Tag Archives: air force

The Holy Helicopters of Afghanistan

A US Air Force article highlights the religious ministry support team at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, where chaplains rotate to geographically separated units to provide continuous religious support:

Thousands of feet above Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, two Airmen, riding in a helicopter, wearing more than 75 pounds of gear, hover around the city before landing. These Airmen are not pararescuemen or tactical air control party—they’re a chaplain and chaplain assistant.

After landing, they travel to the nearby chapel, where Read more

US General: Transgender Delay is Due to Medical Issues, Science

Transgender activists were caught off guard on Tuesday when the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the “delay” in transgenders being allowed to enter the US military wasn’t due to feelings, religion, or bigotry — but science and medicine.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his reappointment as Vice Chairman, US Air Force Gen Paul Selva said [emphasis added]

Our decision to delay the accessions of transgender individuals into the services was largely based on a disagreement on the science of how mental health care and hormone therapy for transgender individuals would help solve the medical issues that are associated with gender dysphoria.

Read that carefully. Gen Selva said the current treatment for the medical condition currently called “gender dysphoria” not only isn’t settled, there’s disagreement that it even works.

(That comes as no surprise to transgender activists, Read more

Transgender Airmen Describes departure from Christian Upbringing

A Nellis Air Force Base Air Traffic Controller, SrA Irene Nelson, recently posted an official personal interest article about his “transition” to a woman. He made the important note that he was raised in a conservative Christian household:

I grew up in a very conservative Christian household…

My parents had issues with my sexual orientation (surprise), and they took me to a gay conversion seminar when I was about 15 years old…

I spent endless hours studying the Bible and praying for God to give me clarity as to why I had these temptations or feelings. Why couldn’t he take them away? Nothing is as hard as your whole world telling you that you are wrong. Your existence is wrong.

Lost in Nelson’s religious and philosophical musings is an important point. What if the “whole world [is] telling you that you are wrong” because you are wrong? More to the point, “right” and “wrong” aren’t Read more

Symposium Seeks to Correct Record on Operation Kiddy Car

An interesting panel was recently held in Korea that commemorated — and attempted to correct the history on — Operation Kiddy Car, the US military’s evacuation of thousands of Korean orphans during the Korean War.

The operation and the autobiography by Dean Hess have been previously discussed, again when Hess died in 2015. The recent panel was held to try to re-emphasize the role of Chaplain (Col) Russell Blaisdell, whose role some feel has been unfairly ignored:

Blaisdell, his assistant Staff Sgt. Merle (Mike) Strang and South Korean social workers collected children from the streets and “saved many orphans from near-certain death,” according to an Air Force account of the operation…

Blaisdell…persuaded Col. T.C. Rogers — the unit’s director of operations and Read more

Fighter Pilot Traditions: The Roof Stomp

An article out of Mountain Home AFB assures the world that the time honored tradition of the roof stomp (literally) is alive and well. The article talks about a commander moving on from command, and the way he was received by his unit two years ago:

Lt. Col Gary Marlowe, 389th Fighter Squadron commander is initiated as the new commander with a roof stomp June 2015, at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

That’s LtCol Gary “Ziggy” Marlowe, a name which carries on another tradition, for those old Read more

US Military JAG Corps Lesbian, Muslim Lawyers Make News

In an official article, the US Navy announced that Navy LT Jennifer Johnson was awarded status as one of the “best LGBT lawyers under 40” by the National LGBT Bar Association:

The association established the award to recognize legal professionals under the age of 40 who distinguished themselves in their field and advocated LGBT equality.

A previous release from the Navy (and the award website) indicates Navy LT Paul Wagoner was similarly recognized.  Fortunately, there does not appear to be an organization that only recognizes lawyers who have heterosexual sex, nor does the Navy appear to highlight such JAGs.

Johnson’s public recognition by the US military is supremely ironic, given  Read more

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