Hochleistungsrosenkranz



Polemos patêr pantôn - der Krieg als Vater aller Dinge. So auch im Falle des "Ranger Rosary", den Sgt. 1st Class Frank Ristaino für seine Kameraden entwickelte.

"'Rosaries are readily available to any soldier in the military,' Ristaino said. 'Just about any military chaplain hands them out.'

Unfortunately, many of the standard rosaries distributed by chaplains don’t hold up so well in combat situations, because of weak strings or chains. They come in pastel pinks and blues, which clash against the tough exteriors of Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and trench-hardened Marines.

So Ristaino invented what a growing number of soldiers consider the mother of all rosaries—the Ranger Rosary, an ultra-tough model that comes in a variety of military colors. The beads are strung on what the military classifies as 550 cord: a tough, lightweight rope that connects soldiers to their parachutes.

The handmade rosaries are popular among soldiers, and military chaplains are requesting them faster than volunteers participating in the Ranger Rosary project can turn them out. (...)

'These soldiers don’t just get a rosary, but a prayer partner as well,' said Kathy Feddor, 63, of Annapolis, who heads up the Ranger rosary ministry. She explained that people who make the rosaries also pray every day for the troops who receive them.

Feddor estimates that volunteers have raised money for and produced about 15,000 Ranger Rosaries by hand for American troops. Each heavy-duty rosary costs about $1 to produce, she said." (US CATHOLIC NEWS - A Strong Rosary Helps Give Soldiers Strength)