Tag Archives: air force

Col Boling New Director of ANG Chaplains, with Diversity

Chaplain (Col) Leah Botona Boling recently became the director of the Air National Guard Chaplain Corps, and the Air Force was quick to point out she was the “first female, person of color” to hold that position. More important to the people she serves, of course, are her beliefs. Oddly, the chaplain’s religious beliefs were rarely mentioned in the articles vaunting her elevation to the position. Speaking of what she brings to the role, she said

I bring the female perspective, the mother perspective, the Filipina perspective and, most important, the Leah Botona Boling perspective.

On one hand, the statement is notable for highlighting that every person brings their “perspectives” with them into every role in which they serve. Boling doesn’t seem to support the idea that a person should leave some part of themselves at the door – read: those who think Christians shouldn’t allow their beliefs to influence their leadership or politics.

At the same time, note the “perspective” the chaplain left out: her faith.

It shouldn’t have been hard to Read more

Air Force Tweaks Pilot Application Standards to Increase Diversity

For more than a year the US Air Force has been working to “remove barriers” to “underrepresented” groups, both within its ranks and for potential recruits. Recently, thanks to the Air Force’s official LGBTQ Initiatives Team, the Air Force even identified and eliminated a “restrictive policy that was being used against transgender Airmen.” (That policy was the longstanding limitation on what was allowed to be in an Air Force signature block, which even Mikey Weinstein has supported. Now, happily, all Airmen can put their preferred pronouns in their signature blocks.)

Other ‘inclusive’ emphasis has been placed on recruiting Air Force pilots.

Last fall, the Air Force made some very specific changes to its Read more

Coast Guard Planned to Discourage Religious Vaccination Exemptions

Leaked documents from the US Coast Guard made available to the press indicate a draft plan to coax, cajole, and ultimately coerce Coast Guard members into taking the vaccine, even over their potential religious objections. As part of the exemption request process, the Coast Guard members are required to meet with a chaplain. That chaplain is directed to record the meeting in a memorandum:

Note any comments made by the member that make it appear they are using the religious exemption as a ruse to avoid the vaccine…

Have the member describe how they consistently keep the tenets of their faith and demonstrate those in their daily life. Ask them to be as specific as possible. Put the specifics acts (or lack thereof) in the memo.

Note that when a member of the government seeks a religious exemption from a policy, the government is not allowed to pass judgment on the member’s religion, ascertain how ‘well’ they follow the tenets of their faith, or explain to that member what their religion really says. The government is not allowed to try to use the member’s faith to try to convince them to take or oppose any action.

Yet that is precisely what the Coast Guard document tells its chaplains to do: Read more

MRFF Rails Against USAFA, While Admitting There’s Nothing USAFA Can Do

According to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, a US Air Force Academy cadet recently sent him an email to let him know one of his academic instructors had asked him if he had accepted Jesus as his Savior. The next day, the instructor (perhaps jokingly) asked the cadet not to run to Mikey Weinstein.

With that information – and only that information – Weinstein employed former USAFA department head Marty France (who had previously been Mikey’s inside man in the USAFA leadership) to engage the Air Force Academy and demand…nothing. Said Marty to USAFA:

I’m not sure you can do anything about this particular case–the cadet won’t provide enough information to identify the instructor and we won’t divulge any information about the cadet without their permission, of course.

So, to recap, the MRFF is contacting USAFA so they can do…nothing.

Despite the MRFF’s own admission that they didn’t have enough information to do anything, Weinstein’s public response was typical of “Mikey’s Mad Libs” (a name given to his alliterative and Read more

USAF Christian Pilot Objects to COVID Mask, Vaccine

Though it doesn’t seem to have broken into the mainstream press, a US Air Force instructor pilot at Columbus AFB, Mississippi, has been fighting for months to have the military honor his religious objection to wearing a mask. Two of the pilot’s superiors approved the request, despite some misgivings. However, a third superior overturned that approval. As discussed in July:

The unnamed airman, identified as Capt. John Doe by the nonprofit First Amendment litigation firm Liberty Counsel, argues his “Christian beliefs do not permit him to wear a mask,” said the firm, which specializes in religious freedom cases. He was suspended from duty on May 17 and from flying on June 8…

As hills to die on go, this wouldn’t be an ideal choice… but he does have a point.

In the Air Force policy requiring masks published last February, the very first exception was for religious beliefs:

Effective immediately all individuals on Department property…will wear masks… The DAF-wide exceptions are as follows:

(1) when necessary to reasonably accommodate a religious belief…

Capt “Doe” notes that two chaplains verified Read more

Mikey Weinstein Falsely Accuses Army Chaplain of Lying

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein and his research assistant Christine “Chris” Rodda have been railing against US Army 1LT Alex Stovall for the past couple of months. Stovall is a member of the Army Reserve, and he’s also a candidate for Arizona’s ninth congressional district.

Stovall’s political comments – made as a candidate in the vein of Donald Trump – have drawn much of the MRFF’s ire, as has the fact he’s shown up in campaign ads and interviews while in uniform.

Making political comments while a civilian – that is, a Reservist not on orders – is a non-event. There are quite a few US military members in Congress on both sides of the aisle (according to the CRS, 14 in both houses), and they’ve certainly all made political comments about their political adversaries and the Nation’s leadership. When not on military orders, they are civilians and can speak as such — which is why Army Capt Alan Kennedy sued his chain of command over the punishments he received while participating in BLM “protests” while not on orders.

Even as a failed lawyer and JAG who was apparently relegated to administrative law while in the Air Force, Mikey Weinstein should still know this, but the accusation makes for “good” press for him. It attracts the attention of those who don’t know any better – even if it’s not entirely true.

Wearing the uniform while engaged in political activity is certainly an issue (and it has been an issue for others in the past), but it has nothing to do with religion or religious liberty in the US military, which makes you wonder why Weinstein is trying to become the uniform police for the military. The nexus for Weinstein’s cabal comes in the fact that Stovall is a Reserve chaplain candidate – and this is where Weinstein and Rodda go off the rails, recently Read more

Mikey Weinstein Fights Oppression of Vacation Bible School

Early in June, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s so-called “religious freedom” group ensured the sanctity of religious liberty in the US military by forcing the leaders of Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to pull down a banner advertising Vacation Bible School at the chapel:

An advocacy group that says it fights “church/state violations and noxious abuse” in the military said Friday it forced the removal of a banner advertising a Vacation Bible School program from the main gate at the Fort Sill Army Base in Oklahoma.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation…said the banner’s slogan, “Jesus [Power] Pulls Us Through,” was objectionable when displayed at the base entrance.

Here’s the thing: VBS has been extremely popular at military bases throughout Read more

LtCol Matthew Lohmeier: Marxism in the US Military and the Emperor’s New Clothes

US Air Force LtCol Matthew Lohmeier became an almost overnight celebrity after he was fired from his command in the Space Force following a podcast interview in which he decried a rising Marxist/Critical Race Theory movement within the US military. (His profile has risen so fast that you can be sure Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is trying to figure out a way to hitch his cause to Lohmeier’s publicity.)

The former F-15 fighter pilot and T-38 flight instructor self-published a book titled “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military” and was on a Read more

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