Tag Archives: army

Chaplain with PTSD Serves as Counselor, Model

US Army Chaplain (Maj) David Trogdon is serving his fourth combat tour — this time, officially diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Now he helps minister to those who may be struggling as well:

He knows from experience the corrosive effect of repressing anger and anxiety. His return to war this year after three tours is motivated, in part, by a desire to show fellow troops that mental trauma can be tamed.   “Sometimes I get asked, ‘Does it bother you that people know you have PTSD?’ Read more

Fort Hood Shooter Forcibly Shaved

The Associated Press reports that US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan* was forcibly shaved upon his inprocessing at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he has joined the US military death row after being convicted for the Fort Hood massacre:

Lt. Col. S. Justin Platt, an Army spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday that Hasan had been shaved. Officials at Fort Leavenworth previously had said Hasan would be subject to Army regulations.

His decision to flaunt those regulations — claiming his Islamic faith suddenly required him to grow a beard — led to the first trial judge being dismissed.

*Though convicted, Hasan is technically still in the Army while his dismissal and sentence are being processed.

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Atheist Army Officer Wants Recruits to Avoid Liberty U

US Army Capt Sara Sharick publicly identifies as an Army officer and recruiter — and she’s an atheist. When a potential Army recruit walked into her office one day, she was “disappointed” to learn he wanted to attend Liberty University.

So my Center Commander asks him where he plans on going to college. I’m thinking K State or KU, some place local. He says “Liberty University.” I just about choked…I pull out my phone and look up if Liberty even has an ROTC program. Sure as [redacted], both Army and Air Force. So disappointed.

Why is she “disappointed?”  She says Liberty University is home to “the crazies,” apparently referring to Christians, given that Liberty is a mainstream Christian university.  (Sharick joins Michael Weinstein’s loathing for the school, when he called it “horrifying” that Liberty would teach the same material other universities do.)

At first, Sharick seemed willing to grit her teeth and help the kid out:  Read more

Chaplain Highlights Shortage of Catholic Priests

Chaplain (Capt) Joel Panzer, a Catholic priest who has served in the US Army for the past five years, recently made a push with fellow Catholic leaders to encourage priests to become military chaplains:

By doing so, he hopes to reverse a rising shortage of priests in the military.

About a quarter of the soldiers in the Army are Catholic, but only about 6% of the Army’s chaplains are Catholic priests.

All military branches combined have just Read more

US Army Major Hasan Guilty on All Charges

US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was found guilty of all charges by a unanimous board of officers.

Not that it should be a surprise.  His opening statement was “I am the shooter.”

Hasan is one of 12 attempted or successful attacks on the US military by those apparently motivated by their Islamic faith, four of whom were actually members of the US military:

And:  Read more

The Challenge of Shabbat in Baghdad

The Jewish Journal documents the story of US Army Captain Eric Goldie, a Jewish soldier deployed to Iraq and trying to remain faithful to his religious exercise in an article entitled “Shabbat in Iraq: Under the Gun“:

On Shabbat, Goldie and a small group of soldiers, embassy workers and contractors — and even one Iraqi-Jewish woman — would gather in the U.S. Embassy to daven. That woman, Halida, would sneak into the embassy to participate, a considerable risk in a city where Jews were hiding their true identities…

Goldie endured a gauntlet of barriers himself just to get to the embassy for services.   “I had to take an armored transport, wearing 60 pounds of body armor, with my weapon, to attend,” he said.

The article contains what may be a swipe at the military Read more

Appeals Court Upholds Fort Hood Bomber Sentence

Former US Army PFC Naser Abdo appealed his conviction in the planned (and prepared) bombing attempt of his fellow US Army Soldiers near Fort Hood, Texas, in 2011.  The court denied his appeal.

The appeals court denied Abdo’s request to consider his initial police detention a full arrest instead of just an investigatory stop, which would have made it unlawful and rendered it and statements obtained at the time inadmissible as evidence…

The court also denied that Abdo’s trial was unfair…

Abdo was the famous Islamic conscientious objector who was later charged for having child pornography on his government computer, went AWOL, and Read more

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