A Naval flight training class graduation included a ceremony at their base chapel in which the chaplains performed a “blessing of the wings:”

This is a completely voluntary program, but one that is rather popular among many of the new aviators. While it is billed as a non-denominational ceremony, it is clearly a Christian program that culminates in the Catholic priest sprinkling holy water on the wings that these service members are about to pin on later that day.

Normally, this might bring conspiracy-theory advocates out of the woodwork, claiming this was further evidence of a secret coup by Christians to take over the world.  Or something.  Turns out, though, this story is actually about the participation by the US Navy’s newest Jewish Naval Aviators, in a post called “Jewish Wings:”

I received a call the week prior from the chaplain where he told me about a Jewish ensign who wanted to participate in the ceremony…

…once the word got out that a rabbi would be attending the blessing of the wings, a second ensign came forward and said he wanted to participate too.

How did the religious support environment of the US Navy respond?  Enthusiastically:

The chaplain was (almost) as excited as I was about this. While the base chaplains are clearly Christian ministers, they always jump at the opportunity to include other faith groups. They wanted to review the ceremony with us to make sure there wouldn’t be any prayers that would be exclusionary or offend the Jewish attendees in any way. It turned out there wasn’t much to be changed, really just inserting a couple of places for us to add in our own prayers.

As it turns out, the scheduled rabbi had a family emergency, so the local Jewish lay leader (recounting the story) was able to stand in.

the ceremony itself wasn’t very complicated. When the non-Jews were done with their blessing, they called up the two Jewish ensigns and I read a slightly modified version of the traveler’s prayer and ended with the priestly blessing.

The proud lay leader — who also managed to instruct two student flights that day — concluded by saying

By standing up as proud Jews, these two ensigns showed the world that us Jews continue to serve bravely in the protection of our nation, just as countless of our forefathers have. It made me proud as a Marine and proud as a Jew to be part of it. A heartfelt mazal tov to Ensign K, and Ensign P for holding the title as the Navy’s newest Jewish aviators!

Christians aren’t the only ones who integrate their faith and their profession.  In fact, devoted followers of every religious belief likely do so, though they publicize it in varying degrees.

This ceremony demonstrated two clear concepts:  First, the US Navy recognized the importance of religious faith on the parts of the graduating students and facilitated the ceremonial application of their faith to their newest achievement.  Second, the community was familiar with a Christian-based ceremony (the organ player related it was the first Jewish participation she’d seen in her 40 years), but, when notified of the students’ interest, the Navy chaplains went out of their way to ensure the full participation of two Jewish students in their own tradition.

Notably, the chaplains cannot address something about which they are uninformed.  In that regard, the two Ensigns and the supporting lay leader seemed to do everything right.  The result was a positive experience for an entire class of newly-winged US Naval Aviators — and a positive story about the protection of religious liberty in the US military.

Job well done.