Product Description

Under Orders is written for you in the military services who seek to nurture and sustain your faith in the face of war, deployments and the troubling questions of faith and life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112523 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Review
Chaplain Bill McCoy's work is inspirational-- it guides soldiers as they struggle with the questions surrounding their service and their faith...a great book for soldiers to read several times throughout their careers, because while the questions he poses will always remain the same, the answers will change with age, experience, and in a deepening conviction. --Major General Mark Hertling

Under Orders should be in evry rucksack for those moments when Soldiers need spiritual energy. --General David H. Petraeus

The thing I liked most was that it was REAL. He didn't make the military out to seem glorified, but brought the focus back to God, while also understanding the things we are called to do as soldiers. It was very insightful, and a great read. I would recommend it to ANYONE. There were no favorite sides taken, it was just simply put. Reading this book is a step in the right direction. --Specialist Lindsay Clark

About the Author
Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) William McCoy serves as Senior Staff Chaplain to the US Army Garrison in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Customer Reviews

Mixed feelings
Some of the book is good. It offers some sound advice, and for part of the book seems to be promoting a brand of Christianity we need to see more of.

Chaplain McCoy also warns (without "naming names") of the dangerous and unconstitutional practices employed by the para-military church groups that seem to be proliferating in the services.

However, this otherwise good book is flawed by its view that atheists, agnostics, and others are deficient as humans and soldiers, and its last chapters which seem to imply that not only is Christianity somehow superior to atheism, but also other faiths.

I have been an agnostic since my youth, and I also served in the US Marines, including close personal ground combat in Vietnam, where my service included the Siege of Khe Sanh.
I know that my own service was second to none - no matter what their faith.

In the words of one of the men I served with in combat; are "...only American Christians are fit to stop bullets?" He also remarked; "...when we were fighting or getting shot at I don't exactly remember taking time to think about whether I was a true believer in Jesus, Mohammad or Budda."
Amen to that.

I think it is time for all Americans, including the religious, to recall that this country was founded as a secular country - in order to avoid the horrors of religious war that plagued Europe and the rest of the world. We have avoided these - so far. However, there are forces in the Christian community (as Chaplain McCoy himself mentions) who are planning to establish a theocracy in this country - and if you are not "with them" (including a belief in their particular warped version of Christianity), you will be considered against them - even if you consider yourself a Christian.

Who are you? Who is He?
An unusual conbination of broad theological background confronting the BIG questions of life through the lens of military service. It demands self-evaluation but perhaps the best parts are those that point the reader to the ultimate truth beyond themselves. As a Christian the author assumes such truth but isn't pushy as he developes his thesis.

Message from Iraq
My son, who is currently on his second tour of duty - front lines in Iraq, has just messaged me to say that he cannot put this book down! He is not an active reader, so for him to give both thumbs up to this book is quite a compliment. I wanted to pass this news on.
Blessings.