Stars and Stripes Creates War Memorial Database

The Stars and Stripes is creating an interactive map with photos of veteran and war memorials throughout the United States:

Across the United States, towns have honored their soldiers and fallen soldiers in different ways – sometimes small or sometimes with large monuments. They are permanent markers in towns across the country that only locals know of but wandering tourists could easily miss.

We at Stars and Stripes want to document these Read more

Military Religious Freedom Group Lauds Decision to Grant Sikh Waiver

As reported in the New York Times, the US Army has granted Capt. Simratpal Singh a religious accommodation to wear the beard, unshorn hair, and turban as the outward expression of his Sikh faith — even while wearing the military uniform:

It is the first time in decades that the military has granted a religious accommodation for a beard to an active-duty combat soldier…But it is only temporary, lasting for a month while the Army decides whether to give permanent status to Captain Singh’s exception.

If it decides not to, the captain could be confronted with the decision of whether to cut his hair or leave the Army. He has said he is prepared to sue if the accommodation is not made permanent.

(This occurred not long after Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va) sent yet another letter to the DoD, as he has for several years, asking that the US military reconsider its policies prohibiting Sikhs from serving.)  Singh, a West Point graduate, had previously sacrificed those religious Read more

Franklin Graham Defends Praying USAFA Cadets

Franklin Graham took to Facebook last weekend to defend US Air Force Academy cadets who, once again, were under fire for their religious expression by none other than Michael “Mikey” Weinstein.  In a post with 75,000 likes and more than 18,000 comments, Graham called out the “Atheist Mikey Weinstein and his ironically named Military Religious Freedom Foundation:”

[Weinstein] said Air Force players participating in public prayer “is a scandalous outrage” and calls it “a disgrace” and “a putrid example of Christian supremacy.” Since when is voluntary prayer scandalous or putrid? The Air Force Academy now says that it will conduct an inquiry into the situation. I call this a foul! Join me in praying that the religious freedoms of these young men will not be taken away as Read more

An Air Force Widow’s Story: Living by Faith

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Just before sunset on Veterans Day, she sat next to her husband’s headstone at Arlington National Cemetery, reminding her three children how their father was with God in heaven and what it means to have faith.

Faith has kept Heather Gray moving forward. It’s what has gotten her through the grief and trials she faced after her husband, Maj. David Gray, was killed by a suicide bomber in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on Aug. 8, 2012…

One of David’s escorts had brought back a little box, one that usually holds wet wipes, and told Heather he didn’t know what it was, but thought it was something she would like to have.

“Each kid had given David a small toy of theirs to take with him while he Read more

US Air Force Band, Military Bases Show Christmas Spirit

Around the country and around the world, US military bases are helping troops celebrate the season of Christmas. (Many bases are also simultaneously celebrating Hanukkah, though the Jewish holiday is this week, preceding Christmas by a couple of weeks this year.)  For the most part, it seems many bases aren’t shying away from calling them what they are, though a few are sticking to the more generic “holidays.”

Chaplains, Shinto Priests Bless Air Force Fire Trucks

In an interesting “multicultural blessing,” local Japanese Shinto priests and an Air Force wing chaplain conducted a “dedication and blessing ceremony” for a new fire truck at Yokota Air Base, Japan:

The rituals featured a formal reading of prayer and a food and drink offering to the Shinto gods…

After the Shinto priests’ ritual, Maj. Oscar Fonseca, 374th Airlift Wing chaplain, offered up prayers for the fire engine.

The Mission Support Group commander “offer[ed] prayers” during Read more

Mikey Weinstein Threatens Lawsuit for Being Called “Grinch”

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has reportedly threatened to sue the Christian Examiner for posting a commentary entitled “How the Grinch stole Christmas – at Dover Air Force Base.”

The commentary is actually a very well-written and astute piece by Dr. Gregory Tomlin, an Assistant Professor of Church History and a faculty instructional mentor for Liberty University Divinity School, who clearly explains both the constitutional and military regulation issues surrounding Weinstein’s complaint about the now-infamous Operation Christmas Child email sent by a Dover AFB secretary.

Tomlin accurately notes that  Read more

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