Tag Archives: coast guard

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

Civilian Pastor Leads Midshipmen, Faculty at Annapolis

The US Naval Academy has an interesting arrangement in which a civilian pastor is officially part of the chapel staff to minister to faculty and midshipmen. That position is now filled by Bart Physioc:

Physioc fills a unique position in a congregation that encompasses active duty and retired military, civilians and staff. Because Navy chaplains have responsibilities that limit their ability to pastor the whole church, Physioc helps cover visitations and ministers to and disciples the members.

He isn’t new to the military, however. It turns out Pastor Physioc is actually retired US Army Chaplain (Col) Physioc, with 25 years of service that ended just in 2014.

Chaplain Physioc wasn’t Read more

The US Military Celebrates Christmas Around the World

Despite deployment and austere conditions at locations around the world, the US military tries to provide its troops the resources and opportunities they need to celebrate Christmas, as well as the freedom to interact with local communities to honor the Christmas season. In most, but not all, cases, the military isn’t afraid to say “Christmas” or “Hanukkah” or otherwise acknowledge the point of what’s being celebrated — despite the occasional criticism from Scut Farkus. Some recent examples, from Colorado Springs to Japan:

Sailors at Fleet Activities Sasebo (Japan) brought Christmas gifts to orphans through the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program.

Led by their battalion commander, LtCol Lawson Bell, Soldiers out of Fort Carson, Colorado, participated in an all-night march to downtown Colorado Springs, where they teamed with Catholic Charities to support the Marian House Soup Kitchen.

The III MEF Band at Read more

Coast Guardsman Receives Pastafarian Gift at Retirement

Master Chief Petty Officer Bob Sebaste of the US Coast Guard had a retirement ceremony in June in which he was presented with an interesting gift [emphasis added]:

I retired recently after 29 years of service in the US Navy and US Coast Guard. The guys I work with know that I am an ordained minister in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. For our holiday party, for example, I ensured that His Noodly Goodness was properly represented, as well as the Festivus pole and other more mainstream (mundane) religious symbols.

In any case, at my retirement ceremony, they presented me with this most excellent headgear, appropriately decorated with my CG rank insignia.

The concept of the “flying spaghetti monster” is Read more

Christmas Around the Military (Video)

US military leaders publicized their “holiday messages” in a series of videos just before Christmas. Outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his wife made a point of saying “Merry Christmas,” as well as including a still photo from a homosexual proposal during a homecoming ceremony.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Marty Dempsey and his family sang “Jingle Bells” and wished everyone a “Merry Christmas.”

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and her Read more

WWII Vet Receives Norse Burial

The US Navy routinely performs burials at sea for qualified veterans, ceremonies that follow religious traditions despite the complaints of some who see a collusion between religion and the military.

The US Coast Guard recently performed a ceremony for World War II veteran Andrew Haines, and it honored his request as well — for what the Navy Times called a “Viking funeral“:

Haines…wanted a burial at sea…. On Sept. 29, the Station Atlantic City Coast Guard conducted the burial about three miles off the coast of New Jersey.

[The] handcrafted wooden Norse-style vessel…was lowered into a recess on the Coast Guard ship, where the shavings inside the boat were lighted with a flare and pushed out to sea.

Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Christopher Fonseca, the unit’s operations officer, Read more

Highlighting Sexuality in a Post-DADT World

One of the main arguments for repealing the ban on homosexuals serving in the United States military was that it would be a “non-event,” and all anyone had to do was ‘shoot straight, not be straight.’ In an interesting bit of irony (or hypocrisy), various organizations continue to emphasize the sexuality of homosexuals, rather than de-emphasize it as they did in the runup to repeal.

For example, a group called the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Veterans Memorial Project has been working for a few years to publicize and fund a DC-area memorial for homosexual veterans. To be clear, that memorial would be for veterans of the military who were notable for their sexuality.

Similarly, cities continue to host the “Gay Games,” which make Read more

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