God and Country

In 2010 some reacted with consternation after reports Christians had been to the circle claimed by pagans at the US Air Force Academy.  As noted at the time, they failed to acknowledge the area known as the “LZ” had been used for Christian gatherings of one sort or another for some years before the pagans laid claim to the clearing.

It turns out Rock Beyond Belief — the name of the atheist counter-Christian event being held at Fort Bragg — has a Christian history, as well.  The Christian music group Petra, named after the Greek word for “rock,” was one of the pioneering groups in the Christian music genre.

In 1990 they produced an album called Petra: Beyond Belief. As if predicting an association with the military, the album cover was graced by a photograph of an Air National Guard C-130.

The title track, Beyond Belief, is a call to Christians to do more than just “believe.”

Watch the video and see lyrics below the fold.

With credit to Barb for the point out.

Read more…

The Colorado Springs Independent‘s Pam Zubeck — a veritable PR arm of Michael Weinstein’s MRFF — has a post stating a US Air Force Academy fourth class cadet (freshman) sent an inappropriate religious email to his classmates.  She said the cadet

has been “counseled” for sending an e-mail to the entire freshman class urging them to pray and citing specific Scriptures. [formatting original]

She then includes the content of the 500-word email, which had been sent only two days prior.  The email does, shockingly, “urge people to pray” and does, indeed, cite “specific Scriptures.”  What Zubeck fails to mention is the email is a forward of a daily devotional by Gloria Copeland, distributed on the same day the cadet forwarded it:  Read more…

In an interesting turnabout, the Air Force is responding to a tightening budget by canceling the much vaunted RQ-4 Global Hawk program and extending the life of the manned U-2 it was intended to replace.  The decision reportedly affects the Block 30 Global Hawk, but not the Block 40 or Navy variants.

The Air Force wants to terminate the Block 30 Northrop Read more…

The Kansas Congressional delegation continues the multi-year push to honor US Army Chaplain (Capt) Emil Kapaun with the Medal of Honor.

Army Capt. Emil Kapaun of Pilsen was serving as a chaplain when he died in a prison camp in May 1951…  Read more…

Michael Weinstein, the only paid officer and President of his Military Religious Freedom Foundation, reduced his personal compensation by nearly $80,000 in 2010, according to his most recent tax documents.  That same year, his “charity” saw a slight decrease in revenue of about $13,000.

In prior years Weinstein’s exorbitant salaries — which are paid by himself, to himself, from his charity’s revenue – have been highlighted as inconsistent with both his implications that donations to his charity “support the troops” and with the general practices of other charities, whose president/CEO compensations are generally markedly lower (even if the charities are markedly larger).

The $218,201 Weinstein paid himself from the MRFF funds still represented 41% of his charity’s total revenue in 2010.  That’s down from the 54% he paid himself in 2009, though it still represents a substantial percentage of what his donors are presumably Read more…

US Navy Captain Owen Honors, removed from his command of the USS Enterprise over videos he made in prior years, is set to retire in April.  His “XO Movie Nights” from 2006 and 2007 were forwarded to the media last year.  Despite an otherwise remarkable lead up to his command, he was fired.

Previously, a review board found fault with his conduct but did not require that he be removed from the service.

In an unusual official article, Air Force Public Affairs documents the interesting hobby of Capt Stan Maczek, resident ghost hunter.

[Maczek is] not sure what to call himself — ghost hunter, spirit seeker, paranormal investigator — but he’s sure this is the most exciting hobby he’s discovered yet… Read more…

The famous Basic Training-issued BCGs, once the brown-rimmed, awkward-looking but sturdily-built hallmark of basic trainees, are officially dead.

Military recruits who wear glasses no longer will have to endure the embarrassment of sporting BCGs — those beloved standard-issue specs, technically called S9s, which are universally known as “Birth Control Glasses” because they’re supposedly so unattractive.

