Three years into my military career, I switched from the US Air Force to the US Army. One of the inprocessing actions was to meet with the unit Chaplain.

So, I did. We had a perfectly congenial conversation.

On my way out the door, his assistant asked me if I was religious. I replied that I was not.

He told me “You will be, the first time you get IED’d”

He was wrong. I never sought deliverance from a higher power, even in the most dire of circumstances, IED-born or otherwise.

Getting mortared is a strange experience. Modern technology being what it is, we usually have advance warning that a mortar is incoming.

This leaves you with 30 seconds to basically run for a bunker or shelter in-place in your trailer. It seems cliche, but 30 seconds can seem like an incredibly long time.

Hunkered down in my trailer under my bunk and body armor, it never even occurred to me to pray.

Atheists DO exist in foxholes. And usually we’re just angry about the religious idiocy that leads to wars in the first place.