On the 14th of January, two US Marine CH-53E Super Stallions went missing near Hawaii, presumably from a midair collision. The 12 Marines are still missing.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Marines and their families as we continue search and rescue efforts.
Each year since 1993 the President has declared January 16th to be “Religious Freedom Day,” in order to remember the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. President Obama is scheduled to release his proclamation tomorrow.
Jefferson’s statute continues to be a strong expression for the value of religious liberty even today. Though the statute has been discussed in many places and in great depth, there are two important points to take from the statute. First, Read more
Update: Nearly a month later, Mikey Weinstein complained that the disclaimer discussed below was “lipstick on a pig.” Weinstein appeared offended that he hadn’t been consulted and that his demand that Col Hundley be “publicly punish[ed]” was ignored.
The latest US service member to publicly mention his faith and get castigated by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is US Army Col Thomas Hundley. In a 400-word post at the US military’s official Health.mil, Col Hundley provided one of his regular “Motivational Monday Messages” and recounted his grandfather’s admonition “You just gotta give God a little something to work with.”
He finished with
I challenge you to join the Operation Live Well team on the journey to attain a “new you” in 2016. All we have to do is give God and ourselves a little something to work with. Happy New Year!
and included a list of “improvements” for 2016, among which was
1. Improve your spiritual fitness through increased prayer.
Cited by Military.com’s Bryant Jordan, Weinstein said he complained because Read more
Michael “Mikey” Weinstein frequently publishes messages written in support of his organization, as he did last week when he published a letter from a supporter to Franklin Graham berating Graham for his defense of US Air Academy football players taking a knee in the end zone. The supporter first summarized what he believed was Graham’s position:
You contended that young football players at the USAF Academy should be free to kneel down in a circle before a football game if they wished.
While it’s not too far off, that’s not actually what was happening. Football players were Read more
A Nevada National Guard article marked the 10th anniversary of the crash of Mustang 22, a CH-47 that was shot down in Afghanistan in 2005. (The article was written on the anniversary in September, though published only recently.)
Last autumn marked the 10th anniversary since the Nevada National Guard lost two Soldiers in the worst helicopter accident in Nevada Guard history. Chief Warrant Officer 3 John Flynn and Sgt. Patrick Stewart were killed on Sept. 25, 2005, when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter, Mustang 22, was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade while flying over Afghanistan…
Flynn and Stewart were the second and third Read more
Soldiers assigned to the 214th Military Police Company and 229th Military Police Company are led in prayer during the farewell brief at Read more
Over the past months, a few critics have tried to draw attention to one particular person on the staff of Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson.
Originally his foreign policy advisor, Carson’s new campaign chairman is Bob Dees, a retired US Army Major General and former executive director of Campus Crusade for Christ (now “Cru“) which had a substantial ministry to the US armed forces called Military Ministry (now “CruMilitary“).
As early as November 10th of last year, James Bamford at Foreign Policy described Dees as
a retired general who believes Muslims pose a threat to the U.S., the military should spread Christianity, and Carson should be president.
But the statements that Bamford apparently found ‘disturbing’ were fairly benign: Read more
The Australian Daily Telegraph reports that the Australian Army is considering redesigning a military chaplaincy badge that says “In this sign, conquer.”
In a somewhat inflammatory reporting style [emphasis added]:
The Australian Army is removing the motto “In this sign conquer” from the 102-year-old hat badges of army chaplains because it is offensive to Muslims.
The move comes after an imam approved by the Grand Mufti was appointed to join the Religious Advisory Committee to the Services in June.
Australian Army chaplains have had the motto on their hat badges since 1913.
A Defence spokeswoman last Read more