Quartermasters have Saint Martin, and Marine artillery has Saint Barbara, but the patron saint of Army aviation is Saint Michael. Four aviators were recently “inducted into the Order of Saint Michael” while deployed to Afghanistan.
The award recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the promotion of Army Aviation in ways that stand out in the Read more
Jason Torpy, the one-man Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, is an atheist and former Army officer. While his MAAF is ostensibly a “community support network,” he recently revealed the true motivation behind his ideology.
In a recent display of internet frustration, Torpy took fellow atheists to task for not banding together and being “anti-” enough. The context was a comment that people don’t join groups for things they don’t believe in, spoken by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a self-described agnostic (who says he is “often claimed by atheists”):
Do non-golf players gather and strategize? Do non-skiers…come together and talk about the fact that they don’t ski? I can’t do that. I can’t gather around and talk about how much everybody in the room doesn’t believe in God.
This is the same point raised by many people Read more
Some may have assumed that with a Democratic President (and the stereotype that the US military leans Republican/conservative), most of those testing the limits of permissible political activities or commentary would be “right wing” or conservatives.
They would be wrong.
The blog for the Rock Beyond Belief event organized by Justin Griffith at Fort Bragg recently posted an article about North Carolina’s Amendment 1, which would modify the NC State Constitution to say the only domestic legal union in the state is Read more
Justin Griffith, the Army Soldier made famous by the event he organized at Fort Bragg, recently found a prayer group advertised on an Army unit’s Facebook page [redacted]:
Naturally, Griffith immediately took issue with the time of the prayer event, which is during what are traditionally considered duty hours. He decided to call on his web followers to target the unit’s Facebook post [formatting original]: Read more
The US Army post at Fort Knox had apparently invited Ted Nugent, along with Styx and REO Speedwagon, to an event to be held on June 23rd. Following Ted Nugent’s recent foray into the spotlight for his comments at an NRA convention, his invite has been cancelled.
The reasoning for the cancellation:
A spokesman for Fort Knox told TheBlaze.com that having Nugent perform “would be a conflict of interest since the military has the obligation to be apolitical.”
The article, printed on MSNBC, notes that such a statement is tortured:
Such a claim, though, seems dubious Read more
US Army PFC Naser Abdo, arrested in July 2011 while allegedly collecting supplies to bomb and shoot Fort Hood soldiers, reportedly confessed shortly after he was arrested. His lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get the confession ruled inadmissible.
[U.S. District Judge Walter Smith] rejected a defense motion to throw out a confession from the soldier accused of planning to bomb a Texas restaurant filled with Fort Hood troops…
Prior to this point, Abdo had been fairly defiant, and he didn’t seem to shy telling the police what his plans were:
“So I’m AWOL … and I was planning an attack here in the Fort Hood community,” Abdo says in the recording… Read more
A group of US Army Africa chaplains have been engaging with the Liberian Armed Forces to help their chaplaincy:
Chaplain (Maj.) Allen Staley, and Command Chap. (Col.) Gary Brown …worked with more than 20 Liberian Armed Forces chaplains during a Chaplain Professionalization Seminar in Monrovia, Liberia.
The US military is helping Liberia develop its own chaplaincy, and they’re Read more
An official DoD article highlights the “positive role” SPC Benjamin Reynolds has in his unit, the 82nd Airborne currently deployed to Afghanistan. Even those around him know what drives him:
Reynolds sites his faith as playing an important role in maintaining the positive attitude that so many in his unit admire. In the toughest of times, his beliefs seem to grow even stronger.
“I usually pray for my safety and those around me and use my faith as a motivator,” he said. “When God pulls you through something like that it’s an amazing feeling. It really reinforces your faith.”
Reynolds’ company commander literally couldn’t stop giving him praise: Read more