General James Amos was confirmed by the Senate as the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps. According to reports, he will be sworn in on 22 October 2010, at which point he will become the first fighter pilot to lead the Marine Corps.
Amos’ views on the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” were constant news during the runup to his confirmation.
Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley have reportedly called for a new bomber to be added to the fleet. The goal would be for it to work in a variety of regimes (asymmetric to conventional to nuclear) and the aircraft would be “optionally manned.”
The Air Force currently relies on a very small number of B-2s, an ever-aging number of B-52s, and the B-1.
According to an Associated Press report, two contractors in the A-12 program, Boeing and General Dynamics, are fighting to avoid a government-demanded repayment of $1.35 billion (plus interest) from the failed aircraft acquisition. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the contractors’ complaint that the government invoked a state secrets defense that has prevented them from adequately defending their position in the decades-long running contract dispute.
Most people under the age of 40 probably don’t know what the A-12 Avenger even is. The over-budget, behind-schedule program to replace frontline Navy aircraft was finally cancelled in 1991.
According to the Catholic Register, the Christian Medical and Dental Association is publicizing active duty US military opposition to the Burris amendment, which would allow privately funded abortions in military medical facilities.
Like the “don’t ask, don’t tell” that has largely overshadowed it, the proposed change in abortion law is attached to the 2011 Defense Authorization Act. Both continue to raise moral questions for the military members they will impact.
Among their chief concerns is the fact that the abortion provision, which would roll back a 1996 law that banned the use of military facilities and personnel for elective abortions, is that it lacks conscience protections for physicians who morally object to abortion…
More than 250 active-duty physician members of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations wrote to senators in August stating that the elective-abortion provision would endanger their ability to follow Read more
A small but building group of atheists has decided to take LtGen Frank Helmick at his word, when in his defense of Rock the Fort at Fort Bragg he said he would
provide similar support to comparable events sponsored by similar non-Federal entities that address the needs of Soldiers on this Installation.
The group, apparently led by US Army Specialist Justin Griffith, are beginning coordination to hold an atheist “Freedom Festival” next year at Fort Bragg (complete with website):
Our goal is to organize and promote an event to be held at Ft. Bragg with the support of MWR, just like the “Rock the Fort” evangelical Christian event held on 9/25/10.
…Please join this group and help us plan an event for Skeptics, Free-Thinkers, Agnostics, Atheists, and those who just want to enjoy a day FREE from religion.
Good on’em. While the group may be ideologically at odds with most Read more
An article by Agence France-Presse, published at Military.com, notes the recent exceptions provided to three Sikh applicants to the US military. An anecdote tells of Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi’s experience in initial training:
On his first day of training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, a first sergeant pulled [Kalsi] out of the crowd and Read more
Michael Weinstein, head of his own non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says ChristianFighterPilot.com is a “Christian supremacist” site containing “outright lies” and “falsehoods.”
This most recent attack finds its source in a letter written by Weinstein and addressed to the Secretary of Defense — and copied to everyone from the Joint Chiefs to President Obama. In it, Weinstein says a “catalyst” to a complaint from an Air Force Academy cadet was:
The inclusion by the Air Force Academy Public Affairs Office in the daily Academy-wide “Falcon Clips” email of a sectarian Christian-themed blog post…
The “Falcon Clips” are a compilation of public references to goings-on at the Air Force Academy. They are emailed out daily, and, according to these reports, included a reference to “Bat Signal Busted, Weinstein Declares War Back On.” It would appear Weinstein Read more