It was just before Thanksgiving 2003 when Chaplain Marvin Santos told his commander he’d like to give chapel services to troops out in the field. No problem was the reply. Santos could hook up with the 528th Quarter Master Company going that way.

Stationed with the 418th Quarter Master Battalion (QMBN) at Logistical Support Area (LSA) Anaconda, Santos had already been in Iraq, or "in theater" as the military called it, since March 26, 2003, just one week after the initiation of hostilities.

His company's initial responsibility was to provide backup fuel support to the 3rd Infantry Division as it pushed to Baghdad. Afterward, the 418th QMBN settled in at LSA Anaconda just 30 miles north of Baghdad to provide petroleum support for convoys going north.

As chaplain, his responsibilities included holding chapel, worship and communion services and giving Bible studies — sometimes even to baptize new believers. And to help keep moral high.

Becoming an Army chaplain had been his senior pastor’s idea. "He’d received a card from an Adventist Army recruiter looking for chaplains and passed it on to me saying he thought I’d be good at it," Santos remembers. That was in 1992, just after Desert Storm.

"I always wanted to share what Jesus had done for me in my life among those with no Christian background, to be a lighthouse in the midst of the storm," he says, explaining that at age 20 after a conversion experience, he’d switched from premed to theology.

For the next decade, he was assigned to Army battalions in Fresno, then Los Angeles, while pastoring in Fresno and Bakersfield, Calif. But he never believed he’d see combat. That all changed one February Thursday when a call came from the Pentagon. "Aye, aye, sir," was Santos’ response. By Monday, Feb. 4, the battalion was told to deploy in 72 hours.

The Return Trip

Santos had traveled with supply convoys before ministering to the troops in the field and they knew him well. So, he knew that traveling the main support roads was dangerous with a high probability of ambush. Insurgents favored rocket propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices.

The convoy arrived at its destinations without incident and almost everyone attended the voluntary chapel and communion services.

The next morning as they prepared for the return trip, Santos was asked to pray. "I prayed in a certain way," he says, claiming the same promises he had on the tarmac in Tucson, Ariz., the day the battalion had deployed. And he reminded them, "We have nothing to fear except we forget how God has lead us in the past. We haven’t had one KIA (killed in action). I don’t believe this is the luck of the draw. I believe God’s providential hand of mercy has been over each and every one of us. I would invite you to uncover as I ask God to be with us in a special way."

Within 20 minutes, the convoy was going through the city of Fallujah. "As we crossed a bridge, we were ambushed from four sides — from a boat and both sides of the river," says Santos, who was in the commander’s lead vehicle. Approximately 30 insurgents were attacking the five vehicle convoy. The tactic was to disable the first and last vehicle, creating a "kill zone."

The road began to spark with bullets and the gunner in his vehicle lit up on the fully loaded automatic M-16. "When I looked to the right, I could see two insurgents firing directly at us," he vividly remembers. With spent shell casings raining down all around him, he thought, "This is it. I’m dead!" as he watched the boat blow up and felt the Humvee accelerate out of the kill zone.

About three miles outside of town, the convoy stopped for 30 seconds to check for wounded. In spite of the Humvees’ unhardened doors (cloth instead of steel), no one had been hurt.

After a three-hour push, they arrived back at home base.

At the After Action Report, the vehicles showed no bullet holes. Astonished, the company commander ordered another complete vehicle check. "We were all stunned," Santos says. "We saw bullets flying all around us!"

At the debriefing when it was the chaplain’s turn to speak, Santos said, "I believe God answered our prayers, and His hand was over us. I invite you to pray with me and thank God for what He has done for us." Everyone uncovered and bowed their heads in reverence and gratitude for their miraculous survival.

The incident became well known and the chaplain’s presence was requested on every convoy. "We understand that the Lord is with you. When bullets fly, they miss." Santos was able to share over and over again the lighthouse message in the midst of this Iraqi storm, "It is God who is with us. It is God who answers prayer."