The Air Force Times notes the push by the US Air Force Academy to inspire cadets about a career field most still dread: UAVs.
Flying a drone isn’t sexy — and the cadets at the Air Force Academy here don’t pretend that it is… Read more
The ongoing public debate over homosexuality and the US military (most often referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”) presents a unique conflict for Christians in the military. There are those who believe homosexuality is morally wrong and must be prohibited at every possibility, and there are those who believe people have the freedom to do as they please in their private lives. This situation has implications from both the Christian perspective and the military perspective (in isolation), though they must be integrated to form the military Christian’s perspective. Each of these three is addressed individually below.
The Christian Perspective
The Christian faith considers homosexuality a sin, just as theft, adultery, murder, and lust are sins. Still, Christianity does not condemn the person who expresses a homosexual preference. In addition, while many people in this world are tempted to sin (as was Jesus during his incarnation), the temptation to participate in sinful conduct is not itself wrong. Finally, man is a fallen creation and has a sinful nature; thus, succumbing to temptation and sinning are a common experience of many on this earth — even the stereotypically staunchest Christians.
For a Christian, it is disheartening to see the culture, government, and now military move to end opposition to immoral behavior. This is a dramatic indicator of the direction of cultural morality in the United States: Few other issues have so rapidly moved from Read more
An interesting article from Illinois notes the return of a local Army unit from Afghanistan, and focuses on the spiritual support sought by both the troops and their families:
Army Spc. Brian Peters witnessed firsthand what is meant by the familiar adage, “There are no atheists in foxholes…” A noncommissioned officer he was with began praying during a firefight last year. “I saw it right there on the battlefield,” Peters said. “We were in a ditch taking sniper fire.”
This suggests people often will appeal to a higher power when their lives are on the line even if they consider themselves atheists.
Several families also noted the importance of local churches in Read more
A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government when it upheld its prior stay of the controversial injunction issued against the military’s “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy.
In an eight-page order, two judges said they were persuaded by the Department of Justice’s argument that U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips’ worldwide injunction against the policy “will seriously disrupt ongoing and determined efforts by the Administration to devise an orderly change.”
Importantly, the ruling may portend future issues in appeal. First, the judges Read more
Just a few years after facing off with the Iraqi Air Force on opposite sides of full-scale conflict, the US Air Force is now teaching the next generation of Iraqi Air Force pilots.
American forces have been teaching the Iraqis using 11 Iraqi-flagged T-6A Texan IIs, the same initial trainer used for the US Air Force. The goal isn’t necessarily to make new pilots; its to teach their new instructors…and quickly: Read more
As reported at the Christian Science Monitor last week, the US Armed Services ranked in the top 10 “blissful places to work,” beating out many stereotypical happy-employee organizations — even Disney.
CareerBliss used independent reviews to evaluate companies based on opportunities for growth, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, career advancement, senior management, job security and whether the employee would recommend the company to others.
The military rankings: Read more
Despite General Conway’s prior anecdotal evidence, several news outlets have reported on “leaked” details of the Department of Defense’s study on the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Reportedly, “a majority…would not object” to the service of open homosexuals.
The reports also indicated “some…but not a majority — objected strongly” and “said they would quit the military if the policy changed.”
Notably, whether or not personnel “objected” was not supposed to be the intent of the DoD study. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates repeatedly said the study was to determine how best to implement repeal, not determine whether to repeal.
Meanwhile, the previously reported response of retired Chaplains was Read more
As previously noted, the US Air Force Academy responded to Freedom of Information Act requests by holding a press conference and releasing the previously withheld results of the 2009-2010 climate survey.
The release was part of an official Air Force announcement; the Academy announcement contains a link to the presentation made by USAFA Superintendent Lt Gen Michael Gould at the press conference (available here, 5.6MB pdf).
The Academy made a concerted effort to explain the results (or, more accurately, describe how the results couldn’t be explained). It appears the Academy survey was “imperfect” in several respects: Read more