Rogers is a member of the Joint Force Headquarters, Army National Guard in Springfield. She departed from the capital city in early November and has been deployed to Afghanistan for several months. She expects to be back home in late April or early May.
A long-time member of St. Patrick’s Parish in Girard, Rogers says she is grateful to Father Bob Porter, who has been e-mailing daily meditations to her for the last two months. Father Porter, a retired diocesan priest, was filling in at St. Cabrini Parish when he spoke to a relative of Rogers and heard of her deployment.
“Diane’s aunt, Peg Smith, a friend of mine, told me about Diane, since she knew that I also knew her,” said Father Porter. “I knew Diane when I was pastor at Farmersville and Girard was the mission. She was very active, as was her husband, in the National Guard. I send her the meditations the first thing when I get on the computer, so I won’t forget to do it.”
Rogers’ current pastor, Father Daren Zehnle has been mailing her copies of Catholic Times. She has also been in contact with her cousin, Father Steve Pohlman, pastor of St. Ambrose in Godfrey and parochial administrator of St. Patrick in Grafton and St. Michael in Beltrees.
As luck would have it, Rogers even attended a Mass in Kuwait when Father Dan Bergbower, another priest of the Springfield diocese, was presiding. “I went through on my way here and will go back through there on my way home,” she said in an e-mail from her base in Afghanistan. “While I was in Ali Al Salem, I went to Mass and Father Bergbower is stationed there. What a small world. I did not know him prior to that, but before he started Mass he told us where he was from. We talked after Mass.”
On Sundays, Rogers attends 10 a.m. Mass in a chapel on her Forward Operating Base (FOB). “I work from noon to midnight on my FOB so that works out excellent for me,” she said. “Our chapel is small with only a few chairs. It is very crowded, mostly with Polish soldiers. There are just a few Americans that I have seen at that Mass.
“The Polish priest does not speak any English,” she said. “The only English we get at Mass are the two readings, ‘Amen,’ and ‘Alleluia.’ We have an American soldier who is a linguist and he would say the first reading in English and then repeat it in Polish. I volunteered to do a reading, but he informed me that women are not allowed to do readings in Poland. He talked to the Polish priest and they are now allowing women to do readings and he has since allowed me to read. I have been reading the second reading for about three weeks now.”
At Christmas an American priest came to the FOB to celebrate Mass. “Father Travers brought Mass books,” Rogers said. “When he realized we did not have English Mass books, he left the books he brought.”
However, the soldiers do get to enjoy music, she said. “We have music at the chapel with keyboard at every Mass. A couple of times we’ve had a Polish soldier on the guitar and the accordion. The Polish soldiers can sing very well.”
Rogers, 51, grew up in Petersburg but has been living in Girard for 25 years. In Illinois she works full-time for the Recruiting Command at Camp Lincoln in Springfield. “I recruit the health care professionals, chaplains and JAGs (members of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps) for the Army National Guard,” she said.
When she isn’t working 12-hour shifts Rogers sometimes gets outside to exercise. Although it is winter in Afghanistan, the weather there is relatively mild. “The weather here is rather nice during the day. The temperature has been running about 45 degrees, sometimes higher. That may sound cold, but it is nice. The sun is so warm here,” she said. “It is warmer than what the actual temperature is. When the sun goes down it does get chilly.
“We’ve only had one snowfall this year and after a couple of days it melted,” she said. “There are mountains all around our base. It’s really beautiful, with sand everywhere. They have spread rock all over the base. I jog two or three times a week in the morning and it’s hard to run on rock, but once I get on the backside of the base, it is sand.”
Diane’s husband, Jay Rogers, retired from the Guard in 2005 and they are the parents of two grown children, Jessica and Jake, and the grandparent of young Jace. “Jake is also in the Guard,” Rogers said. “He works at Camp Lincoln but is in the 333rd MP unit out of Freeport.”
When she is at home, Rogers keeps active in her parish. She is secretary of the Altar and Rosary Society, a PSR teacher, and a extraordinary minister of holy Communion. “I also complete the altar server list, am on the prayer chain list and on the funeral food call list,” she said. “Terri Joslin, the CYO director, helped me find ladies to take over my duties.”
Rogers admits that she misses her family and friends and being home on Sunset Lake in Girard, but she especially worries about her grandson, who is 4 years old. “Jace and I are very close,” she said. “He is having issues at home and school because of my deployment which we are trying to work through. It breaks my heart to have him this way. He is too young to understand.”
The meditations especially help Rogers focus on her faith and make her feel stronger. “I want people to know how happy I am to receive them,” she said.
Father Porter says parish priests need to keep all soldiers in their prayers. “Since I am retired, I can only say this: If the parish priest has any energy left over at the end of the day after serving in so many different ministries, they probably say to themselves, ‘Thank God this day is over,’” he said. “Then they might also pray, ‘Thank God for all who are serving our country in the armed forces.’ Everyone, not just the priests, should be praying each day for all of them.”