God and Country

US Army Chaplain (Col) Nosson Sachs received the 2011 Chaplain Joseph I. Hoeing Memorial award in May from the Rabbinical Council of America.

The award, according to the RCA, recognizes an individual chaplain who, “through his unselfish concern for the spiritual needs and welfare of all military personnel, embodies the dignity of Judaism and brings honor to the Torah and glory to his people.”

According to the article, Sachs was specifically honored Read more…

The mantra for many years in the military has been how to do “more with less.”  Presumably an indicator of efficiency, it soon became a cliché that did little to salve the workloads of military servicemembers who found themselves with more missions to accomplish — and yet fewer people and funds than in prior years.

General Raymond Odierno said it was time to avoid that “trap:”

“We must avoid the trap of doing more with less, which is a recipe for creating a hollow force,” General Odierno, the commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, said…

General Odierno also said Read more…

American citizens enjoy freedoms those in some other countries can only imagine.  These freedoms are protected by the sacrifices of US service men and women, many of whom have given their lives in that service.  Members of the US military have protected people they don’t know, rights they often can’t practice, and the freedom of others to advocate ideologies with which they disagree.

They have fought, and died, for something greater than themselves.

Remember their sacrifice this Memorial Day.

The US Naval Academy practice of conducting a noon-meal prayer is making its near-annual trek through the media.  This time, Talbot Manvel, an “adjunct instructor” at Annapolis, wrote an article in the Baltimore Sun saying the USNA puts “tradition ahead of the Constitution.”

So how is the academy defying the Constitution? It has established a religious practice: prayer at its mandatory noon meal for its midshipmen (students). They are marched into the mess hall, called to attention to listen to announcements, and then to prayer by a chaplain before sitting to eat. They are not permitted to leave, and thus they are forced to listen.

(Manvel becomes the latest Naval Academy instructor to publicly malign his employer.)  Manvel’s article is rife with error.  He cites Mellen v. Bunting, in which the 4th District Court held mealtime prayers at VMI were unConstitutional — a ruling the Supreme Court declined to review.  However, he ignores the ruling’s own qualifier:  Read more…

The plan to raise a memorial to Jewish US military Chaplains killed in combat — to accompany the memorials already in place for Protestant and Catholic Chaplains — received a boost when the US Senate passed a resolution honoring their service.

The US House was poised to pass the necessary legislation to approve the memorial last week.  The legislation would also eliminate the currently required Congressional approval that has delayed the Jewish memorial for several years.

Via ArmyChaplaincy.com and also at ReligionClause.

Lt Ryan McGuire, the pilot training student who lost his leg and won a fight to stay in training, has graduated and received his wings.

By becoming the first amputee to graduate from pilot training, First Lt. Ryan McGuire earned his spot among the elite group…

The new Air force pilot is reportedly headed to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, to learn to fly the C-17 Globemaster III.  He has become the first amputee to earn his wings in pilot training.

The Air Force Times reports that the recent team led by General (ret) Patrick Gamble to assess the religious climate at the Air Force Academy found cadets were actually more fed up with bad press than they were at issue with their religious freedoms:

Air Force Academy cadets are happy overall with their level of religious freedom there but are distressed by the “constant negative press” the academy receives…

The AFTimes cited the MRFF as the source of the report, as it has not been publicly released; however, the AFTimes appears to have come to quite a different conclusion Read more…

Though the story has dropped off most mainstream radars, Abdulhakim Muhammad continues to navigate the judicial system to trial.  Muhammad is accused in the 2009 killing of a US Army Soldier and the wounding of one other in a shooting outside a military recruiter’s office in Arkansas.

Muhammad is charged with first-degree murder in the June 2009 shooting death of Pvt. William Long and attempted capital murder in the wounding of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula. He has told The Associated Press the shooting was revenge for American killings of Muslims.

Muhammad has indicated he wanted to start a terrorist cell in the US.  The claim appears to be an effort to Read more…

The US Air Force and Navy appear to have been in an unspoken competition over their use of “green” or synthetic alternative fuels in their fighters — each vying for “firsts.”

It appears the Air Force Thunderbirds beat the Navy Blue Angels to be the first to use it in their demonstration team:

The Thunderbirds will use alternative fuel, unprecedented for any Department of Defense aerial team, at the [airshow] here May 20 and 21, officials said.

The team will fly with Camelina-based hydrotreated renewable jet fuel as part of the nation’s overall strategy to reduce reliance on foreign energy and establish greater energy security through conservation and use of “home grown” alternative energy sources, said Terry Yonkers, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics.

On a related noted, the Blue Angels apparently had an ‘incident’ Read more…

Pictures of the US military arriving in disaster areas and providing aid and comfort are ubiquitous.  They are so prevalent, in fact, some people forget the US military is not a humanitarian or aid organization.  While they’ve been known to distribute MREs or other military-style aid in response to crises, the military often simply provides a conduit for other agencies who are better equipped to provide aid.

