Month: May 2011

Army Chaplain Receives 2011 Hoeing Memorial Award

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

General Says Do Less with Less, Pilots Cite Heaviest Workloads

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

Honor Their Memory this Memorial Day, 2011

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.

Naval Academy Noon Meal Prayer at Issue. Again.

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

Jewish Arlington Memorial Sees Movement

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.

Chaplains Call for Troop Protections over DADT

The recent controversy over the Navy’s apparent acceptance of homosexual marriages in base chapels (quickly reversed after Congressional disapproval) spurred a response by Chaplain endorsing agencies representing “over a thousand military chaplains.”  The groups wrote a letter calling for conscience protections not only for Chaplains — but also for every servicemember:

When guidance…is forthcoming from senior leadership that implies protected status for those who engage in homosexual behavior and normalizes same-sex unions in base chapels, any outside observer would conclude that both homosexuality and homosexual unions officiated as marriages in base chapels are normative.

This creates an environment that is increasingly hostile to the many chaplains — and the service members they serve — whose faith groups and personal consciences recognize homosexual behavior as immoral and unsafe and do not permit same-sex unions.

For this reason, and particularly in light of the growing confusion regarding how DADT repeal will play out — indeed, we were told that issues like same-sex weddings were not a concern because of DOMA just months ago — we strongly encourage the adoption of broad, clear, and strong protections Read more

Air Force Amputee Gets His Wings

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.

Air Force Report: Cadets “Content” with Religious Freedom

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

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