A Defense Department article on Equal Opportunity opened with an interesting sentence on the military culture:
Black or white, Christian or atheist, West Coast or East Coast, service members come from all walks of life, with every culture having its own beliefs, values and style of leadership.
It has long been understood that the US military is a cross-section of Read more
Newly-retired General Norton Schwartz’s parting gift to the Air Force was Air Force Instruction 1-1, a newly formed regulation (dated 7 Aug 2012, three days before his retirement) simply entitled “Air Force Standards” (implementing AFPD1).
Unlike other standalone AFIs, the new 1-1 is essentially a collection of the high points from multiple other regulations, or citations with a Chief of Staff tweak. For example, there are paragraphs on professional relationships, drug use, and paying one’s bills. Airmen are prohibited from ever burning an American flag (except for its reverent disposition), and Airmen can travel in any uniform — except the flight suit. While some people have mocked the fact bullying and hazing are allowed in this AFI if they are part of an approved training program, certain specialized programs do exist that would likely fall under some definitions of “hazing,” despite their essential contribution to the Air Force mission.
There are, however, two notable “new” subjects.
First, General Schwartz included a paragraph from his 2011 memo on “religious neutrality.” The same memo over which Michael Weinstein berated USAFA Superintendent General Mike Gould for not distributing to all Airmen is now Read more
Multiple news articles have covered the promotion of US Army Reserve General Tammy Smith, who became the first actively serving, openly homosexual General officer in the US military. General Smith herself has made little public issue of her sexual preference:
“All of those facts are irrelevant,” she said. “I don’t think I need to be focused on that. What is relevant is upholding Army values and the responsibility this carries.”
General Smith’s homosexual partner, Tracey Hepner, is an Read more
An article in the Christian Post a few weeks ago discussed the accusation that the US military has been shaping the public perception of the post-DADT environment by allowing the media to cover “positive” stories, while suppressing negative ones: Read more
An official Air Force article cautioned military servicemembers from reading too much into the “one time exception to DOD policy” that let uniformed troops arch in a homosexual parade:
Recently, media interest has focused on the one-time exception to Department of Defense policy which allowed service members to march in a pride parade in uniform.
All military members must keep in mind that Read more
The Associated Press (reprinted in the Air Force Times) finally caught up to the story from last week over Chaplain (Col) Timothy Wagoner’s decision to leave the Southern Baptist Convention. He had been portrayed in a news article as supportive of a homosexual ceremony he attended at a military chapel.
There is a bit of new information, though, and it appears commenter DrewCollins+ was prescient:
The chaplain, Col. Timothy Wagoner, is remaining on active duty and has affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which holds more moderate views on homosexuality and some other issues than the Southern Baptists.
As an organization, the CBF holds almost no views, except to say Read more
Senator Jim Inhofe of the Senate Armed Services Committee “respectfully requested” that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta explain why members of the US military were authorized to wear their uniforms in a homosexual “pride” parade in San Diego.
In a letter to Panetta, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma said department rules bar service members from participating in political activities while in uniform and pressed Panetta on why a waiver was granted, who requested it and why it was considered over others.
The Congressmen also noted that other military members have been punished for doing what the DoD authorized in this instance: Read more
The US House successfully passed (243-166) an amendment to the 2013 Defense Appropriations Bill (a funding mechanism, separate from the National Defense Authorization Act) that would ban homosexual marriages on US military bases. (By contrast, the amendment to ban military sponsorships of sports team failed.)
Given the recent history of conference committees and the Democrat-controlled Senate, it is unlikely the amendment will survive to the final bill.
Via the ADF.