Month: March 2013

Michael Weinstein Says Christians Worse than Neo-Nazis

If you’re not the “right kind” of Christian while you serve in the US military, it seems Michael Weinstein — frequent critic of religious freedom in the US military — really doesn’t like you so much — and he apparently wants the government to come after you [formatting original]:

The forced imposition of fundamentalist Christianity throughout our American armed forces is the perpetual “flavor of the day,” and has been for decades [sic]…

[There is] continual, systemic proselytizing among United States military personnel. This brainwashing results in widespread, brutal stigmatizing of those opposed or indifferent to fundamentalist Christian doctrine–a savage trampling of their Constitutional rights!…

How…does allowing this utterly reprehensible nonsense to continue not produce a greater threat than the handful of neo-Nazis still Read more

Military Holds National Prayer Events Around Globe

The US military held National Prayer events at bases around the world, demonstrating the value it places on troops’ practice of faith and encouraging their free exercise:

At an “undisclosed location:”

More than 200 service members deployed to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing came together for a barbecue and fellowship sponsored by the chapel community in observance of the National Prayer Breakfast…

In Georgia:

Hundreds of Fort Stewart soldiers and Family Members gathered…for the annual National Day of Prayer Breakfast…

The word servant comes from the Greek word Diakonos Read more

New Superintendent Named for US Air Force Academy

MajGen Michelle Johnson has been nominated for a third star and for the position of Superintendent, US Air Force Academy.  As every press release so far has noted, when she is confirmed by the Senate she will be the first female to occupy that position.

Johnson is a 1981 distinguished graduate from the Academy where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in operations research. She was the first female cadet wing commander and the first female Rhodes Scholar from the Academy.

The USAFA Class of 1981 was the second to include women, after President Ford’s 1976 integration order.

Like LtGen Mike Gould, whom she will replace, MajGen Johnson is a career cargo/transport pilot.

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Tom Griffin, Doolittle Raider, Dies

B-25 navigator Maj Thomas Griffin died in a VA nursing home last week.  While most such deaths would be noted by surviving family members, Griffin’s was noted by how many Doolittle Raiders he leaves behind:  only 4.

As noted previously (and clarified by Doolittle Raider Association manager Tom Casey), the final public Doolittle reunion will be this year.  The remaining Raiders will gather at another location privately and open the bottle of cognac reserved for the final survivors.

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Sergeants Major Become US Army Chaplains

An official Army article documents the unique stories of Chaplain (Maj) James Freitag and Chaplain (1Lt) Cecil Edwards — two men who rose to high enlisted ranks before being commissioned as chaplains:

With a combined total of 60 years of service, two former reserve component sergeants major are currently serving as chaplains and both are deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. Of the soldiers who enlist in the Army, very few reach the rank of sergeant major. In the history of the Army only two sergeants major have become chaplains.

It has long been said that, in general, former enlisted troops can Read more

Brazilian Super Tucano Wins US Air Force Contract

The US Air Force announced Sierra Nevada Corp, in alliance with Brazil’s Embraer, has won the contract to provide the Afghan Air Force with a light attack aircraft.  The contract has a very specific dollar figure:

The firm-fixed-price contract is worth $427,459,708…Work will be completed by Feb. 26, 2019, and the first delivery order is expected to be complete by April 2015.

The Super Tucano was competing only with Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6.  The aircraft for this contract will reportedly be built in Florida.

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Trial Date Set for Accused Fort Hood Shooter

The court-martial of US Army Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, accused in the 2009 Fort Hood massacre that killed 14 people, is scheduled to begin July 1st.  (Jury selection begins in May.)

The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, said she expects testimony in the trial to last up to three months. The government has nearly 300 witnesses.

Three months is nothing, given the fact the pre-trial has lasted nearly four years.

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