A Navy article describes how retired Chaplain (Rear Adm) Harold Robinson, now of the Jewish Welfare Board’s Jewish Chaplains Council, personally presented the USS George Washington with a new, handmade Torah for its Jewish community: Read more
Tim Prudente of the Capital Gazette wrote a short piece on the traditional hat toss that accompanies the graduation of each of the US service academies:
In the seats, children fidgeted because where else can an 8-year-old boy score $20 and a military hat, maybe as many as he can carry…?
Many midshipmen tucked $20 and 15 cents for the Class of 2015.
This and other traditions have been noted here before, including the veritable plethora of traditions from a single photo during an Air Force Academy graduation in 2010.
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In her address to the 2015 USAFA graduating class, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James called on the new Second Lieutenants to
have the moral courage to stand up for what is right.
It is a worthy, if nearly clichéd, reminder to graduates. It is curious, though, if some parts of American society or American government can remember what “right” — or moral courage — even is.
Notably, every news article covering the 23-minute speech by Secretary James (including the official ones) noted one specific phrase, in context and in bold below: Read more
After the earlier article noting the tradition of the Silver Dollar Salute, in which a newly commissioned officer gives a silver dollar to the first enlisted troop to salute him, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Read more
Chaplain (MajGen) Paul Hurley recently became the newest Army Chief of Chaplains, and pinned on two stars in the process:
The Army’s new chief of chaplains was promoted to the rank of major general and installed in his post during a ceremony May 22 at Memorial Chapel on the Fort Myer portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
Maj. Gen. Paul K. Hurley’s, chaplain, promotion Read more
Official DoD poster for LGBT “pride”
President Obama has declared June “LGBT Pride” month. In an official DoD release, the US military said:
The federal government, including the Department of Defense, is leading by example to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens “are judged by the quality of their work, not by who they love.”
Consistent with this celebration, a variety of Read more
According to the Washington Blade (a “gay news source”), the US military is set to add “sexual orientation” to its list of classes protected under the Military Equal Opportunity program — a list that currently includes religion and race. The change would appear to coincide with the “celebration” of homosexuality occurring during the declared “LGBT Pride” month.
Previously, the military had said that sexual harassment was addressed by EO irrespective of hetero- or homosexuality, and therefore special protections were not needed. The plan for implementation of DADT repeal specifically said that sexuality should not be added as a ‘special class’ in EO protection [emphasis added]: Read more
Photo by Shanda Moon.
A US Air Force F-16 fighter pilot is making the transition from the fields of combat to the mission field.
US Air Force Major Lance “Nuke” Ferguson has been a fighter pilot for nearly 11 years. He has flown combat missions in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and he wears the patch of the prestigious Air Force Weapons School — an honor and opportunity awarded to only a few fighter pilots each year, as well as a passport to future advancement. In every respect, Nuke is a highly-trained, experienced, and respected Air Force leader and fighter pilot.
Now this highly-skilled fighter pilot is doing what few could in the face of such God-granted success: He’s giving it up: Read more