God and Country

Last Saturday the US Air Force Academy’s local Colorado Springs Gazette published responses to their previous editorial that described Michael Weinstein as worse than a hypocrite for trying to silence a retired military officer because of his religious views.

The letters were interesting not for their content, but for who wrote them.  The Gazette prefaced with:

The Gazette editorial “Censors want to silence war hero,” Jan. 24, advocated resulted [sic] in an overwhelming number of repsonses. Below is a small, representative sample.

The authors defending Weinstein’s criticism of USAFA’s invitation to Lt Clebe McClary, as included in the Gazette‘s sampling, were  Read more…

As previously noted, the US Army uses the now-controversial Global Assessment Tool to help Soldiers self-assess their emotional, social, family, and spiritual fitness.  The spiritual fitness portion is intended to measure meaning, purpose, and connectedness.

In his complaints, an atheist Soldier may have identified the very need for such efforts he is trying to dismiss:

Not all of the spiritual questions are offensive, he said. He didn’t mind being asked whether he has a purpose in life. But he balked at the idea of being Read more…

Or, as the case may be, Have Koran, or Vedas…

An Army news article notes the necessary travels of military Chaplains as they travel throughout the combat area in Afghanistan serving the religious and morale needs of those in their care.  There have been a variety of other articles on “fob-hopping,” but this one included an interesting summary of the US military Chaplaincy:

The Chaplain’s Corps has been around since 1775. Following the creation of the infantry as a branch of the Army, the Read more…

In its ongoing letter writing campaign attempting to dissuade Gen Gould from inviting Lt Clebe McClary to a prayer luncheon, the MRFF reveals why it wants McClary banned from the Air Force Academy:  He’s not a “true Christian.”

1st Lt. Clebe McClary should not be allowed to speak at the prayer luncheon because he does not represent true Christianity but Read more…

In a topic related to the prior “moral compass” discussion (in fact, the NDU speech was specifically cited), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen recently said

What I really think it comes down to is accountability. Within the military, we need to be constantly asking ourselves, “Am I holding myself and those I am responsible for to the highest standards?”

Ultimately, our quality of work and our personal conduct will say far more about who we are and what we stand for than any other thing we do.

So, are “quality of work” and “personal conduct” the defining icons of what the military stands for?

If so, what governs “personal conduct” in the US military?

Michael Weinstein has faced an onslaught of criticism in the past few days over his demand that the US Air Force Academy rescind Lt Clebe McClary’s invitation to the 10th Air Base Wing’s National Prayer Luncheon.  Several organizations, and even some of his own supporters, are seeing the hypocrisy and extremism in his call for LtGen Gould’s ouster over the religious beliefs of an invited speaker.

Apparently seeing no movement after their initial accusations, Chris Rodda, the MRFF research assistant, has now called McClary’s conduct “illegal:”

Lt. McClary also regularly violates Titles 10 and 18 of U.S. Code by appearing at his speaking engagements, both military and civilian, in a Marine uniform, something that, apparently, not a single military attendee at any of his numerous appearances on military bases has informed him is illegal.

In an unusual move for her, Rodda actually cites the law she claims McClary broke.  Of course, she doesn’t say what part of the hundreds of paragraphs of law within Titles 10 or 18 are at issue.  Here are some that are:  Read more…

Michael Weinstein has written a letter to the USAFA Superintendent, LtGen Michael Gould, “demanding” that an invitation to Lt Clebe McClary (USMC, Ret.) be rescinded.  Lt McClary — an internationally recognized motivational speaker and wounded Vietnam Veteran – has apparently been invited to speak at the 10 February National Prayer Luncheon for the 10th Air Base Wing, the wing that runs the facilities surrounding the Air Force Academy.

Weinstein’s reason?  McClary is the ‘wrong kind of Christian:’  Read more…

Kentucky Army National Guard Chaplain Pat Dolan was promoted to Brigadier General at the beginning of January.  He will serve as the Army National Guard Assistant to the Army Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (Major General) Douglas Carver.  According to Army Public Affairs, he is the first Roman Catholic Priest to hold the position.

Chaplain (BrigGen) Dolan has been deployed to a variety of locations, including four times to Iraq.

