Chaplain Ministers to All, Even Other Nations

US Army Chaplain (Maj) Julian Padgett served the men and women of Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq, in late 2009.  In his proactive efforts to minister to those on Marez, he reportedly “made the rounds along the base perimeter to comfort troops and offer prayers,” as shown in this picture dated in September 2009:

(DoD Photo, PO1 Carmichael Yepez)

(DoD Photo, PO1 Carmichael Yepez)

An important detail is that Chaplain Padgett ministered to all the men and women on Marez supporting the US mission, including the pictured security guard, a third country national (TCN) from Uganda with whom he shared Read more

“Blackhawk Down” Pilot Relied on God

The story of how Army Sgt Jeff Struecker became US Army Chaplain Struecker is fairly well-known.  Less publicized is the faith of Michael Durant, the helicopter pilot whose UH-60 Blackhawk was shot down over Mogadishu; the shootdown ultimately resulted in the deaths of his crew at the hands of the Somalis.  Also killed were two Delta snipers, MSG Gary Gordon and SFC Randall Shughart, who received the Medal of Honor after volunteering to mount a vastly outnumbered defense for the beleaguered survivors.

Durant was a speaker at a National Prayer Luncheon at the US Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.  He said that prayer was central to his survival:  Read more

Air Traffic Control: Even a Child Could Do It

By now most have likely heard about the air traffic controller, Glenn Duffy, who reportedly brought his 9 year old twin children to work and allowed them to make several radio transmission to airliners on the tower frequency.  The FAA and ATC union were quick to respond, with the FAA suspending not only the controller, but also his supervisor, Rose Kelly.  The union said the behavior was “not indicative of the highest professional standards” of controller operations.

Pilots and controllers sometimes have an adversarial relationship.  Pilots get annoyed at being told what they think is the wrong thing to do, and controllers often get annoyed at pilots who always think they know better.  (In that regard, ATC controllers and fighter pilots may have much in common.)  Rightly or wrongly, some pilots also blame controllers for some fatal mishaps.  Gallows humor asks  Read more

Prior Service Academy Slots Unfilled

The military academies reserve some of their admissions for enlisted members of the military, allowing them to go to college and become officers.  This has led to a unique cadre of combat-experienced cadets at the Academies.

However, a US Army news release says that those at West Point are going unfilled, potentially because servicemembers don’t know about them.  Enlisted members of any of the services are encouraged to research the programs at each of the Academies designed to place aspiring enlisted members on the path to officership through a military academy experience.

General Encourages Troops to Express Views on DADT

A letter to the editor at the Stars and Stripes is attributed to LtGen Benjamin R. Mixon of Fort Shafter, Hawaii.  LtGen Benjamin R. Mixon is the three-star commanding general of US Army Pacific.  In that position, he is in charge of all US Army units in the Pacific theatre.

The General’s letter calls the proposed repeal of Don’t ask, Don’t tell, “ill-advised.”  He encourages troops to write both their elected officials and their chain of command to let their views be known, with the potential outcome of correcting the misperception in the media that the majority of the military is in favor of ending DADT.

LtGen Mixon is the highest ranking officer behind Marine Gen James Conway to disagree with President Obama’s proposed repeal of the law, and he appears to be the first to encourage average military members to make their views known.  As noted earlier, Read more

Haitians Learn of Chaplains, Christians in Military

A short article at Army.mil details the sermon of a US Army Chaplain to Haitians during his humanitarian deployment.  Chaplain (Maj) Brad Baumann was invited to preach in a devastated church in Port-au-Prince.  His Chaplain assistant, Spc. Midine Beauvais, grew up in Haiti and was able to translate much of the sermon to Creole.

The most interesting part of the article, though, was the Haitians surprise at the presence of a Christian Chaplain in the military:

The locals don’t expect people in the military to be Christian and take time for God while on a mission…so they appreciated that the soldiers attended the service at their church.

Though there is often an emphasis on the “risks” of associating Christianity with the US military, people often forget that there can be cultural advantages to the mission, as well.

AU Lodges IRS Complaint Against Liberty University

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has, again, filed a complaint with the IRS asserting that Liberty University is misusing its status as a tax-exempt (501(c)3) organization.  The original complaint can be read here.

For its part, Liberty barely addressed the merits of the complaint, instead saying that this was simply another attempt by the AU to intimidate Liberty.  In fact, Mat Staver, the Liberty School of Law dean, said the school was considering legal action in response to the AU’s attempt to intimidate Liberty students:

“We’re now looking at whether we are going to respond by filing some kind of civil action against Americans United — because what they’re trying to do is essentially intimidate Liberty University, particularly the students, from exercising their constitutional right to vote,” he argues. “We’re not about to allow this organization to do that to Liberty University students.”

As noted in the discussion last year when AU filed a complaint against Liberty, the AU is frequently associated with criticisms of Christians in the military.  It remains a “partnering link” on the MRFF page, and Michael Weinstein has claimed AU membership at one point.

Christian Officer Commands Combined Arms Center

LtGen Robert Caslen assumed command of Fort Leavenworth, home of the US Army Combined Arms Center, this week.  (Caslen recently returned from a year-long deployment to Iraq, and he pinned on his third star just prior to the assumption of command.)  Home of 16 US Army professional military schools and centers, the CAC is the “intellectual center of the Army” and is responsible for much of the professional training of US Army leaders.  It is also now creating a Mission Command center of excellence to focus on battle command and future Army leader needs.  The CAC website says

CAC provides Army-wide leadership and supervision for leader development and professional military and civilian education; institutional and collective training; functional training; training support; battle command; doctrine; lessons learned; and other specified areas that the TRADOC Commander designates.

All of these are focused toward making CAC a catalyst for change and to support the development of a relevant and ready ground force to support joint, interagency and multinational operations anywhere in the world.

Now an influential military leader, LtGen Caslen is a model of professional success and Christian officership.

1 … 520 521 522 523 524 … 608