Mormon Chaplains Serve Soldiers of All Faiths

A chaplain in the military services of the United States demonstrates extraordinary flexibility. From dealing with routine paperwork to challenging counseling, from early morning physical training to afternoon weddings and funerals, the day of a chaplain usually includes 24-hour availability to the members of their battalion.

In a single day, Lt. Col. Steven Merrill, a U.S. Air Force chaplain presently deployed in Kuwait, exercises, studies, counsels, prepares sermons and somehow finds time to eat and sleep.

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A hero laid to rest

The faces and names of the dead brought home from Iraq are what you see.

What you don't see are the faces of Iraqis and coalition force members who Petty Officer 2nd Class Curtis R. Hall helped save before a 107 mm rocket blasted his convoy, killing Hall and two other sailors on his explosives team. Navy officials initially said Hall was killed by a roadside bomb.

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Burley native killed Soldier killed while defusing bombs in Iraq

Petty Officer 2nd Class Curtis Hall, 24, of Burley was the type of man you might expect to volunteer to defuse bombs, to save people.

The towering 6-foot-7-inch former high school basketball player "was like a ray of sunshine," said his sister, Brenda Thibeault, 37. "He loved to tease and play, but knew where the line was. He always knew how just to have fun."

He was already a hero long before he died Friday in Iraq, while assigned to defusing and detonating bombs. Hall was probably killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, although no specifics have been released, said a spokeswoman for Navy public affairs at the Pentagon.

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