Group: Choose Military Readiness or Transgender Politics

The Conservative Action Project recently called on President Trump to fulfill his mandate to “restore the strength of our military” by eliminating Obama-era policies that “hinder” the mission [emphasis added]:

Conservative leaders urgently suggest that the Trump Administration review and rescind the Obama-era policies that hinder military readiness and overall effectiveness. Politically correct policies have been imposed largely through administrative fiat. They can be removed in like manner while further study and congressional guidance is obtained. The most problematic policies in this category are those addressing the presence of transgender individuals in the military.

The letter goes on to make a strong case that social engineering isn’t good for the military, an argument supported by Rebecca Hagelin at the Washington Times.  Hagelin made the point the military has been used over the past few years to foist a social agenda on America: Read more

Chaplains Teach Leaders the Value of Faith

Chaplains at the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing — at an “undisclosed location” — kicked off their first Faith Works leadership forum in the form of a luncheon attended by commanders, chiefs, and senior NCOs. Their goal? Help these senior leaders

gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for how faith can improve the everyday lives of Airmen, increase resiliency and contribute to mission effectiveness.

The mission is admirable and notable because the military so infrequently notes the virtues of the faith of its troops — something this program explicitly does [emphasis added]:  Read more

Air Force Chaplain, Mikey Weinstein Attack National Guard Strong Bonds

An unnamed Air Force chaplain sent a formally formatted complaint to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein in early May, claiming the National Guard Bureau had established “Protestant Christianity” as the “official religion” of the Guard’s Strong Bonds program.

As if to reinforce the fact the letter was written specifically for public consumption, just a few hours after receiving it Weinstein sent off his “demand” letter to General Joseph Lengyel, Chief of the National Guard Bureau. Weinstein made no new allegations but asserted those of the chaplain, who had complained about a line from a National Guard MOI on Strong Bonds.  Regarding Strong Bonds events, the official Memorandum of Instruction said

One voluntary worship service will be conducted at all overnight training sessions, serving to the extent possible, the largest religious demographic represented in accordance with the Constitutional mandate to provide for the “free exercise of religion”. (See “DODI 1300.17”; “AFI 52-101”).

Military regulations can sometimes be ambiguous, vague, and even self-contradictory, so it is understandable that even well-meaning or intelligent members of the military might misunderstand them.

But even graciously speaking, that’s not what happened Read more

UPDATE: Mikey Weinstein Claims Multiple Muslim Military Wives Assaulted

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s ego was apparently stung by the now public accusation he was using an old, pre-election story to justify his claims that Donald Trump’s election had inspired an increase in “radical Christians” in the US military.  On Friday, Weinstein went out of his way to directly respond to an article published the day prior at the Christian Post which highlighted the issue from the Newsweek article:

Weinstein said that there was a more recent incident of a Muslim woman being harassed at a commissary that, while similar to an incident from years earlier, nevertheless happened to a different member of the military.

That’s fascinating. Over the past 8 years Mikey Weinstein has told only three such stories.  All three were military wives.  All three were Muslims. All three occurred in a military commissary. Two of the three were allegedly surrounded and spit on.

Coincidence?  Trend?  Fabrication?

If Weinstein’s stories are true, Read more

Mikey Weinstein Throws Tantrum at Tobyhanna. No One Notices.

In early May an aggrieved civilian working at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania contacted Michael “Mikey” Weinstein with a religious complaint so horrible, so egregious, so dangerous that it is amazing it had not already caused massive loss of life.

Someone was wearing a hat.

Quoth Weinstein [emphasis added]:

Dear Col. Peterson,

Sir, one of your armed, DOD, Army, civilian gate guards at the Tobyhanna Army Depot Main or “Scranton” gate is wearing a baseball hat with the biblical citation from the New Testament Book of John “3:16” on it…

MRFF demands that you immediately order that offending gate guard to expeditiously remove that Christian-proselytizing baseball hat and appropriately, aggressively and visibly punish that individual as well as all others in his chain of command who are either directly or indirectly responsible…

It just takes a hat to convert people?  Missionaries have been doing it wrong all these years.

Turns out Weinstein was pretty far off the mark. First, it seems  Read more

President Trump’s “Questionable” Claim on Military Religious Freedom

When President Trump signed his executive order on religious liberty at the beginning of the month, most of the criticism (as the President seems to attract much of it) was focused on the IRS and enforcement of the Johnson Amendment.

A few sites, however, took issue with his reference to religious liberty in the US military. During his Rose Garden announcement on the National Day of Prayer, President Trump said (video):

Just one example, people were forbidden from giving or receiving religious items at a military hospital where our brave service members were being treated and where they wanted those religious items.

Though he made no direct statement, that clearly seems to be a reference to the December 2011 controversy in which Walter Reed updated its visitor policy to say Read more

Mikey Weinstein Blames Donald Trump for Christian National Security Threat

Yesterday Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was covered by Newsweek in an article entitled “Trump Effect Inspires Radical Christians in Military” (warning for ad-heavy site).

The article began [emphasis added]:

Donald Trump’s election has led to such a steep rise in fundamentalist Christian evangelizing and religious bigotry in the US armed forces that the matter is reaching the level of a “national security threat…”

The allegation that Donald Trump has inspired “evangelizing and religious bigotry” in the military is a serious charge — one which “award-winning” columnist Nina Burleigh utterly fails to support with any evidence. What follows in her article is a rah-rah fluff piece that does little more than parrot the words of Mikey Weinstein as if Weinstein himself is preaching the gospel.  Burleigh dispenses with “anonymous sources” and simply has one: Mikey Weinstein.

In an apparent effort to bolster her claim — or perhaps sensationalize it — Burleigh cites an exhaustive list of “charges” against the military as a result of Trump’s election, which she seems Read more

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