US Army Chaplain (Capt) Thomas Dyer was once a Marine. He was also once a Southern Baptist preacher.
Dyer has served for several years, including a deployment to Iraq. While he’s the first Army Buddhist chaplain, several Buddhists have recently become chaplain candidates.
The TV station local to Fort Benning recently did a short segment on the Chaplain, and the military’s support to religious freedom his service demonstrates:
A US Army article details the support of Army chaplains to families and Soldiers as they deploy and return home. Check out the name of the chaplain:
“We help strengthen family relationships,” said Maj. Billy Graham, 101st CAB chaplain. “We conduct the ‘Strong Bonds’ retreats for married soldiers and hold events for single Read more
Fort Bragg’s Rock Beyond Belief passed quietly last Saturday. While organizers had predicted a crowd of 5,000, Richard Dawkins, the main draw of the event whose “sell out” crowds were the justification for the attendance forecast, ultimately spoke to only “a couple hundred” spectators. Photos of the event show Aiden, the musical act originally billed as Dawkins’ lead-in, playing to only a few dozen who had stuck out the day. It also appeared the military base was hosting a largely civilian crowd.
Rain early in the day may have affected attendance, much as the heat affected the Christian Rock the Fort the atheist event was meant to protest. Rock the Fort reportedly drew 3,000 to 4,000 of the forecast 10,000 (and the atheists had been quick to mock the attendance numbers of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association event).
Interestingly, Col Sicinski was on site of the event and indicated the event wasn’t the controversy it may have been made out to be: Read more
US Army SPC Jesse Thorsen (previously incorrectly identified as a Corporal) has been given a Letter of Reprimand for appearing at a Ron Paul rally in uniform and giving a glowing endorsement.
The Army determined that Jesse D. Thorsen violated Read more
The primary organizer of Rock Beyond Belief, the atheist festival occurring this weekend at Fort Bragg, has — again — drug Fort Bragg and the US Army through the mud in an apparent bid for publicity.
In a sensationally titled “Fort Bragg wont let us feed homeless vets at the atheist festival,” Justin Griffith says Fort Bragg denied their plan to do a canned food collection. Griffith summarized [emphasis original]:
The ‘pro-starvation’ camp has prevailed…
At issue is Joint Ethics Regulation 3-211, which says the DoD can let non-Federal entities (ie, Rock Beyond Belief) use DoD facilities (ie, Fort Bragg’s resources) except for fundraising events. Apparently, Fort Bragg determined canned food collection was fundraising.
Whether collecting canned food for a charitable cause constitutes non-Federal fundraising is a legitimate question. Rather than take direct issue with that, however, Griffith took a different tack: He said the Christians Read more
An official military article notes three US Air Force Airmen went through the trials necessary to receive their “cavalry gold spurs.” To do so, they had to complete a “spur ride.”
The participants formed up outside the Bagram [MWR] and performed a 12-mile ruck march throughout the base. Upon returning…, they dropped their gear and began the various stations that were set up to test their skills. The stations were moderated by Army instructors, referred to only as “Spur Holders.”
“The stations consisted of [weapons] proficiency, M2 headspace and timing, Self Aid and Buddy Care, 9-line Med Evac, Unexploded Ordnance identification, Nine-line UXO, gas mask procedures, land navigation and convoy signaling,” said Longoria.
“Before, during and after each station we would be quizzed by the Spur Holders. Then we were PT’ed until we were physically exhausted. Read more
Two US Army chaplains, Chaplain (Col) John McGraw and Chaplain (Col) Jerry Lewis, recently took the Army’s resiliency mantra to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their African hosts seemed to welcome the opportunity:
Chief of DRC Chaplains Col. Jeanne Paul Keela sees the emerging relationship between his organization and U.S. Army chaplains as Read more
The Jewish online magazine Tablet covers the story of US Army Chaplain (LtCol) Larry Bazer, who recently returned from a deployment as the “only Jewish chaplain in Afghanistan.”
The article contains some interesting commentaries on the chaplaincy in general, as well as some specifics related to life as a Jewish chaplain:
The [Camp Phoenix] chapel, said Bazer, “was a cozy little place”: a small, nondescript room built of plywood. During the day it was devoid of any religious symbols, but during the evenings a few crosses would turn it into a Protestant chapel, or some icons into a Catholic church. On Friday nights, candles and challah—sent each month by the “challah lady,” a Long Island Jewish woman—made it a synagogue.
Chaplain Bazer’s congregations varied from none to nearly 20 as he traveled Afghanistan as the only Jewish Read more