Tag Archives: Military

AMPA Lobbies with Uniformed US Troops

The Arizona legislature recently passed a religious liberty bill and sent it to the desk of Governor Jan Brewer. The bill would have, by some interpretations, protected Arizona citizens who declined to affirm homosexuality based on religious grounds.  Governor Brewer vetoed the bill.

During the few days between the legislature passing the bill and the Governor’s veto, the American Military Partner Association, a homosexual advocacy group for the US military, took to Facebook to encourage its members to call Governor Brewer’s office in opposition to the bill — and the AMPA used the images of uniformed service members to do so:

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In First, Navy to Deploy Secular Chaplains

The US Navy will soon be deploying 21 “Deployed Resiliency Counselors” (DRCs):

The counseling and support services provided by the DRC are preventative in nature, aimed at addressing life challenges such as adjustment to deployments, separation from friends and family, relationship and family issues, and other challenges to military life. The DRCs are also fully trained to provide an extra layer of support to any victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, assuring that there are no gaps in support services.

In addition, the DRC will provide psycho-educational training on a variety of topics as suicide prevention, stress reduction and substance abuse prevention.

That is, of course, essentially the role of military chaplains — without the provider having an officially religious background. The press release notes Read more

DoD to Continue using SPLC as Reference

Despite recent scandals regarding the DoD’s alleged classification of Christians as “extremists” — including an Army-wide standdown in Equal Opportunity training over the controversies — the DoD says it will continue to use the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “reference” in its Equal Opportunity training.

A DoD spokesman answered that while the agency will remove “hate groups” information provided by the SPLC from the training materials used at its Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), the DoD will continue to use the SPLC’s data in its “non-federal reference material” for DEOMI.

The SPLC — whose work has been specifically cited in recent Army briefings — is one of several “non-Federal” sources the DoD plans to continue using:

“Some of the non-Federal entities used to inform DEOMI’s training,” said Christensen, “include: Anti-Defamation League; Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism; Know Gangs, Political Research Associates, Read more

Court: Lake Elsinore War Memorial Advances Religion

The proposed Lake Elsinore war memorial — which was to portray the iconic silhouette of a soldier kneeling at a cross-shaped headstone — was declared unconstitutional by US District Judge Stephen Wilson:

On Thursday (Feb. 27), U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of California’s Central District ruled that a granite monument depicting a soldier kneeling in prayer before a cross lacked “a secular purpose” and has “the unconstitutional effect” of endorsing religion over nonreligion.

For those that can’t seem to remember, the US Constitution says this about religion:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

Is such a stone really Congress making a law respecting establishment? Using the Lemon Test, the Judge (PDF) said:  Read more

Cross-Dressing Airmen Party at Kadena (Video)

The Stars and Stripes covered a ‘drag fundraiser’ held at Kadena Air Base, Japan:

Servicemembers here may have been the first to take to the stage and perform as drag queens on a military installation in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops…

Six servicemembers — gay, lesbian and straight — donned heavy makeup to dance and lip sync songs…

(The previous drag show on a military base apparently did not include military members.)  Navy Lt. Marissa Greene, who helps lead the local chapter of the homosexual advocacy OutServe-SLDN at Kadena, reported she’d hoped to sell 75 tickets — and ended up selling 400.

It is a leap to assume that all 400 people were Read more

USAFA Gets Award for Mosaic Coaching under Rosebush

The US Air Force Academy quietly announced the USAFA Mosaic Character and Leadership Coaching Program had received the Best Practices Award from Florida State University’s Jon C. Dalton Institute on College Student Values last month.

Col. Joseph Sanders, director of the Academy’s Center for Character and Leadership Development program [said] “Mosaic coaching has become one of the primary methods that cadets in the squadron can strengthen their commitments to each other and the Air Force’s values, through a professional coaching intervention that is committed to respecting the worth of the individual.”

The notable thing is that Dr. Mike Rosebush — not mentioned in the article — is credited with much of the work behind the “design and execution” of the MOSAIC program. That’s the same Dr. Rosebush that a few critics tried to get fired because he previously Read more

Budget Proposal: Air Force to Retire A-10s, U-2s

The controversial DoD budget proposal that has been in the news for the past few weeks contains two specific items for the US Air Force — the end (again) for the A-10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”), and the U-2 Dragon Lady.

The former is supposed to be replaced by the F-35; the latter, by the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk.

The A-10 has been on and off the chopping block for decades — most recently preserved by the very intentional efforts of a single Senator, who now calls this decision a “serious mistake.”

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USAFA Investigating Mass Cheating Allegation

The US Air Force Academy announced it was investigating a mass cheating incident involving 40 cadets (of 500 in the course):

The Air Force’s Academy identified approximately 40 of its 500 fourth class cadets (freshmen) enrolled in Chemistry 100 (a core freshman course) for suspected Honor Code violations. Portions of a lab report assignment were allegedly copied and not documented either from previous semester reports or current student reports; this assignment is worth 50 of 3000 points.

The timing of the potential scandal is poor, given the spate of other ethical failures occurring in the active duty military right now.  It will certainly give rise to some interesting discussions in the coming days, however.

(Earlier reports implicated 11 cadets.)

Also at the Colorado Springs Gazette and Air Force Times.

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