An MC-12 Liberty crashed in Afghanistan on Saturday. The four crew members killed were
Capt. Brandon L. Cyr, 28, of…the 906th Air Refueling Squadron, Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
Capt. Reid K. Nishizuka, 30, of…the 427th Reconnaissance Read more
According to his own statements reported at a Washington Post blog, Michael Weinstein (of his self-founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation) met at the
Pentagon on April 23 where they discuss[ed] religious issues in a group that included several generals and a military chaplain.
The blog was written by Sally Quinn, who has been friendly to Weinstein’s cause in the past. Weinstein seems inimitably pleased at the invitation, as likely any private citizen in America might be if US Air Force leadership had a personal meeting with them on “religious issues in the military.” It’s unclear what grants Weinstein that legitimacy, beyond a spate of failed lawsuits and a series of self-published op-eds that would put even the most advanced thesaurus to shame (save the one he apparently plagiarized).
It would seem at least one senior leader was there, as the article claims one attendee was LtGen Richard Harding — The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, who is the senior legal advisor to the Chief of Staff, General Mark Welsh: Read more
Update: The DoD says the SBC website was blocked because malware was detected, but that connection from military servers would be restored “today.” The Southern Baptist Convention weighed in, with a caution not to rush to judgment. Also at the Air Force Times, Christian Post, and Baptist Press.
FoxNews reports that the Southern Baptist Convention website was blocked on military servers — and the military confirmed it:
The Dept. of Defense confirmed to Fox News late Wednesday that the SBC website had been blocked — but not intentionally.
“The Department of Defense is not intentionally blocking access to this site, said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart. “We are working diligently to investigate what might be causing access issues for some of our service members and to correct the situation as quickly as possible.”
Part of the reason the situation requires “correction” is that certain servicemembers need access to the site as part of their function: namely, the many SBC chaplains in the military:
“It’s a concern for the Dept. of Defense to block the website of one of the major evangelical denominations in the country,” Crews told Fox News. “The Southern Baptist Convention has the largest number of chaplains in the military representing Southern Baptist soldiers and churches. Those chaplains need access to their denomination’s website.”
As noted the last time the issue of military internet access came up, it’s not as simple as “the government is censoring/blocking/etc” or being hostile toward Read more
At times, the military has struggled with how to deal with social media, banning access to it from government computers at one point, then specifically allowing access to Facebook at another. In the same vein, some servicemembers have had adverse action over their activities on the internet, including a Marine discharged over comments about President Obama and a Twitter ‘oops’ by another Marine — while the military simultaneously encourages its troops to “engage” in social media for family, health, morale, and even public relations reasons.
A recent statement by the Defense Privacy and Civil Liberties Office attempted to lend more thought to the sometimes confusing area, noting that servicemembers are free to express themselves, within some fairly liberal limits: Read more
Update: The Marine, who is not named, was convicted, receiving a reprimand and loss of pay.
The US Marine Corps is court-martialing a Staff Sergeant for adultery:
A Marine is on trial at Camp Pendleton on charges of committing adultery and then lying to investigators by saying she was drunk and had been raped.
Though “prosecutions are rare,” unnamed “officials” said adultery is bad for the military:
Adultery, officials said, undermines “good order and discipline in the armed forces and [is] of a nature to bring discredit to the armed forces.”
In a profession in which men and women are charged with the power to both protect and take lives, one would hope fidelity to morals would be a virtue to uphold.
Repeated at the Stars and Stripes.
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FoxNews reports on the continuation of a “scandal” from 2010: Trijicon, the maker of the much-vaunted ACOG gun sight, was known for putting an abbreviated Bible verse reference on the end of its serial numbers. Michael Weinstein found out, claimed that Islamic terrorists were offended when they were shot by rifles with these scopes, and demanded the Army remove them. Trijicon ultimately offered to provide kits to remove the references. (After threatening legal action against Trijicon, Weinstein also apparently implied his MRFF was a Christian organization…)
The Army now claims these inscriptions violated the terms of the contract: Read more
While the US Air Force still only needs two digits to measure its age, the US Navy, or naval power in general, has been around for multiple centuries. With that long history comes many centuries-old traditions, including the annual “Blessing of the Fleet.” An official Navy article gives a quick note:
The Blessing of the Fleets ceremony is a centuries-old ceremony rooted in seafaring heritage around the world…
and then proceeds to focus on the “Year of Military Women.”
Another Navy site, a non-governmental organization that runs the US Navy Memorial that hosts the annual event, described the event this way:
The centuries-old “Blessing of the Fleets” ceremony is intended to safeguard crews and ships from the danger of the seas through a traditional blessing given by a clergyman Read more
After much controversy, the “Distinguished Warfare Medal,” which was purportedly designed to recognize those who contribute to the battlefront without being there, has been eliminated by the Secretary of Defense:
Just two months after its creation, Hagel said the Pentagon will replace the DWM with a device that can be attached to other previously existing medals.
The pejoratively-nicknamed “drone medal” was the subject of Read more