Tag Archives: good order and discipline

The ACLJ Responds to Mikey Weinstein’s John Compere

The following is a very long but outstanding article from Senior Counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) Robert W. “Skip” Ash.  Ash, a retired US Army officer, delivers a point-by-point response to retired US Army BGen John Compere, a retired JAG who purports to defend the need to restrict military religious freedom.  Compere is an ally and vocal advocate of Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, and he has occasionally commented on this site.

Within the analysis you’ll note some themes common among Compere, Weinstein, and his allies, from straw man arguments to misquoting the Constitution. Their position is impassioned but inconsistent with either basic religious liberty or the US Constitution.

Our thanks to Skip Ash for his tireless work in defense of military religious freedom. You can also read his article at its original ACLJ site.

Why the Angry Atheists are Wrong: A Reply to “Our Constitution, Any Religion & the Military”

By Skip Ash

Every so often, I visit the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) website to see what Mr. Weinstein and his fellow travelers have been up to. When I visited the website on October 31, 2016, I came across a short article entitled, “Our Constitution, Any Religion & the Military,” written by MRFF Advisory Board Member, retired Brigadier General John M. Compere, whose listed credentials read, “Brigadier General, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, US Army (Retired); former Chief Judge, US Army Court of Military Review; disabled American veteran (Vietnam era); Military Religious Freedom Foundation Advisory Board Member; and Texas rancher.” As a partially disabled veteran myself, I appreciate and salute General Compere’s service to our Nation.

I began to read General Compere’s article with considerable interest. As a Constitutional law attorney, however, I was quickly disappointed in both what Read more

US Marines Talk Vaping, Pockets, Transgenders, and other Controversies

Update: It seems the US Marine Corps had some thoughts on these unusually frank articles.  While they are still posted at their links below, each has been edited to indicate it is an “editorial,” and all are now preceded by official disclaimers.

In an unusual media burst, the US Marines released six articles written by young enlisted troops on rather unusual topics — and generally critical of their own Marine Corps in unusually frank tones. Three of the six articles were uncredited, though they were all published through AFN-IJ (Iwakuni), and the three that had by-lines were all written by AFN-IJ staff members.

In the first, Corporal David Bickel wrote in favor of “Vaping in Government Facilities,” in which he criticized the ban on using nicotine vaporizers in government buildings, saying

The reasoning behind the rules against vaping in the barracks have [sic] little to no ground to stand on as well as little relevancy to the topic of tobacco smoking, which the government classifies as regular cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and vaporizers.

In the second, an uncredited troop sarcastically bragged that Read more

Military Freedoms and “Good Order and Discipline”

Tony Carr, a retired C-17 squadron commander, has begun to make a name for himself in his public commentary on Air Force issues on his John Q. Public blog. He speaks in terms other Airmen recognize — and often in a tone that others wish they were allowed to muster.

He recently took retired General Roger Brady to task for the General’s dressing-down of Airmen who dared to contact their congressmen about the future of the A-10. The General had written a letter that was published in the Air Force Times, and Carr highlights an interesting point. While criticizing the Airmen’s decision to talk to their congressmen — a point he says General Mark Welsh agreed is a right — General Brady explicitly said  Read more