The Stars and Stripes repeated a Las Vegas Sun article highlighting Nellis AFB Airmen who feed the homeless through a local ministry on a regular basis:

The airmen and ministry’s tables are crowded with hardboiled eggs, pizza, hot dogs, salad, chili mac, bread, turkey-and-cheese sandwiches and water. McShane blesses the food, and the line, which has grown more than 250 people deep, lurches into motion like a train leaving a station.

The airmen chat with the homeless as they scoop a hearty spoonful of chili mac onto their overstuffed Styrofoam plates. Other airmen collect trash and pass out bagged lunches to those in the back of the line.

The Nellis AFB support has been ongoing for months, as previous official Air Force news releases on the continuing events demonstrate.  Each month, a different Nellis AFB unit sponsors the event.

But hypersensitive wilting flowers may note a loud omission from the article:  The word “chaplain” never once appears.  The St. Benedict Labre Homeless Ministry, run by the Rev John McShane, organizes the event, and the help from Nellis came from the enlisted command channels:

[Senior Master Sgt. Richard] Buchalski decided it was time for the military to help. He pitched the concept to the Nellis Air Force Top-3 Council to make it a basewide event. The council agreed, offering to pitch in $100 a month for food and water…

Each month volunteers sign up through email. McShane is thrilled to have the military help.

The “Top 3 Council” is an organization of the (top 3) senior enlisted ranks: chief master sergeant, senior master sergeant, master sergeant.  Technical sergeants with a promotion line number are sometimes accepted as well.

According to the Weinstein Rule, these Airmen may actually be violating command policy by organizing to feed the homeless (shocking, no?).  If you’ll recall, Michael Weinstein “accused commanders of crossing the line” when US Air Force Academy cadets announced a volunteer opportunity with Operation Christmas Child.  Weinstein said that cadets encouraging each other to support Operation Christmas Child committed

an egregious Constitutional mistake…

Some of the criticism centered on the misperceptions the boxes were either identifiable by sender (ie, the US military) or ‘spiked’ with Christian materials after they were sent.  Neither perception was correct.  The cadets were simply providing boxes of toys and school supplies to an organization that delivered them without condition.

After initially defending the cadets, USAFA recanted, saying:

Under orders from Air Force headquarters, Clark said only the Chaplain Corps is responsible for advertising faith-based programs.

“The cadets had nothing but good intentions, but this was something that should have started with the Chaplains, not the Cadet Wing,” Clark said. “That doesn’t mean the cadets can’t volunteer for the Christmas toy drive, they can participate through the Cadet Chaplain Corps.”

As noted not long after this “scandal,” the implications of the restrictive attitude toward faith-based organizations is far-reaching — though they haven’t reached far.  To date, it seems the only members of the military who are restricted from organizing to support charities (that is, if those charities are connected to a faith-based group) are cadets.

It is possible the Top-3 at Nellis actually organized through the chaplaincy, though it is nowhere mentioned.  What is more likely is they took it upon themselves to organize a community service opportunity for their subordinates.  Volunteer hours and events are actually worth credit toward awards and recognition that can affect enlisted troops’ careers.  It appears sign-ups occur over email in association with the enlisted council (not the chaplaincy); it is very likely that announcements of the event do as well.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

An entire article was dedicated to showing that Weinstein’s attacks on religious liberty within the US military haven’t dampened US troops’ charitable spirits, so that will not be re-hashed here.  It remains unclear, however, why USAFA cadets are not allowed to gather among themselves to support a local faith-based charity, while active duty troops are.

This is particularly troubling when one realizes USAFA cadets will graduate to become officers — thus, leaders over these same troops.  That means a well-meaning newly-commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, fresh from USAFA, may attempt to tell the Top 3 Council they can’t do that — based on his unique and misperceived experience at USAFA.

As previously noted, no law, regulation, Air Force policy, DoD Instruction, Article of the US Constitution, not even retired General Schwartz’s letter on religious neutrality — nothing — requires a US servicemember who wants to support a local charity to stop what he is doing and talk to a chaplain only if it is a faith-based charity.  The institutional rules governing interaction with such charities are the same regardless of their religious affiliation.  The Weinstein Rule is fiction.  That does not mean a local commander cannot choose to place restrictions of his own, but there is no standing military policy.

In fact, if there was such a policy — one that said troops can directly organize to support any charity except a faith-based one — it would likely run afoul of the very religious freedom critics claim they aim to protect. One cannot discriminate upon the basis of religion and simultaneously assert that discrimination protects religious freedom.

The work of the troops at Nellis in feeding the homeless in Las Vegas is notable, laudable, and commendable.  The work of the Top 3 Council in organizing and supporting that effort is likewise an admirable expression of support for the community and the efforts of their subordinates.  Despite prior confusion, there is nothing wrong with troops organizing to support a local charitable group — even if that group happens to be connected to a religion.

All that said, the religious connection did not entirely escape notice:

The evenings aren’t used to convert the homeless or help them find God; the ministry and volunteers just come to offer food, socks, underwear, soap and other necessities.

“Our objective is to do a little bit and try to simplify their lives for one night,” McShane said. “…We just try to do the best we can…to take care of the bodies of these men and women.”

God bless them — and the troops who support them — for it.