Tag Archives: marines

Remembering the Four Chaplains 75 Years Later

On 3 February 1943, the troop carrying USAT Dorchester was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Greenland. It went down with 670 of the 902 people onboard.

The story that keeps the Dorchester alive, however, is the now immortalized Four Chaplains:

As hundreds of panicking sailors scurried in fear for their lives, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Father John P. Washington and the Revs. George L. Fox and Clark V. Poling gave up their life jackets and helped calm the soldiers.

Their sacrifice was Read more

“Religious Exemptions Aren’t Special Privileges”

Some astute writing from Stephanie Barclay of the Becket Fund, as published at The Witherspoon Institute [emphasis added]:

The Supreme Court has consistently held that a government’s desire to protect people from emotional harm…does not constitute a compelling government interest…The Court has protected speech deeply hurtful to the dignity of others, including protesters at the funeral of a Marine killed in action with signs that say things like “God Hates Fags”…

The Court has correctly explained that any other result would “effectively empower a majority to silence dissidents simply as a matter of personal predilections.”…

These are not simply hypothetical thought experiments. After Read more

Fort Gordon Investigation Disproves Mikey Weinstein. Again.

An investigation at Fort Gordon disproved Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s claims that unsuspecting and unwilling Soldiers were force-marched to a Christian event, noting

The findings [of the investigation] determined the intent and guidance of the Senior Leaders and Chaplains was to make this a voluntary event.

However, Fort Gordon officials concluded that “miscommunication” may have led some Soldiers to think it was a mandatory event. Thus, they’ll clear this up in the future — by putting “THIS IS VOLUNTARY!!!” on future announcements:  Read more

Adm Stavridis Errs: The US Military’s Purpose Isn’t to Defend Our Values

Retired Admiral James Stavridis — now dean of the Fletcher School of Law — took to the Boston Globe yesterday in an opinion piece excoriating President Trump for his handling of the Charlottesville, Va, riots. In so doing, however, the normally well-spoken retired flag officer demonstrated an outstanding (or selective) ignorance of the purpose of the US military: Adm Stavridis claimed the US military exists to “defend our values” [emphasis added]:

Our military exists to protect our nation and our allies from those forces who threaten our values: democracy, liberty, freedom of speech and religion, racial and gender equality…

The current [chiefs of staff] have all squarely and unequivocally shown us they know why we have a military — to defend our values, not tear them down…[They] publish[ed] clear, decisive statements disavowing racism and reaffirming the fundamental values they are sworn to defend.

These statements are unequivocally incorrect. As Read more

Marine Killed in Crash Remembered as Servant, Warrior

US Marine Sgt Joseph Murray was one of 16 killed in last week’s crash of a KC-130T in Mississippi.  From the local news:

“Everyone knew him as a family man. He would do anything for me and our kids. He loved to play his guitar and ukulele for us. What he wanted most in the world besides our happiness was to destroy evil on this earth…”

As a Christian, Murray lived to serve others, whether it was in the Marines, at church or simply providing a better life for his family.

“Joseph joined the military to serve, Read more

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