The US Army Chief of Staff, General Ray Odierno, has said he wants an expanded role for women in combat units:
“We need them there. We need their talent,” he said. “This is about managing talent. We have incredibly talented females who should be in those positions.”
As with prior discussions, the article seems to place more emphasis on the “lost opportunities” for career advancement due to the lack of combat experience Read more
Last month the Washington Times covered an article by former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman entited “Is Naval Aviation Culture Dead?”:
[He] wrote that the swagger and daring of yesterday’s culture has given way to a focus on integrating women and, this year, gays.
Pilots constantly worry about anonymous complaints about salty language, while squadron commanders are awash in bureaucratic requirements for reports and statistics, he added.
“Those attributes of naval aviators — willingness to take intelligent calculated risk, self-confidence, even a certain swagger — that are invaluable in wartime are the very ones that make them particularly vulnerable in today’s zero-tolerance Navy,” said Mr. Lehman, Read more
The RecordOnline reports on the many faithful members of the US Military Academy’s football team:
They sprint onto Blaik Field and head directly to the north end zone. About 20 or so Army teammates take a knee and pray individually.
Some prayers last a few seconds. Others are deeper. They ask for both teams to be safe. They express how thankful they are for Read more
CNN’s religion blog highlighted research by Christianity Today suggesting evangelical Christians may be statistically more “patriotic” than other Americans:
Among those surveyed, evangelicals were the most likely to think the United States is No. 1.
“Other Christian traditions were less enthusiastic about America’s position in the world, but they still saw the U.S. as one of the best on the planet. About 40% of other Christians said the U.S. stands alone as the greatest country; around 55% said it and some other countries were equally great.
Those “without religious beliefs” held a “much less favorable view” Read more
The Mission Aviation Fellowship blog has a short post on a medical evacuation by float plane in Borneo:
After flying over four hours in the middle of Borneo navigating low rivers, reverse currents, boaters, swimmers, logs, docks, and shooting eight landings, this is why we do it Read more
In a rare break from his focus on Christianity, Military Religious Freedom Foundation “president” Michael Weinstein has called for US Air Force Academy Chaplain (Col) Robert Bruno to be court-martialed for his attempts to convert cadets…to Buddhism:
US Air Force Chaplain Colonel Bruno…should face immediate criminal charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for these disgusting, prima facie examples of dereliction of duty by flagrant violations of the solemn oaths they took…
Actually, strike that, Weinstein didn’t display that intellectual integrity. Instead, he continued his focus on Christianity:
[Chaplain Bruno is a] heinous Poster Child[] of unconstitutional, fundamentalist Christian supremacy Read more
The Stars and Stripes ran an article entitled “Some Muslim servicemembers struggle to balance faith and service,” though the article cited only a single former servicemember, former Army SSgt Mohammad A. Hasan. After 9 years of service, with his Islamic faith a non-issue, he said a deployment to Iraq set him apart from his peers:
With a dark complexion and Muslim name, the Bangladesh-born soldier’s loyalty was at times questioned by suspicious troops during his deployment in Iraq, he said.
The article continues to use the plural with reference to “struggling” Muslim Soldiers, though it fails to mention any others. In fact, it quotes both former Navy Read more
At a Spiritual Resiliency Luncheon in October, US Army Chaplain (Col) Barbara Sherer, assistant commandant of the US Army Chaplain Center and School, was introduced by Third Infantry Division Commander MajGen Robert “Abe” Abrams to speak on spiritual resiliency.
“Resilience is that ability to come back and spring back to whatever should be normal for you,” she said.
Resilience has been increasingly important in the Army as Soldiers Read more