Such was the case in Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11th.  The relief effort notably included C-17s flying into Sendai, Japan, in the first such delivery of emergency aid in the region.  The US Air Force aircraft were loaded with nearly 100 tons of emergency aid supplies…from Samaritan’s Purse.  As noted in the official release:

A C-17 Globemaster III from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson…download[ed] supplies, including four pallets of water and six pallets of blankets and food from Samaritan’s Purse in partnership with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Japan Mission Center in Osaka and other church partners in Japan.

Members of the US military helped unload the charity’s 747, then load four Read more…

Chaplain (Maj) Bill Scritchfield, currently serving in Afghanistan, has an interesting perspective on the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, reaching all the way back to General Marshall:

Scritchfield…believes Gen. George Marshall explained the significance of Soldier spirituality best, “The Soldier’s heart, the Soldier’s spirit, the Soldier’s soul are everything. Unless the Soldier’s soul sustains him, he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his country in the end.”

The context of the article is US Army SPC Turquoise Dawson, who volunteers as an usher at Bagram’s chapel services.  Her conscious decision to usher with a happy heart

illustrate[s] some of the behaviors and strategies that help one adapt and cope with challenges – behaviors and strategies Army officials hope to pass on to other soldiers.

Critics continue to imply an impending lawsuit over some portions of the Army’s CSF program.

US Army Chaplain (Col) Mike Lembke, having returned from his third tour in Iraq, recently spoke to the 19th annual Four Chaplains Prayer Breakfast in York, Pennsylvania.  The local article notes Chaplain Lembke has “emphasized religious unity throughout his career.”

Throughout his career he’s found his main emphasis is to create religious acceptance within units. Lembke said he’s work alongside Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist chaplains – each caring for soldiers’ needs and working together for unity.  Read more…

In late 2009 this site noted the hypocrisy of Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation over its treatment of Chaplain (LtCol) Gary Hensley.  Weinstein’s researcher, Chris Rodda, said a sermon given by Hensley in a military chapel was “of course…permissible,” while at the same time the MRFF used video of the sermon as a fundraising prop in a list of “violations.”  As has been demonstrated here before, it wasn’t ironic Weinstein was raising money at the expense of the religious freedom he claims to defend.

That article noted Weinstein has reaped heavily from the “non-profit” he founded and runs, allowing him to take home a paycheck of more than $250,000 in 2008 — nearly half of everything his “foundation” received (while Rodda simultaneously begged for donations, claiming Weinstein didn’t “even pay himself a salary”).

Weinstein seemed to take umbrage at the publication of his public financial data and threatened to sue this site for defamation.  He apparently thought it was damaging to his reputation for people to know 46% of his “non-profit’s” funds went directly to him – a shocking number when compared to reputable non-profits as documented at Charity Navigator, for example.  The legal threat seemed to be a weak attempt at intimidation, as it was obvious Weinstein had no viable case and he never moved on the legal threat (though he did file a frivolous complaint with the military, and he has repeated the open-ended threat).  Of course, while he dispenses vitriol with ease, Weinstein apparently wilts in the face of criticism, as he has repeatedly issued legal threats against those who have the gall to point out his hypocrisy.

To the point, Weinstein’s own public documents showed his significant pay, the re-publication of which apparently disturbed him.

It seems Weinstein didn’t learn his lesson.

The very next year, Michael Weinstein, the sole-paid officer of his self-created Read more…

As noted previously, Chaplain (Capt) Somya Malasri recently celebrated the Buddhist Vesak at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  Chaplain Malasri is reportedly the only active duty Buddhist Chaplain in the US Army.  (Buddhist Chaplain (Lt) Thomas Dyer is in the Army National Guard.)

Like Chaplains of other faiths, Malasri’s presence provides a unique support for members in the military of his faith:

Part of [Chaplain's Malasri's] service to others includes providing weekly Buddhist services on base. Spc. Lawrence Ross…attends regularly.
 
“(It gives me) a sense of belonging, where a group can connect without any animosity of judging,” he said.
 
Ross, who became a Buddhist in 2008, says that it has helped him become a better Soldier and that having a Buddhist presence on base helps people see another side of the Army.
 
“It’s not all about kicking down doors and killing people,” he said. “It’s all about helping people. Bottom line.”

Malasri has an interesting take on the apparent contradiction of a Buddhist Chaplain/Soldier — a religion stereotypically “peaceful.”  Read more…

A local Colorado Springs military paper repeats “one (widely-accepted)” and oft-repeated tradition of the military unit coin, or RMO (which has taken hold in many fields outside the military).  Though no one knows the precise origin of the story, the article’s version of the story is nearly identical to the one found here several years ago.