Chaplain John Fischer III
John Fischer III had a few struggles growing up. He was born
with Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), also known as Asperger’s Syndrome,
and verbal dyslexia. The school principal had a grant and was experimenting
with breaking students into three groups of classes. The advanced group, the
average group, and others. Since John had verbal dyslexia in the 1960’s, he was
placed in the other group named the Educational Handicapped Program (EHP).
There was no real educational structure; one was just required to behave. The
other students called the EHP students “retarded” at recess. This went on from
1st grade through 5th grade. In 6th grade,
John’s parents transferred him to a Catholic school. John worked as hard as he
could in school and barely moved on to the 7th grade with a D-
average.
There were a few other obstacles in John’s life, but we will
not name who is who. By the time John turned 18, he was already addicted to
drugs and alcohol. The rehabilitation in the 1970’s knew very little, and gave
John little support.
John still wanted to support his country, even though many leaders let him down. He selected to join the UnitedStates Marine Corps, yet was not ready to go on active duty. John selected to join the United States Marine Corps Reserves (USMCR). The Marin Corps Boot Camp did not follow its own rules. For some reason, the Drill Instructor selected to abuse John physically and without enough sleep. If the seven hours of sleep were between 10 PM and 5 AM, John always received the two shifts of 11 PM to 12 AM and 3 AM to 4 PM. Since the brain does not recognize sleep for less than 90 minutes, the only sleep John received was between 12 AM and 3 AM. John could count on some type of harassment or abuse every day.
While John was in the USMCR, he also held down jobs and
attended college. Since John has Level 1 ASD, he was able to receive an A in
all math classes, including Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics. Yet, because of
his verbal dyslexia and being in the EHP class from 1st to 5th
grade, it was a challenge in some classes. His GPA was 3.4 in college.
John married his wife in 1990 and now has two adult children. He received his AS in Electronic Engineering Technology. In 2002, he earned his BS in Computer Science. John joined a software company as a programmer, yet half the time was spent on Information Technology. There were five programmers selected to keep more than 1000 mainframes up and running. The company would ask the programmers to be on-call from Monday to Monday, every fifth week. Thursday night programmer would get a partial night's sleep, then would not get any sleep until Sunday afternoon. John suffered a nervous breakdown in 2008 and has been struggling with fibromyalgia and major depression since then. The depression before medication was so bad that even his bones ached. The migraine headaches and tinnitus never go away, but change in intensity.
The Lord instructed John to earn his degree in master’s in
divinity, because God has plans for him. About halfway through his degree, the
Lord reminded John of what Paul wrote: “And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, New International Version).
God's plan for John is to help those suffering from mood disorders. John is to
share the love of God through Scriptures, a related loving message, and worship
songs. This is to be followed up with an opportunity to reflect on the
Scriptures and gather as a community of brothers and sisters in Christ.