Agudath Israel of America, an “Orthodox umbrella group,” recently highlighted that the Defense Logistics Agency (which orders supplies for the military) had dropped a solicitation for kosher MREs (but kept the one for halal meals). Facing implications they were running out of kosher MREs, the military responded:
“DLA Troop Support has sufficient stock of Kosher Read more
LtGen Michelle Johnson, US Air Force Academy superintendent, recently sat down with perennial critic of her academic institution (and MRFF ally), regional newspaper columnist Pam Zubeck.
Among the several questions Zubeck reports in a Q/A format are one on religion and another on an accusation by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein:
[Zubeck:] Some cadets and staff are concerned there’s an atmosphere in which cadets are expected to have their first allegiance to God, not country. How do you deal with that?
LtGen Johnson’s answer was consistent with the same Air Force guidance that has been around for years, though she cited AFI 1-1 specifically [emphasis added]:
[Johnson:] Because we’re a college, we need to have open discourse, but we have to balance that with providing a successful climate. So what we have going in, it’s really kicked in well, is this religious respect training, not just for cadets but for permanent party. That’s really important, for permanent party to know the balance there. People are free to have their beliefs but not proselytize or impose them on someone else.
And we have the training to help Read more
In reaction to the “cheating scandals” being reported in the US Air Force and Navy, Dr. Martin Cook, Admiral Stockdale chair of professional military ethics at the US Naval War College, became the first to cite the well-known military culture of “cooperate and graduate.”
In Navy pilot school, for example, it’s well known that the “ambient culture” is “cooperate to graduate,” Cook says. “If we all share our answers and ‘cooperate to graduate,’ then that’s what most people are going to do. So you shouldn’t expect most individuals to deviate from that.”
Unfortunately, he leaves the impression that means cheating. “Cooperate and graduate” — at its core — is a reference to teamwork. That hasn’t stopped Read more
In an article on the recent changes in DoD policy regarding religious accommodation, USA Today made this observation:
The wide variety of worship or lack thereof is reflected in the ranks of the 1.3 million active-duty force. Troops aren’t compelled to report but many do. The most popular affiliations: Christian, no denomination chosen, 346,752; no religious preference, 277,563; Roman Catholic, 262,248.
Elsewhere in the ranks, there are 301 Quakers and 1,561 troops who practice witchcraft. But you won’t an agnostic in the Army. There are 3,126 atheists but not one agnostic.
To be fair, the same demographics note there are more than 6,000 agnostics in the other three services. Apparently everyone in the Army is certain — one way or the other.
Repeated at the Air Force Times.
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When you see a story about thousands of high schoolers on YouTube after their performance in a local hotel, it doesn’t sound like it will end well.
This time it ended perfectly.
Michelle Johnson filmed a few minutes of the Read more
On February 5th, the Air Force Times reported the US Air Force has experienced a spate of problems with the emergency locator beacons intended to help rescuers find downed airmen [emphasis added]:
The Air Force spent $30 million for 17,000 of the beacons in 2009, with deliveries finalized in 2010. Two years after the first beacons were installed, crash investigators began noticing that they had not worked in multiple crashes. In fact, the beacons failed 10 times in 22 ejections, according to a review of crash reports since the beacons were installed.
The situation is so serious that one unit in Italy made a point of flying with their personal cell phones.
The article notes the incident that may have caused the greatest injection of urgency was the loss of an F-16C over the Pacific in 2012: Read more
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine…
I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
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Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently celebrated the “anniversary” of his idea to create his Military Religious Freedom Foundation:
Ten years ago on this day, the idea for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation came when USAFA cadets were forced to attend screenings of Passion of the Christ.
That does sound pretty bad, particularly since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ has nothing to do with the mission of USAFA.
Too bad Weinstein isn’t telling the truth.
In 2004 — and for 6 years thereafter — neither Weinstein nor anyone else ever said anyone was forced to watch a movie, despite his repeated referral to that event. This is what he did say in years past:
[In] the early part of February 2004 when Read more