Tag Archives: army

US Army Supports Air Force Plan to Cut A-10

The Air Force defended its decision to cut the A-10 from its inventory in a meeting with lawmakers last week:

Graham and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suggested the Air Force has more work ahead to convince Congress that retiring the A-10 is a smart move.

“So for about $3.5 billion over the next five years, if [Congress] could find the money, could you afford to keep the A-10 on board?” Graham said.

Welsh said money wasn’t the only problem…

In an interesting twist, the US Army — which has traditionally been “accused” of wanting the A-10 and criticizing the Air Force for wanting to get rid of it — actually seems to be supportive of the decision:  Read more

Chaplain Jonathan Fisher Claims Unique Service to All

US Army Chaplain Jonathan Fisher recently made a splash with his peers by blogging on the topic of “inclusiveness,” in which he laid down the law saying he was going to be inclusive, even if it seems like other chaplains don’t want to be.

His made substantial use of an implied strawman:

I am a chaplain for ALL my Soldiers. All of them. The gay ones. The straight ones. The fat ones. The skinny ones. The conservative ones. The liberal ones. The religious ones. The non religious ones. The connected to church and the far away. The reason driven and the faith-based. The agnostic and the Christian. The pagan, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, Read more

DoD to Continue using SPLC as Reference

Despite recent scandals regarding the DoD’s alleged classification of Christians as “extremists” — including an Army-wide standdown in Equal Opportunity training over the controversies — the DoD says it will continue to use the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “reference” in its Equal Opportunity training.

A DoD spokesman answered that while the agency will remove “hate groups” information provided by the SPLC from the training materials used at its Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI), the DoD will continue to use the SPLC’s data in its “non-federal reference material” for DEOMI.

The SPLC — whose work has been specifically cited in recent Army briefings — is one of several “non-Federal” sources the DoD plans to continue using:

“Some of the non-Federal entities used to inform DEOMI’s training,” said Christensen, “include: Anti-Defamation League; Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism; Know Gangs, Political Research Associates, Read more

Army Officer Serves God, Country in Afghanistan

US Army LtCol Ronald Bonomo is the public affairs officer for the 401st Army Field Support Brigade in Bagram, Afghanistan. His faith is such a prominent part of his life that people have mistaken him for the chaplain:

“My first impression of Lt. Col Bonomo is his dedication to God’s will in his life,” said Staff Sgt. Veronica Johnson, a native of Flint Michigan and the 401st AFSB Chaplain Assistant.

“He knows what God has called him to do and when it comes to the word of God he is very passionate, obedient and always willing to help in the betterment of God’s people in any way possible. Bonomo has his hand to the plow and is definitely a true servant of the Lord.”

“Honestly I thought he was a chaplain, I kept looking at his uniform for a cross. I was like he is a Lt. Col. In the U.S. Army and Read more

Former Soldier Gets Prison after Terrorism Charge

Former US Army Soldier Craig Baxam was arrested in 2012 as he attempted to enter Somalia from Kenya — allegedly in an attempt to join the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

To little fanfare and even littler press coverage, Baxam was sentenced in January to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to destruction of potentially incriminating records. Baxam pled guilty to

destroying his computer in an attempt to cover his tracks before flying to Africa in a bid to join the Somali militant group al-Shabaab.

Baxam converted to Islam just before leaving the US Army. He was arrested six months later.

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Congress Asks Tough Questions of Military Chaplain Chiefs

As previously noted, the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel heard testimony from several witnesses on religious freedom in the military after the DoD’s recent changes to accommodation policy.

The Stars and Stripes noted that while many have focused on ‘turbans and beards,’ Congress didn’t:

Accommodation for minority religions was not the main concern of the primarily Republican House members present Wednesday, however. Many of their questions centered around allegations that free expression of faith by Christian believers was being suppressed…

Instances of Christians being told Read more

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