Tag Archives: army

Join the Navy. Fly a Blimp.

The Military Times notes the unveiling of a Navy airship at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

The MZ-3A is the Navy’s scientific test platform for surveillance cameras, radars and other sensors…[used] “to prove LTA [lighter-than-air] has a place in our military construct,” said Cmdr. Jay Steingold.

The slow, long-endurance vehicles are variations on the blimp/dirigible and could fill a variety of roles.  The Navy isn’t the only one to have such a program:  Read more

Military Atheists Respond: Dustin Chalker and the Facts

It seems the prior article on the White House petition to “end discrimination” against military atheists struck a chord, most notably with its creator, Dustin Chalker.

Chalker posted a response to the article with his MRFF ally Chris Rodda as an independent blog.  Not all of the assumptions Rodda and Chalker made were necessarily accurate, but the response here, as some have seen, has been interesting.  Most who have commented failed to actually read the story behind any of Chalker’s accusations, making such deep and thoughtful statements as “You’re a coward” easy, if logically unsupported, diatribes to make in their passionate support of Chalker.

Though he never indicated so himself, Rodda claims Dustin Chalker – who sued the Department of Defense as an Army Sergeant – is now the civilian “Mr.” Chalker, though she contradictorily uses his rank in the present tense.

Both Rodda’s and Chalker’s comments contained factual errors, though accuracy has never been Rodda’s strong suit.  Some of the more salient points of Chalker’s comment are below:

Chalker said it was “lying” to say his lawsuit  Read more

Muslim Soldier on Faith and Service

The Stars and Stripes ran an article entitled “Some Muslim servicemembers struggle to balance faith and service,” though the article cited only a single former servicemember, former Army SSgt Mohammad A. Hasan.  After 9 years of service, with his Islamic faith a non-issue, he said a deployment to Iraq set him apart from his peers:

With a dark complexion and Muslim name, the Bangladesh-born soldier’s loyalty was at times questioned by suspicious troops during his deployment in Iraq, he said.

The article continues to use the plural with reference to “struggling” Muslim Soldiers, though it fails to mention any others.  In fact, it quotes both former Navy Read more

Army Addresses Spiritual Resiliency

At a Spiritual Resiliency Luncheon in October, US Army Chaplain (Col) Barbara Sherer, assistant commandant of the US Army Chaplain Center and School, was introduced by Third Infantry Division Commander MajGen Robert “Abe” Abrams to speak on spiritual resiliency.

“Resilience is that ability to come back and spring back to whatever should be normal for you,” she said.

Resilience has been increasingly important in the Army as Soldiers Read more

US Army General Rhonda Cornum Leads, Embodies Resilience

US Army BrigGen Rhonda Cornum is the director of the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program.  She also embodies the values of her own program:

The CSF program focuses on the ability to bounce back from stress or trauma, something she utilized after her experience in the Gulf War…

Cornum flew over the Iraqi desert with her crew in a Black Hawk helicopter Feb. 27, during the fourth day of the U.S. ground assault…

Her crew was responding to the downing of F-16 pilot Capt Bill Andrews, who was shot down over Iraq.  Their helicopter took fire before getting there and crashed.  Five of her crewmates were killed; she was wounded and taken Read more

The Courage of US Military Chaplains

The National Catholic Register ran a piece on military chaplains entitled “Profiles in Courage: Military Chaplains,” documenting the roles and experiences of Catholic chaplains in the US military.  While it noted the typical shortage, it also highlighted a surge of new volunteers:

The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA reported a sharp jump this year in the number of seminarians interested in serving as military chaplains. As the 2011-2012 academic year begins, there are 31 military-affiliated seminarians nationwide, up from three just three years ago.

The article also profiled four military chaplains Read more

CAIR Accuses Army JROTC of Discrimination

The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said US Army JROTC uniform policies are discriminatory after Demin Zawity, a freshman at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, TN, was told she could not wear her Islamic headscarf while in the Army uniform.

There’s no reason for them to have a policy that excludes people such as Zawity, said Gadeir Abbas, a CAIR staff attorney. It paves the way to encourage all faiths to participate, he added.

While noble-sounding, Abbas’ statement was ignorant.  JROTC programs are designed to be nearly identical to their ROTC and operational military equivalents — including following generally the same uniform rules.  In this case, the JROTC rule accurately reflects US military policy (to which there have been some notable exceptions).

Abbas also made a misleading and potentially incendiary statement:  Read more

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