Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Unmanned Helicopter Makes First Airdrop in Afghanistan

The unmanned K-MAX helicopter, an experimental UAV deployed to Afghanistan, has reportedly made its first successful resupply mission.

A detachment of Marines from Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 moved about 3,500 pounds of food and supplies to troops at Combat Outpost Payne using an unmanned K-MAX helicopter on Dec. 17…

The concept is intended to reduce risk to both ground and helicopter-based resupply missions.

Updated: Also the top story at FoxNews.

The US Military and Christmas Around the World

A few examples of the US military’s commitment to supporting its servicemembers through their religious celebrations:

At Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, a Christmas Eve candlelight service was the “culminating event over the month of celebration.”

US Army Chief of Chaplains MajGen Donald Rutherford presided over a Christmas Eve Catholic Mass at Camp Buehring, Kuwait.

Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Norton Schwartz Read more

Pentagon to Rule on Camp Pendleton Cross

The issue of the legality of the Camp Pendleton cross was elevated to higher headquarters, according to a local article.

A group of reporters was allowed to make the trek to see the memorial upon which the controversy was based.  To his credit, Mark Walker of the North County Times accurately gave some depth to the content of the memorial:

The site is home to numerous mementos, as well as the crosses, neither of which is visible from nearby Interstate 5.

Each is surrounded by thousands of rocks carried up by Marines from sea level at Camp Horno as a homage to troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many of those rocks have hand-scrawled messages of love and remembrance.

There are dozens of bottles of booze, Read more

Chaplain Followed Unique Path from Africa to US Army

US Army Chaplain (Maj) David Waweru followed an unusual path to become a chaplain.  He grew up in Kenya, 20 miles west of Nairobi.  His interest in the United States came from his interaction with American ministries, specifically, Campus Crusade for Christ:

“The job that really stands out to me is when I worked for Campus Crusade for Christ,” Waweru said. “This job stands out to me because that is when I had a lot of time with American missionaries, and I believe that is where my interest in coming to the United States began.”

His work with Campus Crusade encouraged him to become Read more

New Chapel Rising at Fort Campbell

The US Army post at Fort Campbell is getting a new chapel to support its 20 different religious services attended by more than 2,000 congregants each week:

The post’s seven chapels are getting too small for the needs of the soldiers and their families, said Chaplain (Col.) Roger Heath, the installation chaplain at Fort Campbell.

The $8.4 million, 32,900-square-foot complex will hold 1,200 people and include supporting campus areas.  It is scheduled to be Read more

Military Atheist Jason Torpy Calls for Tebowing Reprimand

Jason Torpy of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers picked up last month’s post on Tebowing, even plagiarizing text from ChristianFighterPilot.com in the process.  He reached a different conclusion, however:

Tebowing with Afghan kids is clearly an evangelical activity that must be pulled from the site with reprimands for the troop involved.  The NFL game is misappropriation of government resources — and any Marine will tell you his body is a government resource. 

First of all, Tebowing.com a private website, so there is no governmental Read more

Afghan, American Chaplains Discuss Evolving Partnership

A DoD news release describes visits between US military chaplains and what are apparently their Afghan equivalents: “religious and cultural advisors” in the Afghan Army.

The article chose an interesting contrast in highlighting the roles each nation’s “chaplains” filled.

From the Americans:

To demonstrate how the chaplains nurture the living, [Chaplain (Maj) Brian] Curry and his team showed the Afghan RCAs a coffee shop that was built and is operated by the religious support teams…It provides a place for Soldiers to take a break from their work, watch movies, read books, play games, or use computers or phones to talk to their families in the United States.

From the Afghans:  Read more

Chaplain to General Petraeus on His Ultimate Hero

US Army Chaplain (Col) Brent Causey was recently a lead chaplain in Afghanistan, responsible not only for other chaplains, but also “religious leader engagement” in the region:

[Chaplain] Causey was as the top chaplain to Petraeus as well as the chaplains’ supervisor throughout the Afghanistan war theater. He also was Petraeus’ “point man” for diversity, responsible for religious leader engagement in the Islamic nation.

Chaplain Causey spoke highly of the importance of the role of the “chaplains on the front lines:”

“It’s amazing to see the impact our evangelical Christian chaplains –- especially the Southern Baptist chaplains -– are having Read more

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