Via the Army Chaplaincy blog.

US Army Chaplain (Col) Dennis Newton is chronicled in an Army article that covers his tour of duty at Fort Irwin, where he reinvigorated the local Christian community:

Chaplain Newton said the decision was made to change the 11 a.m. service to a contemporary praise service, known as ChapelNext. But in order to accommodate those who have different flavors of Protestant services, the gospel service was made healthy and a traditional hymn service was established.

“We jumped from 70 people in attendance to…190 in the first week,” he noted…

Overall, the average number of people attending religious services on any given Sunday at Fort Irwin now nears 1,000, he said.

Christian Soldiers weren’t the only ones who benefited from the Chaplain’s Read more…

Michael Weinstein has been in the media recently claiming that the US Army’s Global Assessment Tool (previously discussed), which helps Soldiers self-assess their emotional, social, family, and spiritual fitness is actually a tool created to enable Christians to take over the military.

[This] imperious fascistic contagion of this fundamentalist Christian tsunami that is sweeping through the military. And this Soldier Fitness test is just the camel’s nose under the tent.

Weinstein is sure fundamentalist Christians are behind the implementation of the Spiritual Fitness test. “There is absolutely no doubt where this is coming from,” he said. “We smell this disgusting stench over and over again.”

Apparently, the “stench,” which Weinstein previously said was like “10,000 rotting swine,” is spreading to non-Christians.  According to the report, the person who oversaw the creation of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program (there’s not actually an individual “Spiritual Fitness Test”) is agnostic, and even now defends the value of the program:  Read more…

In a recent address at the National Defense University, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said this in response to a question about whether the “tolerance…has changed regarding ethics” in the military:

We have to have a true compass ethically. We have to have a true compass morally. We have to have a true compass inside our profession.

He’s right, of course.  No one has ever debated the need for a moral standard by which military members must live and serve.  The question, however, has been what defines the truth of that ”true compass.”  “True” implies Read more…

BFM is “Basic Fighter Maneuvers.”  In the simplest terms, its dogfighting.  Two aircraft fight one-versus-one in scripted setups, starting from positions of advantage, disadvantage, and neutrality.

The objective is to teach a fighter pilot “close quarters” combat with his aircraft, though with the advent of high off-boresight missiles, the era of drawn out “BFM” (a la the last few minutes of Top Gun) may be fading.

See more terminology and jargon at Fighter Pilot Speak.

The ceremony for a unit change of command is steeped in tradition, consistent with the history that is often cited at the ceremonies.  The formal event was originally an opportunity for members of a unit to see their old commander relinquish his authority and transfer the flag of command to the new leader.

A unique and fairly modern twist on this ceremony sometimes take place in aviation squadrons.  As the ceremony is conducted on the ground, the incoming commander flies overhead on the wing of the outgoing commander.  As the two aircraft Read more…

Several sources report that Rear Admiral Larry Rice’s February 1 retirement has been put on hold while his role in the USS Enterprise “XO Movie Night” video brouhaha is investigated.  Rice was one of two commanders of the Enterprise, and CAPT Honors superior, when the videos that caused Honors’ dismissal were aired.

The USS Enterprise, in the meantime, has left on its scheduled deployment.  CAPT Dee Mewbourne reportedly promised to boost morale by other means:

The new commander of the USS Enterprise on Thursday promised karaoke and video games to boost crew morale instead of the raunchy videos…

In an interesting twist to a long-running legal case, the VFW has sued the Executive Branch of the US government for failing to comply with an act of Congress supported by the Supreme Court.

The Mojave Cross has been in dispute for some years.  The privately-erected cross on government land was the subject of a lawsuit, Buono v Salazar.  In 2003 the US Congress transferred the land surrounding the Mojave Cross to the VFW in an attempt to eliminate the issues in conflict.  The 9th Circuit court of appeals said the Mojave Cross was unConstitutional and the land transfer was an invalid attempt to circumvent their ruling.

In April of last year, the US Supreme Court overturned that decision, saying the appeals court “erred.”  SCOTUS remanded the case to the 9th Circuit.

The cross was torn down by vandals shortly after the ruling, and the site remains empty because  Read more…