Military Chaplain Army Capt. Terry Cobban Honored

Military, Officials Honor Soldiers' '911'

By JOYCE McKENZIE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 16, 2008

TEMPLE TERRACE Military chaplains are the most valuable players on their teams, says Maj. Gen. Michael Diamond of the U.S. Central Command.

Diamond was at the Courtyard by Marriott last week with several other military officers and veterans to honor Army Capt. Terry Cobban, a chaplain wounded in Iraq by a suicide bomb attack in December.

"They are the 911 for all our soldiers, sailors, Marines and Coast Guard people, and during deployment the stress is probably 150 percent more than what it is for the others," said Diamond, who spoke on behalf of Project Gratitude, a nonprofit charitable organization created in Tampa last year by David Lefavor, a retired Navy chaplain and former chaplain at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center Spinal Cord Injury Unit.

The program's objective is to thank chaplains who have served tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan with a three-day respite in Tampa for them and their families, where they are treated to a stay at the Marriott Courtyard, compliments of John McKibbon, owner of McKibbon Hotels. They are given free admission to Busch Gardens, the Museum of Science & Industry and the Kennedy Space Center. They also receive gift certificates to several area restaurants, including Lupton's BBQ in Temple Terrace.

Despite his fall move to Dayton, Ohio, Lefavor continues to oversee the program - one that on a quarterly basis recognizes deserving chaplains from across the country - that was instrumental in his being presented the Point of Light award in 2007 by Gov. Charlie Crist for his outstanding volunteerism.

Lefavor planned a trip to visit his grandchildren in Temple Terrace with his wife, Rosemary, so that it coincided with his being able to emcee the ceremony honoring Cobban in the presence of his wife, Su, son Nick, 17, and daughter Elyea, 15.

While on a routine mission in the Baqubah area of Iraq with a group of his soldiers, Cobban suffered soft tissue injuries to his right side and to his extremities when a bomb exploded about 2 feet from where he stood. He also suffered severe hearing damage to his right ear and moderate damage to the left ear in the blast that killed one of his soldiers and injured seven others.
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