Month: September 2010

Army Joe Leads Platoon Through IEDs

McClatchy Newspapers originated an interesting article on the various new vehicles now fielded by the US military in its attempts to overcome the threats of IEDs.  The vehicles vary from hulking “buffaloes” to the single-man “Husky,” as driven by US Army SPC Joshua Joe:

Joe, a broad-built 22-year-old from Sumter, S.C., with the Lord’s Prayer tattooed on his bulging forearm, is one of the Husky drivers.

Joe’s platoon, which is part of Task Force Thor, prays together in a huddle before beginning a mission.

Read the full article.

Air Force Seeks Money from Drop-Outs, Pilot Wash Outs

An Air Force Times report notes the Air Force has fallen behind its efforts to recoup money from people who quit the Air Force Academy during their junior and senior years.  Those who quit any of the military academies after their first two years are obligated to repay the government for their education; their obligation is even formalized in a “commitment” ceremony at the start of their junior year.

More interestingly, however, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz has said that the Air Force may seek to recoup money from recent graduates as well.  According to the report, as many as 18 new Lieutenants may have washed out of their respective schools, including pilot training.  Rather than train Read more

US Army Chaplain Dale Goetz Remembered

The Army.mil website has photos of a memorial held at Fort Jackson, SC, site of the US Armed Forces Chaplains Center, for US Army Chaplain (Capt) Dale Goetz, recently killed in combat.

Interestingly, the traditional “Soldier’s cross,” formed by an upended rifle, boots, and helmet, was appropriately modified with an actual cross to replace the M-16; the former was carried by the non-combatant Chaplain, the latter was not.

“Freedom” Groups Object to Prayers on Navy Ships

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has protested the tradition of evening prayers onboard US Navy ships, saying they

violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because military personnel are being coerced to participate in religious exercises…

These officially sanctioned prayers compel service members of varying beliefs and non-belief to listen to and participate in religious exercises…

While it purported to condemn all prayer, the FRFF intentionally highlighted Christianity, even citing the frequently-used and inaccurately attributed concept that

Jesus condemned as hypocrisy public prayer…

If nothing else, the FRFF appears to be intellectually consistent, since demanding an end to the prayers achieves their end of freedom “from” exposure to religious thought.  On the other hand, such consistency is lacking for the MRFF, who also Read more

Groups Use Threats of Others’ Violence to Achieve Ends?

In an interesting perspective, Eugene Volokh writes an article on the “conflict” between the Koran-burning church in Florida and Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  To the point, he quotes Hooper saying:

Can you imagine what this will do to our image around the world…And the additional danger it will add whenever there is an American presence in Iraq or Afghanistan?

After going through several explanatory examples and analogies, Volokh draws an interesting conclusion:

In those situations, the mainstream group representative seems to be consciously using the threat of [others’] extremist violence to achieve his own ideological goals. And he also seems to be trying to blame the people who are exercising their rights for the violence that would supposedly ensue. This sort of political tactic does not reflect well on the mainstream group.

Separate from Koran burning and CAIR, Volokh’s perspective has an interesting application to religious freedom in the military.  After all, Read more

Koran Burning: Copy Cats, Hypocrisy, and Replacement Texts

According to Military.com, the small, controversial Westboro Baptist Church has joined the criticism of the planned Koran burnings in Florida, but not for the reason everyone else is.  Their reason?

They did it first.  And no one noticed.

It’s that in 2008 she and her father’s Topeka flock set fire to a Quran in plain view on a Washington, D.C., street and nobody seemed to care…

Westboro has even said if Jones doesn’t burn the Koran, they will.  Elsewhere, there is an increasing chorus of “hypocrisy” accusations against US officials.  The US government previously said it burned Bibles in Afghanistan; even at that time, there was a sense that

“if it had been the Quran, this never would have happened.”

Other news agencies picked up on the “unusual” Read more

General: “Do You Have Moral Courage?”

General Darryl W. Burke, commander of the 82nd Training Wing, pens an interesting commentary on the official Air Force site.  He asks a simple question:  “Do you have moral courage?”

While academically interesting, it’s noteworthy that the General never really defines moral courage.  He simply seems to assume there are two kinds of courage: physical and non-physical (moral).

Moral courage is more than just “mental courage,” however.  It is not merely the courage to stand up for the correct answer; it is the courage to stand up for what is right. 

Moral courage has been mentioned by military leadership before.

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