US Air Force Academy Fights Masculinity in the Military

Update: The College Fix reports on the more widespread trend of devaluing masculinity in American universities, and a member of the British parliament apparently thinks James Bond, too, conveys a message of “toxic masculinity.”

The US Air Force Academy is proudly leading a “pioneer program” designed to reduce “hyper-masculinity” in the US military. Aimed at both genders, the topics for the female cadets seem encouraging:

Female cadets focus on women’s issues within the Academy and overcoming unique challenges for female cadets…

Shockingly, the official Air Force article unashamedly lauds the fact the program discourages the male cadets [emphasis added]:

Male cadets focus on understanding the social pressures of hyper-masculinity and the negative impacts of these attributes in leadership within a diverse military environment.

One of the female cadets said she came away Read more

Did USAFA Chaplains Participate in Historical or Halloween Event?

usafachaplainsby Sonny Hernandez

On October 29, 2016, US Air Force Academy chaplains participated in a self-described ecumenical event to “explore the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation.” A USAFA release described the event as analogous to the service “led by Pope Francis and Bishop Munib Younan in Lund Sweden, on October 31,” where Catholics and Lutherans were “urged to take decisive steps toward unity.”

A Christian observer would not see this type of event as ecumenical, but evil. The Protestant Reformation was not a celebration between Catholics and Lutherans. It was a time of protest and schism because of the Roman Catholic corruption.

Christian scholars who have been impacted by Read more

US Troop Pay Raise Connected to “Gay Rights Feud”

An article at McClatchy (repeated at the Stars and Stripes) linked the previously-discussed Russell Amendment with the more-headline worthy issue of troop pay:

A pay raise for U.S. military troops could face a long wait as Congress steps up a feud over gay rights in trying to wrap up a long-stalled 2017 defense authorization bill.

The borderline-sensationalist headline tops an article that almost exclusively presents the issue as one of the “right to discriminate”:  Read more

Chaplain Trains for Combat

hornbackUS military chaplains aren’t just sitting in offices or behind lecterns. And when their units train for combat, they go with them, because they, too, need to exercise how they will operate in the combat environment:

Allied Spirit is a series of combat exercises centered on battlefield realism and international cooperation. But the authentic nature of the U.S. Army Europe training isn’t confined to combat arms personnel…

Too often, the role of chaplains Read more

Sentencing in Thwarted Terror Attack, but Christians are the Threat

Alexander Blair has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for assisting in what he believed was an attempt to bomb a US military base in Kansas:

He was accused of loaning $100 to 21-year-old John T. Booker Jr. to store what they thought was an explosive device; prosecutors said Booker intended to detonate it outside Fort Riley in northeast Kansas in support of the Islamic State group. The device was a fake bomb built by FBI informants.

Blair is said to have Williams syndrome, which reportedly makes him “susceptible” to manipulation — but does not prevent him from understanding right and wrong.

Booker, as you may recall, was arrested as he was trying to arm what he believed was a 1,000 pound car bomb outside Fort Riley. Booker had actually started the enlistment process to join the US Army — a process that was terminated when the FBI found out he expressed a desire to emulate Nidal Malik Hasan.

Here’s an interesting Read more

US Marines Emphasize Spiritual Fitness

From the US Marine Corps [emphasis added]:

Fitness is a vital part of being a United States Marine. Although we all understand the importance of being physically fit, it is also important to remember the other three aspects of overall fitness: spiritual, mental, and social. All of these aspects are essential to the well-being of each individual Marine and Sailor, and our Corps as a whole…

Research indicates that spiritual fitness plays a key role in resiliency, in our Read more

SPLC: And Then They Came for the Atheists

Hemant Mehta of the “Friendly Atheist” blog was recently aghast that Ayaan Hirsi Ali — a Somali born woman who grew up Muslim but is now an atheist and outspoken critic of Islam — was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of “anti-Muslim extremists.”

The SPLC, of course, is famous for its list of “hate groups.” They’ve affixed that label to certain conservative Christian organizations that say homosexuality is an evil that can and should be cured — but not churches that merely believe it’s a sin…

But now, a couple critics of Islam have joined the club, which makes me wonder why anyone should take the SPLC seriously at this point.

Mehta is blind to his own irony: He says it’s fine for the SPLC to designate “hate groups” who speak out about homosexuality, but he’s suddenly offended when those who speak out about Read more

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