A prayer for the newly deployed

As some of you may know, both of my brothers-in-law will be, by next week, deployed to Iraq. One is going for his first time, the other as a wounded veteran of the Iraq war.
These two men are among countless soldiers who will soon be deployed
for their first, second, third and fourth tours.
They are not all believers, so they will not all be praying for themselves and their units' safety; will you join me in a time of prayer for them this week?

Our Father,
we ask your protection over the soldiers and their families.
We ask Your Spirit to empower and comfort them,
we ask Your Son to redeem them as they engage in
spiritual battle the likes of which they have never known.

We know the enemy is lurking where they are going.
But we believe that You are the only Supreme Lord of us all
and, because of that, Your will shall be done
and Your glory will be seen.
You use wicked nations to teach us;
let the Iraq battle teach the troops and all of us to turn from wickedness.

We pray for the protection and presence
of Your Spirit and of Jesus Christ
in the daily lives of the soldiers' families back home.
We pray that they turn to You in their distress,
for You alone are what they need.
May they all look upon the Cross daily,
as we all should.
We pray this in Jesus' holy name,
Amen.