Franklin Macon is a 92-year old Tuskegee Airman who spent his early years training other pilots — with the majority of his time spent at an airfield that would eventually become the US Air Force Academy:
One of Macon’s jobs with the Army Air Corps was to train cadet pilots on what became the Academy airfield. He spent the majority of the war flying here, and never saw overseas combat.
Macon says he ruptured his ear drums on a sortie just Read more
MajGen Daniel Krumrei made news a few years ago when he was appointed the top military officer of the Illinois National Guard. He was the first chaplain to ever hold such a position.
MajGen Krumrei recently retired, and BrigGen Richard J. Hayes was appointed as the new Illinois Adjutant General. Read more
Chaplain (Col) Dondi Costin was promoted two steps to Major General and installed as the Air Force Chief of Chaplains in a ceremony on August 28th.
In a statement quoted in the Air Force Times, Chaplain Costin responded to the stories of his “memorable” invocations, which may give some insight into his opinion on “ceremonial prayer”:
Costin told Air Force Times that he spends a lot of time understanding each ceremony’s purpose and those being honored.
“Invocations aren’t just ceremonial placeholders lingering from a bygone era,” he said. “Rather, Read more
For the past six months, US Navy Chaplain (LtCmdr) Wes Modder has been fighting for his career after his commander, CAPT Jon Fahs, requested he be “detached for cause” (PDF) and then defend why he should be retained in the Navy. The primary charge was he “failed to show tolerance and respect” when he made certain statements about sexuality.
Last week, the US Navy Personnel Command informed Captain Fahs that his request for Chaplain Modder to be Detached for Cause was denied, as was his request for Modder to “show cause” to remain in the Navy. Rear Admiral David F. Steindl wrote (PDF):
Your request for detachment for cause in the case of LCDR Modder…has been reviewed and is disapproved. I have found the evidence of substandard performance in this case does not meet the standard of gross negligence or complete disregard of duty… LCDR Modder will not be detached for cause.
In other words, the Admiral said CAPT Fahs was wrong.
To be “detached for cause” (DFC) in Read more
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote a commentary yesterday entitled “‘In this World You Will Have Trouble’ — Welcome to Rowan County.” He thoughtfully discussed the controversy surrounding Kim Davis, County Clerk of Rowan County, who has now been jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses.
The marriage licenses bear her signature as the state authorizing official for the union, and Davis has maintained that places her personal imprimatur on a “marriage” that violates her religious beliefs:
As Mrs. Davis and her attorneys have made clear, she has been willing for her name to be removed from marriage licenses in Rowan County, but she is not willing to put her name on those licenses so long as that would require her approval of same-sex marriages. But Judge Bunning made clear that he would be satisfied only when Mrs. Davis either issues marriage licenses in compliance with the Obergefell decision or resigns her office.
Mohler notes that, like many judicial decisions, they may have impact far greater than some may realize — including the US military: Read more
Within hours of three Americans thwarting a train-based terror attack in Europe, a few people quietly noted the three friends had been classmates at California’s Freedom Christian School. While the three themselves have not been particularly vocal about their faith, a few articles have now been published that attribute their courage and motivation to their Christianity:
On August 21st, Airman First Class Spencer Stone, Oregon National Guard member Alek Skarlatos and college student Anthony Sadler were en route from Brussels to Paris on a high-speed train…
El Khazzani…was overwhelmed by the three young Americans and a Briton, 62-year-old businessman Chris Norman.
In what may seem a backwards Read more
Pam Zubeck has written for The Colorado Springs Independent, a small, left-leaning local paper, for a few years. Some time ago she became a veritable public affairs officer for Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, taking on his mantle and acting as his outlet for just about anything he had to say. (For the record, that’s a characterization she really dislikes.)
Last Wednesday, Zubeck had lunch with Weinstein…and that was apparently newsworthy for a small paper in town. She asked him about his next big thing:
Mikey Weinstein, the crusader against religious bias in the armed forces, will ask the Air Force Academy to remove the words “in the year of our Lord” from diplomas for the class of 2016, which Read more
As has been highlighted here before, troops may come home from war with many types of wounds — physical, mental, and even spiritual. Much of the non-physical wound care has focused on PTSD, but for a few years advocates have been trying to raise the importance of the moral injuries that troops may bring home:
Moral injury is when veterans feel extreme guilt and shame from something they did or witnessed in conflict that goes against their values…The term was introduced in the 1990s by a now-retired Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatrist, Dr. Jonathan Shay, who diagnosed Read more