there is nothing more important to the nation than the integrity and the trustworthiness of the people who defend it. r/mark
The question: How can leaders inspire integrity in the US military?
Via General Mark Welsh.
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The US military has revealed that 34 nuclear missile officers are being investigated for their roles in a cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana. Worse, the scandal came to light as the result of an illegal drug investigation of Air Force officers:
Air Force Office of Special Investigations officials were examining allegations of illegal drug possession when evidence surfaced that a missile launch officer at the 341st Missile Wing electronically shared the answers to monthly missile launch officer proficiency tests with 16 other officers. Air Force officials subsequently approached the entire missile crew force at Malmstrom, and 17 other officers admitted to at least being aware of material that had been shared.
USAF Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh indicated it wasn’t just the act of “cheating,” but the failure to act by those who knew the cheating was occurring: Read more
Jeff Iorg, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, recently said immorality itself is not a “final step” in a failing society; that final step is the celebration of and support for immorality — which he believes is happening now in the United States:
“The final act of an unraveling society isn’t immoral behavior; it’s canonizing immoral behavior as a ‘new normal’ and celebrating it as a ‘moral victory.'”
Importantly, however, Iorg noted that Christians should not oppose immoral behavior for behavior’s sake. Behavior is an outward expression of the condition of the heart — and the heart needs Jesus: Read more
Over at the Journal of Faith and War, one of the most read articles is “The Religious Rights of Those in Uniform,” written by Robert “Skip” Ash, a 22-year Army veteran and Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ.
The lengthy but thorough essay gives an excellent discussion on the issues of religious liberty, the law, the Constitution, and military policy.
There are growing numbers of persons and advocacy groups in the United States actively seeking to remove from public life — including in the armed services — virtually all symbols and expression of religion and America’s religious heritage by advocating strict separation of church and state. Many of these groups are already actively engaged in filing lawsuits against DOD and its leaders over various concerns about religious expression in the armed services… Read more
Her name is Savannah Joy…
In a story that is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, an Air Force article documents the story of Senior Airman Joshua Hurtley and his wife, Rebecca, and the upcoming birth of their first child:
Her name is Savannah Joy. Her date of birth and date of death are expected to be one and the same – Oct. 7, 2013…
Savannah has a congenital defect that is fatal “nearly 100 percent” of the time.
The article is an amazing testimony to the faith of the couple, though the article is jilted by unnecessary comments on the “decision to continue” the pregnancy — something the Hurtley’s seemingly never questioned:
Yet despite the diagnosis of the second opinion being exactly the same as the first, the husband and wife took it as a blessing…
“It was at that moment that despite our devastation, we started to focus on what Savannah had, rather than what she didn’t have. God has given her life, and it is our job as parents to help her live it.”
The Hurtleys don’t have all the answers, but they know the One Read more
Two Security Forces Airmen, Senior Airmen Joe Potalivo and Nicholas Gahm, recently volunteered to go on a mission trip to Honduras with their church, Radiant Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Their main objective…was to help build three, large, brick buildings, that once completed, would house more than 100 orphans. They did a little of everything, from erecting insulation to constructing a perimeter security.
While work was the order of the day, there was another component they may not have anticipated:
“Every day we would come to work, many of the village children would be there waiting on us, greeting us with smiles and Read more
Samaritan’s Purse has been hosting retreats called Operation Heal our Patriots in Alaska’s wilderness (first noted here):
Operation Heal Our Patriots, the Samaritan’s Purse outreach to military couples with a spouse wounded or injured in combat or combat-related activities after 9/11…challenges and encourages them from three angles critical to their recovery process. Their spouses are Read more
Though the US Air Force once withdrew a short lesson on Just War theory under criticism, the concept itself remains both valid and required knowledge for members of the modern military.
As an ROTC instructor at Loyola Marymount University, US Air Force Major Patrick Reimnitz wrote a paper entitled “The Call to Arms: Christianity and the Just War Tradition,” to
help his students reconcile their moral beliefs with military service.
The topic was covered decades ago by LtGen William Harrison (and updated here), but Reimnitz’s piece goes into great detail with regard to Read more