United States Army Reserve soldier Col. Frank Kestler, of Shelter Island, N.Y., and New York Army National Guard soldier Lt. Col. Russell Clark consult a map during a patrol to the to the Afghanistan field near Arif Kala where Kestler’s stepson, 1st Lt. Joseph Theinert, was killed in combat in June, 2010. Kestler, American troops and Afghan National Police conducted the patrol last autumn. At the site, Kestler prayed with the other soldiers, gathered some earth and blessed the ground with holy water given to him by Chrys Kestler, Joe’s mother. Clark is from Angola, N.Y.