Tag Archives: Military

Rep to Ban Military NASCAR Sponsorships, MRFF Victory?

Update: The House voted against the amendment.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-Minn) has reportedly submitted an amendment to the 2011 House budget bill (one of about 400) that would ban the military from sponsoring NASCAR drivers.

The National Guard sponsors Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, the Army sponsors Ryan Newman, and the Air Force sponsors AJ Allmendinger, according to HamptonRoads.com.

“I would challenge the Pentagon to give me one example of someone today in Iraq or Afghanistan who saw the Go Army car going around Read more

AKC-130 Deployed to Afghanistan

The US Marine Corps’ newest attack aircraft, its armed KC-130J tanker/airlift aircraft, is reportedly flying sorties over Afghanistan:

The [KC-130] is the first of three airplanes with San Diego-based Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 to be fitted with the Harvest Hawk kit. The kit, designed as a roll-on/roll-off weapon system, includes a pod attached to the left wing that can carry four Hellfire missiles, Read more

Soldier Sees Troops Support Each Other, Regardless of Faith

In a somewhat long but interesting article first published in the Jewish Exponent and republished by the Army, 1LT Avi Behar, a 23-year-old Army Lieutenant, recalls a day in Afghanistan in which he had an epiphany about religion and relationships both in the US military and the Afghan Army.

Earlier in the day, with the help of an Afghan General, his unit helped a local get his truck, overloaded with his produce, unstuck from the side of the road.  Later, he came back to base to celebrate Chanukah:

Upon returning that night…our battalion chaplain put together a Chanukah service. We had discussed the idea a few days prior, but I wasn’t expecting what I was about to experience.  Read more

Army Tackles Suicide with Soldier Fitness, Other Programs

A few weeks ago the US Army noted that while active duty suicides were down last year, suicides in the Guard and Reserve were up.  Notably, while the stereotype is a forlorn Soldier who cannot reconnect after a year of combat, more than half of the Guard Soldiers who committed suicide had not deployed.

The Army, understandably unable to find a “silver bullet” to stop suicide, credits a variety of new programs with at least appearing to staunch the tragic flow:

The reduction in active-duty suicides shows progress, [Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter] Chiarelli said. He attributed the decrease partly to the stand-up of the service’s Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Council and Task Force in 2009, and the programs and policy changes it’s instituted.

More soldiers are using the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, and the Pain Management Task Force is monitoring Read more

Report: Fort Hood Attack Enabled by Political Correctness

As noted at the Christian Science Monitor,

A Senate report on the Fort Hood attack suggests that the Army failed to heed warnings about the prime suspect because it was wary of singling out a devout Muslim.

The article and report seem to implicate that a fear of being accused of racial profiling may have discouraged pursuing what should have been “red flags.”  (This has long been discussed.)  The Senate solution:  Call it what it is.

The enemy — Islamist extremists — must be labeled correctly and explicitly, the report said, in order for the military Read more

Afghan Christian Convert Set to be Executed

As noted previously, Said Musa has been imprisoned in Afghanistan for the crime of converting to Christianity.  According to some articles, he has been sentenced to be hanged (and, depending on timing, may have been already). 

The World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission has protested, claiming this violates Afghanistan’s own Constitution.  The article also notes that

Afghanistan is ranked No. 3 on Open Doors’ World Watch List of countries with the worst Christian persecution.

As noted at the Wall Street Journal, the US government has called on Afghanistan Read more

USAFA Prayer Luncheon on “Overcoming Adversity”

After apparently attending the USAFA National Prayer Luncheon, the local Colorado Springs Gazette wonders aloud if Michael Weinstein’s lawsuit was “much ado about nothing.”

Buddha and Allah were mentioned almost as often as Jesus at an Air Force Academy prayer luncheon Thursday that drew a lawsuit over fears of Christian evangelism.

The speaker at the center of the controversy, retired Marine Lt. Clebe McClary, didn’t shy from embracing faith, but talked more about the power of a well-chosen spouse and overcoming adversity with teamwork than Christianity.

The speech was preceeded with Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist prayers. A rabbi gave a closing prayer.

McClary reportedly talked about value and perseverance, how his faith Read more

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