On average, there tend to be physical and other physiological differences between men and women…
[The Services must] mitigate the potential for higher injury rates among women…[to] maximize effectiveness in the fight and increase readiness.
The Secretary of Defense’s statement on opening combat roles to women appears to affirm the US Department of Defense’s counter-cultural conclusion that men and women are not the same. Read more
The Department of Defense announced a new medal to be worn by members of the US military who have participated in Operation Inherent Resolve:
The medal is retroactive to June 15, 2014, and is for service members based in Iraq or Syria, those who flew missions over those countries, and those who served in contiguous waters for 30 consecutive days or 60 nonconsecutive days, officials said.
Writing at The Atlantic, Uri Friedman takes issue with the medal as “too crusadery” in a passive-aggressive missive demonstrating a lack of awareness of the US military: Read more
Col Jeffrey Becker was recently the keynote speaker at an event commemorating the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish War Veterans.
He spoke about the roles that Jewish Soldiers have played in our nation’s history. Also, a great many who have received the Medal of Honor…
Becker also said it is important in reflecting on Jewish American heritage that Read more
The US military announced that an F-16 had crashed on takeoff at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan:
A U.S. Air Force F-16 jet crashed on takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan late Tuesday, the Pentagon said.
The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by coalition forces, said Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary.
The Air Force wing at Bagram disputed assertions the aircraft had been shot down or that there were casualties. Read more
In an appropriately timed interview just prior to Easter, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was asked what would constitute “success” in his war against Christians in the US military. This was his response:
The Romans had it right. When you cut off somebody’s head and you stick it on a pole and show it to the masses, it changes behavior.
The interview was laced with a repugnant oblivious irony. It was entitled “Do Christian Fanatics in the Military Endanger National Security?“, ignoring the fact no Christian “fanatic” has ever been identified in the US military, much less one who “endangers national security.” By contrast, “fanatics” of other religions most certainly have been identified, repeatedly, yet Islamic extremism in the US military never once enters Mikey Weinstein’s lexicon of prejudice against Christians.
Further, Weinstein’s implications about cutting the heads off Read more
Last week the North Carolina legislature passed a fairly common sense bill (PDF) that, among other things, required municipalities and schools to designate bathrooms by gender — that is, a person’s biological gender, not the gender they may say they are. The State also specifically limited protected class status to biological gender.
As with other efforts in this vein, a smattering of companies have implied they may take their business elsewhere in response to this “bathroom bill” that would segregate boys from girls during their private endeavors. (The San Francisco mayor said the same, though why he in particular is notable is unclear.)
This law also generated an open letter on Facebook by US Navy LT(JG) Megan Joan Willingham, who describes herself as a Sailor stationed in Okinawa, Japan: Read more
A war memorial dedicated to two Boone County Soldiers killed 25 years ago in Operation Desert Storm irked the American Atheists and the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State because it originally had an ichthus at the base.
The monument was in a park with similar monuments dedicated to county residents who had died in previous wars.
The County eventually covered the ichthus with a plaque. The families of the two men ultimately agreed to leave the symbol covered, but even that wasn’t good enough for the atheist opposition. After Read more
On Monday the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy, hosted their National Prayer Breakfast. Their invited speaker was Robert Rogers of Mighty in the Land Ministry. Rogers’ story is at once tragic and inspiring:
In August 2003, Robert experienced a tragedy of Biblical proportions when his precious wife and all four children died in a flash flood in Kansas…Robert’s life completely changed on their way home from a wedding in Wichita when a six-foot wall of water inundated their van, sweeping them off the highway in the darkness and into the deluge.
Soon after, Robert resigned from his engineering career and answered the call to minister and share God’s amazing grace and faith that brought him through that horrific ordeal. Now he teaches others to KNOW GOD and Live a Life of No Regrets with his words and original music at the piano.