The Washington Post‘s “On Faith” column documents the story of Major Aarti Puri, a USAFA graduate and Hindu Air Force officer, entitled “A Hindu American Air Force officer: ‘Shakti’ in the trenches.”
In my four years at the Air Force Academy and more than nine years as an Air Force officer, I have learned to further embrace these aspects of both the military culture and Hindu culture. Read more
Lance Cpl. John T. Sparks, killed in action on October 8th, was remembered by his unit in Afghanistan. The memorial was a somber, lighthearted, and faithful tribute to a young warrior.
“Sparks loved machine guns,” said [Cpl. Jeffery] Holsey. “He would always say that ‘Everyone wants to be a machine gunner until it is time to be a machine gunner, because the hurt we carried separated the men from the boys.'”
The short, quiet ceremony was marked by Bible verses and prayers honoring Sparks. Final Roll was called three times for Lance Cpl. John T. Sparks only to be answered by silence. Taps followed in a final farewell.
Michael Weinstein has repeatedly demonstrated an animosity toward the association of the US military with the Christian Bible. In 2009, his Military Religious Freedom Foundation opposed a Chaplain bringing Swahili Bibles to Iraq, despite the fact they were requested by third country nationals supporting the US military effort. The “religious freedom” organization opposed support for the religious freedom of US allies.
In 2007, Weinstein highly publicized a cropped photograph of a US Army trainee posing with his M-16 and his Bible — alongside a similarly photographed Hamas suicide bomber. (The photos can be seen here; the original article was written by Jason Leopold, currently an editor for TruthOut, for which Weinstein is a board member and fundraiser.) Weinstein’s MRFF is quoted saying “fundamentalist Christianity” in the US military “is starting to mirror Islamic fundamentalism.” (Tellingly, he never made similar statements about photos of Jewish Soldiers and their weapons, some of which can be seen here.)
Weinstein’s most recent complaint is Read more
An editorial at the Colorado Springs Gazette had an interesting perspective on the comparative treatment of religions and the response by their respective adherents. Wayne Laugesen writes that while Christianity is accused of trying to intolerantly dominate the world,
Christianity may be the most openly blasphemed religion in the world today, yet it’s American Christians who walk on eggshells in a valiant effort to respect other cultures and religions of the world.
He brings up some interesting stories, several of which haven’t been in the mainstream press:
Back in the United States…crosses belonging to a Christian group at the private George Washington University in Washington were desecrated…The desecration incited no hint of violence. Read more
In a somewhat expected move, the Military Times reports General David Petraeus has removed the limitations on MWR imposed by General Stanley McChrystal, allowing fast food and other morale facilities to return to the AOR.
McChrystal had previously instituted the restrictions because, as CSM Hall said
“This is a war zone — not an amusement park.”
According to a Michigan news site, the “Bible-references flap” from earlier this year (which was frequently misrepresented) hasn’t put a damper on the bottom line of Trijicon, the maker of advanced (and popular) gunsights for weapons.
In fact, it might even have helped.
Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing at Trijicon, said the company has removed controversial Biblical verse references from inscriptions in its military orders but still includes them in commercial sales to hunters, collectors and others. He also said the company this year is on track for more business than last year under its military contracts, despite Read more
US Army Chaplain Kevin Wainwright wrote a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal after reading the Atheist in the Chaplain’s Foxhole. His comments highlighted one of the themes of the article: the seemingly bumbling and apathetic attitude of Navy Chaplain (Lt) Terry Moran to his physical safety (and, by extension, that of his immediate comrades). Read more
McClatchy Newspapers originated an interesting article on the various new vehicles now fielded by the US military in its attempts to overcome the threats of IEDs. The vehicles vary from hulking “buffaloes” to the single-man “Husky,” as driven by US Army SPC Joshua Joe:
Joe, a broad-built 22-year-old from Sumter, S.C., with the Lord’s Prayer tattooed on his bulging forearm, is one of the Husky drivers.
Joe’s platoon, which is part of Task Force Thor, prays together in a huddle before beginning a mission.
Read the full article.