A Season In Baghdad: Confessions Of A Combat Chaplain

Ernie Carroll is the Director of Missions for the Friendship Baptist Association in Oneonta, Alabama. He has served as Director of Missions for the Tri- Mission Baptist Association, Pickens Baptist Association and as Director of Church Development in the Shelby Baptist Association all in Alabama. He is a graduate of the University of Montevallo with a B.S. Degree in Guidance and Counseling(1977), Master of Religious Education from Southern Seminary in Louisville Kentucky(1980) and Master of Divinity from The Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama (1990). Ernie was in the Alabama National Guard for almost fifteen years. He was a Chaplain (Major) and was activated on January 2, 2004. He was Chaplain for the 231st MP Battalion and spent sixteen months on active duty and was in Baghdad for one year. Ernie came home on March 16, 2005 and went back to work on April 18, 2005. While in Baghdad his son continued to play football and ended up winning a state 3A football championship. Out of that championship, against the backdrop of the ongoing Battle of Baghdad Ernie began writing this story/journal.