Yet another “tradition” falls to progress…

US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) has written a letter (PDF) signed by 35 members of the House asking the Air Force restore a unit’s motto that was changed after an atheist’s complaint.  The incident to which Rep Forbes is referring was actually first reported on ChristianFighterPilot.com, with the Religion Clause and the ADF Alliance Alert subsequently citing this site.

As noted three weeks ago, the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office responded to “needling” from former Army Captain Jason Torpy, an atheist, and changed its motto from “Doing God’s work with other people’s money” to “Doing miracles with other people’s money.”

The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, says:

It has come to our attention that the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) has modified the logo on its official patch to remove its reference to “God,” following a complaint from Read more…

Antonio Martinez has pled guilty to attempting to blow up a Baltimore military recruiting center in 2010.  The FBI went as far as to provide Martinez a fake bomb which he tried to detonate.  He had originally pled not guilty, but reversed his plea and faces a 25-year sentence.

Though only vaguely referenced in the Associated Press article on the plea, Martinez was reportedly motivated by his “extremist” Islamic views.  He was one Read more…

A US Army article notes Fort Campbell soldier Staff Sgt Jonathan Welch was presented the Honorable Order of Saint Martin by Col. Michael Peterman, the commander of 101st Sustainment Brigade.

The Order of Saint Martin recognizes Quartermasters, either Active Duty, Reserves, or civilian who have made significant contributions to the Quartermaster Corps, states the US Army Quartermaster Foundation.

“I am extremely flattered to receive this award,” said Welch. “For a logistician, this is great privilege. It is also an honor to have had Col. Peterman present this award to me. ”

Interestingly, the article fails to note the history of the medal — or why it is named after Saint Martin:  Read more…

As noted previously, the US Air Force has proposed cutting a large number of A-10s from the inventory in response to the reduced Department of Defense budget.

An article at AOL Defense notes this isn’t the first time this has been proposed, and the author starts to rattle off the reasons people think the A-10 Thunderbolt II (better known as Warthog) is so great:

Two things make the A-10 especially fine at CAS: its amazing 30mm cannon which can destroy a tank with ease; and the Read more…

In what appears to be a site-wide revamping, Rock Beyond Belief — the atheist counter-event to the Christian Rock the Fort — has dropped the controversial Aiden song that recently caused a media firestorm from its website.  The YouTube video was originally called an “atheist anthem” and was the only introduction to the band on the site, though after FoxNews highlighted it organizer Justin Griffith said they would not be performing that particular song.

Also absent is the plea for civilians (“as many people as possible”) to come to the event.  A recent article quoted Justin Griffith saying he “counts about 100” atheists at Fort Bragg, meaning he is likely relying on the event to draw far more civilians than members of the military.  For a rough comparison, the Fort Bragg chapels host about 2,000 congregants in 17 services every week (both Christian and not); the Christian Rock the Fort had an estimated attendance of 3-4,000.

In another interesting twist, a revealing but obscure comment was made by a pseudonymed military officer presenting himself as part of Rock Beyond Belief Read more…

Despite being in a combat zone on the other side of the world from home, the US military facilitated servicemembers’ participation in the National Prayer Breakfast.  Retired US Army Colonel Danny McKnight was invited to speak at 12 different locations in the country.  McKnight is famous for his role in Somalia in 1993 — in what the rest of the world now knows as Blackhawk Down.

Col Danny McKnight and his Hollywood alter-ego, Tom Sizemore

National Prayer Breakfast is an annual interfaith tradition started in 1953 by members of U.S. Congress to get Read more…

Investigators determined pilot error caused the 6 April 2011 crash of a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet near Lemoore Naval Air Station, California.  Both the pilot and the backseat NFO were killed.

The pilot, Lt. Matthew I. Lowe, 33, of Plantation, Fla., and the plane’s weapons officer, Lt. Nathan H. “Beefcake” Williams, 28, of Oswego, N.Y., were Read more…