Month: May 2013

US Army’s Strong Bonds Protect Military Marriages

The US military has long recognized the value of the family, even as it applies directly to the military mission.  For that reason the military services have had a variety of programs to not only counter divorce, but also to help make marriages and families stronger.  An Air Force Times article notes budget cuts have apparently not eliminated the marriage enrichment programs in the Air Force.

The Army’s long-running program is Strong Bonds, a chaplain-led retreat which gets husbands and wives away from the day-to-day toils to focus on their relationship:

It’s a chance to really look at marriage with Read more

DoD to Replicate Air Force Welfare Inspection to Change Culture

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has announced the entire Department of Defense will mimic the “health and welfare” inspection conducted by the Air Force late last year to round up “offensive” materials.

The workplace searches will be conducted by “component heads” before July 1, and Hagel expects each service to submit a report summarizing the findings. The Air Force leadership will submit a report based on inspections it ordered in late 2012 and will not be expected to conduct a new round of searches.

The article also notes Secretary Hagel intends to hold leaders responsible for the “cultural change” necessary for an environment of “dignity and respect.”

The “culture” has recently come under scrutiny, as Commandant of Read more

Mission Aviation Completely Rebuilds Bush Plane

The blog of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) describes how the group took a 1980 Cessna 206 and broke it down to its smallest components in an extensive rebuild effort:

[The] 1980 Cessna TU206, named HC-BMO, served 20 years in Ecuador… After accumulating almost 10,000 flight hours (about 1.4 million miles) we reassigned it to Africa. But first, we routed it through Nampa for a new engine and a major airframe overhaul…

We drilled out and replaced over 11,000 rivets to expose and check every square inch of every surface. We inspected each Read more

ACLU Lauds Bill to Allow Abortions in Military Facilities

Update: Respected Christian leader John Piper agrees with calling Obama’s statement “blasphemous.”

The ACLU is applauding the Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health (MARCH) for Military Women Act, which would allow US military facilities to conduct abortions if paid for privately.

This sentence pretty much summed up the ACLU position:

It’s not hyperbole to say that overturning the ban on privately-funded abortions on military bases can save lives.

Yes, they actually said killing innocent children “saves lives,” but in the current culture that shouldn’t be too surprising.  The Baptist Press noted President Obama said pro-life laws — which are an effort to protect children — are “impeding progress.”

“After decades of progress there’s still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than Read more

Sally Quinn Shills for Michael Weinstein

In case you were wondering why the Washington Post blog on Michael Weinstein’s visit to the Pentagon made him out to be so “heroic” — and never once raised a critical eye to his cause — it’s because the author, Sally Quinn, supports his cause.

In her recent commentary on the National Day of Prayer, Quinn calls the National Day of Prayer “unconstitutional”, and she spends most of her column lightly mocking Greg Laurie’s call for a national religious revival.  Tellingly, she never pauses to acknowledge Laurie’s liberty to make such statements.

Quinn also criticized the US Army at Fort Leonard Wood for Read more

MRFF Opposes “So-Called” Christians, Fears Christian Madrasas

Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation has a history of claiming only the “right kind” of Christians deserve religious liberty in the US military.  In 2011, the MRFF demanded the US Air Force Academy rescind a speaking invitation given to someone who “does not represent true Christianity” [emphasis added].  For that same event, Weinstein was personally outraged the invitation was given to the wrong kind of Christian.  In another scenario, Chris Rodda readily admitted the MRFF opposed the religious beliefs of Christians, not any action or conduct on their part.

The MRFF just recently refined their definition of “acceptable” religious Christian belief.

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired Army Colonel and recent addition to the MRFF.  He also joined Michael Weinstein at his much ballyhooed Pentagon meeting last month.  Wilkerson recently published a tirade against “so-called” Christians who are the target of the MRFF’s wrath:

Another perniciously destructive anomaly threatened good order and discipline in the ranks. And this one came from so-called Christians.

I write “so-called” simply because these people do not believe in the Christ of the Scriptures; they believe in some human-crafted, almost demonic Read more

WSJ Cites Chilling Effect of Air Force Meeting with Weinstein

The Wall Street Journal had a fairly balanced article on the recent dust up over Air Force leaders choosing to meet with religious freedom critic Michael Weinstein at the Pentagon in late April.  Author Mollie Ziegler Hemingway accurately notes that there’s been a bit of sensationalism in recent headlines:

Initial reports on these matters were exaggerated, taken out of context or simply false.

But she also acknowledges that, exaggerated or not, there are still some valid concerns:

For one thing, the Pentagon statement clarifying that military personnel would not be court-martialed if they “evangelize” also said that “proselytization” is considered a [UCMJ] offense. Yet the definitions of those two words are almost identical…

Further, the WSJ piece notes that regardless of any hyperbole in recent claims, there remains concern over the mere fact the Air Force met with Weinstein:  Read more

ACLJ Slams Weinstein as a “Nut,” Legal Hack

Jay Sekulow of The American Center for Law and Justice recently sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel calling on them to “repudiate” any relationship the US military had with Michael Weinstein.  Sekulow, who once debated Weinstein at the US Air Force Academy, previously called Weinstein a bigot.  In a new article, he’s called Weinstein a “nut” and legal hack who’s all bluster and no substance [emphasis added]:

“The rhetoric and language [Weinstein] uses is hateful; it is violent. He threatens physical violence on people. He’ll beat them up and he’ll fight to the death,” he tells American Family News. “[Weinstein] is a nut – and I don’t use that word lightly…”

“Look at [Weinstein’s] casework – oh wait, it’s very tough to find. You know why? He never won a case in court,” notes Read more

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