The deaths of Privates Jake Kovco and Jamie Clark have been defining moments during Tim Booker's three years as chaplain to army base 3RAR.
However, when the Rev Captain Tim Booker studied at Moore College at the close of the 1990s, he never have imagined that dealing with military fatalities, jumping out of planes and dodging missiles would be part of his ministry.
Yet the chaplain to the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) has supported grieving military personnel, parachuted from aeroplanes and been the target of a heat-seeking missile in Iraq during his three years as chaplain to the paratrooper base at Holsworthy in Sydney's south-west.
Tim ministers to over 700 men involved in light infantry and airborne operations. He says the high risk nature of the soldiers' work gives them a big awareness of God.
"I haven't met a genuine atheist since I got here. When you are about to jump out of a plane, everyone is a believer," Mr Booker says. "The more dangerous the task the more aware you are that you are not in control of everything."
Mr Booker's time at 3RAR has been uniquely tumultuous with four soldiers dying, two in operational contexts. Private Jamie Clark died while on patrol in the Solomon Islands in March 2005. Private Jake Kovco died from a bullet wound to the temple while in his accommodation room in Baghdad in April 2006.
"Jake Kovco's death was a big shake-up and reminded us all of our mortality. The dramatised ongoing media coverage didn't help. The good thing is, the battalion stayed tight and we looked after Jake's family," Tim says.
"The incident triggered big conversations and I spent a lot of time with Jake's mates talking about how you don't have to fear death because Jesus defeated death for us. Tragedy often brings great opportunities for these conversations."
Tim has been to Iraq, East Timor and twice to the Solomons. As an Army chaplain Tim's safety has been on the line.
"In Baghdad the British Lynx chopper I was in was attacked by a rocket," Mr Booker says. "We were screaming over Baghdad when a surface-to-air missile locked onto us. We sent out the heat flares to distract the missile, we banked hard to the side and it was all over like that."
In Tim's three years he has spoken to almost all of the 700 personnel about Christianity and handed out over 300 copies of John Dickson's Simply Christianity. Tim and his wife Anna are currently running an Introducing God small group out of their house which is attended by a handful of young soldiers.
Tim has spent a cumulative total of one year away from Anna and his three sons in the past three years so he is looking forward to taking over as curate-in-charge of St Mary's, Guildford from next year.
"Guildford is currently under Woodville Road parish, but we are going to break away as a provisional parish when I begin next year," he says.
