“No one knows better than the soldier away from home how important mail call is,” said Covington.” He noted that occasionally mail brings bad news, but most of the time “it relieves our fear, strengthen our hope, and gives us comfort in love.”

As chaplain of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command, I served as a member of the Commanding General’s executive staff for the religious support of the 35,000-40,000 Marines and attached Sailors, soldiers and airmen deployed in the combat zone.