Ramstein 8th Grader Wins Air Force Video Competition

Thirteen-year old Hunter Koltes won the Air Force’s Year of the Air Force Family video competition in the youth category.  Koltes is the son of LtCol Jason Koltes, the USAFE vice commander executive officer and an F-16 pilot, formerly of the  F-16 demo team.

The video communicates an amazingly mature and responsible attitude for a young teenager in this day and age.  The 60-second film, which has an interesting soundtrack choice (Switchfoot’s This is Your Life) as well as imagery, is worth the watch.

All of the competition videos can be seen here, or you can link directly to Koltes’ video.

Also noted and viewable at the Air Force Times.

MRFF Tangles with the Rules. Again.

Michael Weinstein’s MRFF has again demonstrated its tendency to hold others to a standard to which it does not hold itself.  It previously exhibited such behavior with its loose honoring of copyright, and also when it distributed letter from a member of the military, and of the MRFF, that was derogatory to military leadership.

This time, the MRFF (specifically, Bekki Miller) posted an email on their website written by Dustin Chalker (the plaintiff in the abandoned MRFF lawsuit).  His email was in response Read more

USAFA’s Unique Flight Programs

The US Air Force Academy certainly has its critics with regard to the experiences cadets must endure, but it also offers some significant and unique opportunities.

As a college student receiving a tuition-free four year education, how’d you like to head down the street to the school’s flying program and take an aircraft for a spin (also for free)?

Can’t really beat the view, either.

USAFA T-52A and T-41D line up for takeoff on a clear April morning on the USAFA airfield, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

DoD Announces DADT Inbox

The Department of Defense has launched a site at which military members and their families are free to anonymously submit comments about the impact of a repeal of DADT.

Notably, though, the site requires a CAC, or Common Access Card, which family members do not have, and which leaves a traceable signature at authentication.

The site is reportedly at http://www.defense.gov/dadt, though it appears to have been inaccessible since its announcement.  [Update: The website appears to be inaccessible from civilian servers.]  Stars and Stripes reports that

DOD spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said the department is seeking feedback on how a repeal would affect things such as retention, readiness and unit cohesion.

“It’s not whether or not we should repeal,” she said…

The DOD is still working on a method that would allow gay servicemembers to communicate their thoughts, ideas and experiences in a confidential manner, she said.

Franklin Graham to Pray at Pentagon

Despite being “disinvited” from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer events, Franklin Graham has said he will still go to the Pentagon to pray.

If President Obama fails to intervene to allow controversial evangelist Franklin Graham to lead a National Day of Prayer event Thursday inside the Pentagon, “it will be a slap in the face of all Christians,” Graham said Tuesday.

And invited or not, he’ll stand in front of the Pentagon and pray, Graham said in an interview… 

Graham says after he prays at the Pentagon, he’ll join the [NDoP] group on Capitol Hill.

Thirty-six members of Congress have reportedly taken the military to task over the treatment of Graham.

Groups: Servicemembers “Silenced” over DADT

A report from CNS News says that military Chaplains and servicemembers are being “muzzled” with respect to their views on DADT:

Arthur Schultz [sic, Schulcz], a former Army chaplain who now is legal counsel to the National Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, told reporters that servicemen overseas have been told not to speak in support of DADT.

“One of the chaplains…spoke to me, who recently came back from overseas from a major command, and he said that the word is out to chaplains: don’t speak about this and particularly, don’t raise issues about why you can’t support it,” [Schulcz] told reporters. “And so that’s the unofficial, ‘official’ language to say, ‘Keep your mouth shut, or else.'”

Tony Perkins, the disinvited former Marine and president of the Family Research Council, supported that assessment and said “many” on active duty also oppose Read more

USCIRF Counsels Government on Religious Freedom

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bipartisan US government panel that issues an annual report on the American government’s support of religious freedom.

This year, the report indicates that the US government is becoming less concerned with “religious freedom in its foreign policy and national security decisions,” despite evidence of religious persecution around the globe.

In particular, the USCIRF took issue with the government’s recent semantic change that replaced “religious freedom” with Read more

Book Review: When Faith Takes Flight

When Faith Takes Flight was written by Jim Walters, a Pastor, civilian flight instructor, and former US Air Force fighter pilot. Walters became a Christian in a military chapel in Vietnam, and was quickly taken under the wing of a Christian in a local military Bible study.

When Faith Takes Flight isn’t an autobiography or memoir, however; it is an instructional book on Christian doctrine. The author is both a faith instructor and a flight instructor, and both perspectives are evident throughout the book.

Each of the 10 chapters covers a basic Christian doctrinal element (the existence of God, sin, grace, the Bible, etc.). The chapters (or “lessons”) begin with a flight related story, draw an analogy to a Biblical concept, and then relate a Biblical lesson — complete with a “quiz” and questions for group discussion. Each lesson is, in many ways, a miniature sermon.

The book’s primary objective is to teach theological concepts using Read more

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