle Farm alum now stationed in Iraq, sent an e-mail to say how his experience at Miracle Farm prepared him for what he has encountered since he joined the military.
“My decision to join the Army was motivated by the desire to gain personal stability in my life and to learn some much-needed discipline,” Tarbutton reflected.
“It was Miracle Farm that helped me learn to rely on God when there is nothing else. I can definitely say without a doubt that he has given me strength where I have had none.”
Tarbutton joined the Army Reserves in April 2004 and spent 18 months working as a unit supply specialist. In February 2006, he signed up for active duty.
By late June, Tarbutton’s unit, the 410th Military Police Company based at Fort Hood, had deployed to Camp Stryker in Baghdad, where they’ll remain 12 months. He serves as part of a personal security detachment squad for his company commander and battalion-level officers.
His experiences at Miracle Farm also taught him patience and the importance of effective people skills, he noted.
Enduring the relentless Iraq heat puts patience to the test, but he said God remains faithful to renew his strength as his unit continues making progress in the field.
U.S. Spc. Sean Gabriel enlisted in the Army Reserves in June 2004, shortly after graduating from Georgetown High School. He signed on until 2009 and serves one weekend a month with his unit.
Gabriel smiled as he recalled how his two-year stay at Miracle Farm paved the way for his positive experiences during nine weeks of basic training and 29 weeks of job training.
“I learned how to get along with other people who are different than me, and I developed a lot more patience,” Gabriel said.
“Dean and Debbie Forland were my house parents and great role models for me. They were easy to relate to, and we established a lasting relationship.”
On the weekends Gabriel reports to Fort Hood, he stays busy repairing the weapons and electronics on Apache helicopters.
During his civilian stretch, he lives in Pflugerville, and he recently signed on as a consultant for an insurance brokerage based in San Antonio.
Another Miracle Farm alum, Mark Brown, had dreamed of becoming a soldier since childhood. In spring 2001, he fulfilled that dream by joining the U.S. Army.
Brown quickly moved through coveted assignments as an Army Honor Guard member and instructor to his current spot with an Army Airborne special operations unit.
Since December 2004, he has been stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C.
Brown has faced some sobering assignments in the past five years, including pulling bodies out of the Pentagon with his unit following terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Earlier this year, he returned home after a four-month deployment to Iraq. His squad already is preparing through intense field training to deploy again in January 2007 to Afgha-nistan—Brown’s fourth deployment in just three years.
The months spent away from his family while in a war zone are tough. Brown and wife, Tabitha, celebrated their third wedding anniversary last month.
He cherishes time with her, their 2-year-old daughter, Kyli, and year-old son, Colten, and takes advantage of every moment he has with them while at home. But he remains committed to military service.
“I’ve learned to be more disciplined, received good training physically and mentally and have traveled and taken in a view of the real world during my military experience,” Brown reflected.
“There is a great camaraderie with the guys in my squad and platoon, respect is mutual, and the bond is deeper than brothers.” Brown said his experiences during his two years at Miracle Farm prepared him for what he would face in the future.
“The leadership style used by my mentors was effective in instilling a strong work ethic in me and the drive to take pride in my work,” Brown shared.
“I learned the discipline necessary to stick with it no matter what and embraced the commitment to do a job to the best of my ability.”
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