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According to Michael \u201cMikey\u201d Weinstein, a US Air Force Academy cadet recently sent him an email to let him know one of his academic instructors had asked him if he had accepted Jesus as his Savior. The next day, the instructor (perhaps jokingly) asked the cadet not to run to Mikey Weinstein.<\/p>\n
With that information \u2013 and only<\/em> that information \u2013 Weinstein employed former USAFA department head Marty France (who had previously been Mikey\u2019s inside man<\/a> in the USAFA leadership) to engage the Air Force Academy and demand\u2026nothing. Said Marty to USAFA<\/a>:<\/p>\n I’m not sure you can do anything about this particular case–the cadet won’t provide enough information to identify the instructor and we won’t divulge any information about the cadet without their permission, of course.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, to recap, the MRFF is contacting USAFA so they can do\u2026nothing.<\/p>\n Despite the MRFF\u2019s own admission<\/em> that they didn\u2019t have enough information to do anything, Weinstein\u2019s public response was typical of \u201cMikey\u2019s Mad Libs\u201d (a name given to his alliterative and adjective-filled tirades by his own research assistant, Chris Rodda) [bold added]:<\/p>\n The Academy has been m<\/strong>aliciously m<\/strong>aladroit, at best, and d<\/strong>eliberately d<\/strong>ishonest, at worst, in attempting to explain its sustained failures to stop this vile plague of majority faith e<\/strong>xclusivism and e<\/strong>xceptionalism.<\/p>\n The imperious refusal of the Academy\u2019s current senior leadership to confront and destroy this systemic, p<\/strong>ernicious, and p<\/strong>ervasive fundamentalist Christian triumphalism and domination is both d<\/strong>amning and d<\/strong>eplorable…<\/p>\n The vile m<\/strong>isfeasance and m<\/strong>alfeasance of the Air Force Academy’s continuing b<\/strong>latant b<\/strong>reaches of the Constitutionally protected civil rights of its cadets, faculty, and staff\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, that\u2019s helpful, isn\u2019t it? Wonder which MRFF staffer won the drinking game.<\/p>\n The story as recounted by the cadet (in an email intended for publication) was fairly short:<\/p>\n When my instructor asked me whether I\u2019d “accepted Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior” during a tough [tutoring] session\u2026I was shocked. I looked back at him and thought maybe it was meant to be a bad joke but that was not the case\u2026<\/p>\n My instructor saw my shocked reaction and seemed to know that the line had been crossed. The instructor tried to kind of apologize or make excuses (“I\u2019m just trying to help you the best way I know how\u201d)\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The retelling is bereft of context. It is a rare person who just blurts \u201cHave you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?\u201d out of nowhere to a person they barely know. After all, Christians are keenly aware that the question itself is meaningless outside of a longer conversation.<\/p>\n It seems likely that the cadet had some<\/em> kind of conversation with that instructor about faith at some<\/em> point. Notably, the cadet said he was a Christian, but he also said<\/p>\n this instructor ask me about my personal religious beliefs about Jesus was pretty terrible and demoralizing. I was humiliated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Why would a Christian be demoralized and humiliated by someone asking them if they were… a Christian? It seems like there’s more to the story — as well as a bit of hyperbole.<\/p>\n But, assuming the cadet is forthrightly telling the truth, it is<\/em> inappropriate for a superior officer to randomly ask a subordinate if they have been saved by faith, or said the shahada, or found their inner om. (That said, there are<\/em> situations when a superior officer could absolutely<\/em> ask that question; it is not a blanket prohibition.) Importantly, the cadet said even the instructor seemed to realize that after he said it, and attempted to apologize.<\/p>\n According to both the cadet and USAFA\u2019s attempt to assess the situation (with the little information they were given), there is no indication this or any other instructor has previously asked an inappropriate question of faith in a professional setting. It appears, as USAFA said, to be an isolated incident.<\/p>\n Despite that, if the cadet felt that some<\/em> form of formal response was needed, there were dozens of potential formal military processes for him to engage. He chose, for some reason, to engage with Mikey Weinstein, whom he claims not to have even known<\/em> about until the instructor mentioned him. That is his freedom. Oddly, the cadet didn\u2019t even tell Weinstein<\/em> enough information for him to do anything.<\/p>\n So what’s the point? What is the cadet\u2019s goal? It\u2019s not clear. He wrote a letter thanking Weinstein for \u201call the help,\u201d without explaining what that help was. He was pleased the MRFF had written the Superintendent of USAFA \u2013 despite the fact the Superintendent wasn\u2019t given any information he could do anything about. He also said<\/p>\n Getting this whole thing out in the public is the best way to stop that instructor and others who would also try to do these things.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s a somewhat odd characterization. Putting an anonymous accusation out against a nameless USAFA instructor isn\u2019t<\/em> the best way to stop anything.<\/em> This future officer needs to know that if he identifies things that are wrong in his Air Force, he needs to engage the processes of the Air Force and the DoD to right the wrong. When that fails, there may be cause to go outside the military to seek help to correct a wrong the military will not acknowledge.<\/p>\n But it is the height of ignorance \u2013 and, simultaneously, arrogance<\/em> \u2013 to claim that a vague accusation about an unknown person will \u201cfix\u201d anything in a government institution. The cadet seems to relish his anonymous time in the limelight, as well as have hints of a savior complex.<\/p>\n That’s a bad combination for an Air Force officer, and it demonstrates a severe lack of maturity. To be fair, though, part of USAFA is leadership training, and this cadet likely has yet more opportunities to develop the maturity to understand how to engage the institution he serves.<\/p>\n But if he graduates from the Air Force Academy thinking he needs to call his mom, his congressman, a lawyer, the press, or the ACLU every time he perceives an affront, he will likely have an angst-filled career (on both his part and that of his superiors) \u2013 one that will end, no doubt, with similar accusations of personal offense with which it began.<\/p>\n When you seek to be an offended martyr, you will never have a shortage of opportunities.<\/p>\n Interestingly, that\u2019s how Mikey Weinstein\u2019s short career went. He entered the Air Force proudly claiming he struck an officer and was saved only after a mysterious after-hours meeting on a dark hill with a man who somehow made the criminal act disappear (along with the witnesses, apparently). Weinstein ended his career claiming he had to threaten to sue Air Force over the details of his service commitment.<\/p>\n If all of your interactions are confrontational, perhaps its time for a little introspection and self-awareness. You may discover the common factor is you<\/em>.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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