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What's the big deal
about being a Christian fighter pilot?
Being a Christian and
also being a firefighter, CEO, or grade school teacher
all have challenges because Christians live "in" the world as
strangers in a foreign land. The fighter pilot
community is unique, however, because it has virtually
institutionalized the very worldly vices Christians have been
told to forsake. Profanity, sexuality, and
immorality pervade the fighter pilot culture like few
other "honorable" professions (thus the anonymous quote
that being a fighter pilot is like being in a motorcycle
gang, except that your mother is still proud of you).
For more information, check out the
articles page. Also,
if it's so hard
being a Christian Fighter Pilot, why bother?
How do you become a fighter
pilot?
While answering this
question is not really the objective of this site, it is
obviously a popular one. See
this page on how to become a fighter pilot.
Can a Christian morally
participate in war?
See this
article.
What are fighter pilot traditions?
See the article on
Fighter Pilot
Traditions.
Should Christian fighter
pilots drink?
There does not appear to be a Biblical command for totally
abstaining from alcohol. Some might successfully
argue that the New Testament actually explicitly allows
it. Personally, partaking in alcohol does not
appear to be morally wrong.
However, fighter pilots have
a tendency to drink excessively, almost as if alcohol is
either "on" or "off." If your
behavior is unChristian when you drink, or worse, if you
can't remember what your behavior was, then you are
participating in drunkenness, which is listed as a sin
(1Cor 5:19-21). Additionally, even though
drinking in and of itself is not morally wrong, if it is
a stumbling block to another Christian then it is wrong
for you to partake. See the article on
Christian Fighter
Participation on the topic of the Christian witness.
What is a
Naming? "Namings"
are ceremonies in which fighter pilots are "given" the
callsigns
they will be known by. See the section on
Namings
from the article on
Fighter Pilot
Traditions. Also read
One Pilot's Naming
experience.
Should I get Named?
There is probably no fighter
pilot tradition that carries as much peer pressure as
the Naming. It is the very means by which a
fighter pilot "receives" his
callsign.
Some Christians have
participated in Namings (on both the receiving and
giving sides) and others have also refused to do so.
There is no simple, single answer. For insight,
see the Naming section of the article on
Fighter Pilot
Traditions and
One
Pilot's Naming Experience.
Can
Christian fighter pilots use profanity?
The Bible
specifically and explicitly calls the use of profanity a
sin. Therefore, it is inconsistent with the
Christian character for a Christian fighter pilot to use
profanity in either its full, abbreviated, or
substituted forms. See the
article on
profanity, as well as the
article on the
double entendre of "so
to speak."
Should a Christian fighter
pilot fly on Sunday?
The core of this question is
less whether a Christian should fly and more the level
of "sacredness" a Christian applies to Sunday. The
reasons that Christians observe Sunday as "the Lord's
Day" rather than observing a Saturday Sabbath are
discussed in many other places. While the
Christian's
priorities of family, worship, fellowship,
etc., are important, these obligations can be met on any
day of the week. In a fighter pilot's career, it
is a near certainty that at some point he will be
asked/required to fly on Sunday, whether for
cross-countries, exercises, or combat. There is no
Biblical or moral reason a Christian should refuse to
fly on Sunday. That said, when possible a fighter
pilot should try to keep his weekends "sacred." For a perspective on the temptation
to catch up on work on the weekends (which is a
different subject altogether), see the family section of
the article on
Christian Priorities.
Should a Christian fighter
pilot try to avoid a remote tour?
To understand the basics of
a remote tour, see the Remote Tour section of this
article.
The Air Force has a legitimate right to assign its
members where it requires. Members of a career
field that have a remote requirement must accept the
responsibilities of their field. While there are
many negatives to a remote tour (as listed in the
article), Christians must use caution when it comes to
"avoiding" them. Actively attempting to avoid a
remote tour could be perceived as shirking duties; a
Christian who hasn't done the "bad deal" may also be
negatively perceived by those that have. That
said, a Christian with a particular family situation or
a weakness that would be negatively impacted by such a
tour may want to seek other assignments besides a
remote. The fact remains, though, that at some
point that person may be faced with the choice to go
remote, separate, or cross-train. Those who have a
service commitment and cannot separate will have no
choice but to go remote. There are exceptions
which are granted for humanitarian or other reasons, but
a Christian should seek them only if they are
legitimately required, and not because the tour will be
"hard."
Will I get
passed over or not get the job I deserve because I'm a
Christian?
Undoubtedly in your career you may think so. At
some point every pilot, Air Force, or military officer
thinks they're getting the short end of the stick
unjustly. Because the Christian fighter pilot
isn't "the same" as everyone else, he just has one more
thing to cause him to feel maligned. The question
is what should be done about it. For some insight,
see the "God
is in Control" section of the article on
God's Will.
If being a
Christian Fighter Pilot is so hard, why bother?
There are many good
reasons to be a fighter pilot; indeed, there are many
good reasons for a Christian to be a fighter pilot.
See the article on
Why Should a Christian Bother? for an introduction
to the positive aspects of the fighter pilot world.
Who are
Dos Gringos?
Dos Gringos is a duet of fighter pilots who have revived
the genre of fighter pilot songs. Read about them
in the articles on
Fighter
Pilot Traditions and
Fighter Pilot Songs.
Can I put Bible
quotes in my military email signature block?
It depends. Using the
Air Force as an example, in official
correspondence--that is, email intended to conduct
official military business--it is not technically
permissible for members to have quotes of any kind
in their signature blocks. This is "technically"
true because this rule, while in place, is rarely
enforced.
Air Force Instruction (AFI)
33-119 says that
Users will not add slogans,
quotes, special backgrounds, special stationeries,
digital images, unusual fonts, etc., to the body of
their electronic messages.
Thus, a strict application
of this AFI means that no one is allowed to have any
quote of any content in their official email
signature block.
This rule refers
specifically to official email (which is the
context of the AFI). While possible, it is unlikely that
this rule would be (properly) applied against a military
member who used their email for an authorized
unofficial use. Some civilians (and some
military personnel) may be surprised to learn that the
vast majority of military email is actually
"unofficial."
At present, the Navy and
Army do not appear to have explicit or readily available
policies on quotations in email signature blocks.
This discussion is about
what one is allowed to do; whether or not one
should do something (that is otherwise permissible)
is always a matter of prayer, good judgment, and
professionalism.
See a discussion on the
topic of
religious content and military email here. |
