Tag Archives: mark welsh

Air Force Reverses, Will Review Religious Freedom Policy (Video)

View the video from approximately 4:10.

How’d you like to be the cadet who posted Galatians 2:20?  You are personally responsible for influencing religious liberty policy in the US Air Force.  Nicely done.

A few weeks ago the US Air Force Academy made the news when a Bible verse was stripped from a USAFA cadet’s dry erase board. The incident led Congressmen to question the Air Force leadership about the incident when they appeared for a budget meeting. Secretary James and Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh were initially defensive, citing AFI 1-1 as the justification for the command action against the cadet, though they did agree to provide a written explanation for the action. General Welsh famously expressed his “single biggest frustration” over what he called the untrue “perception [of] religious persecution” in the Air Force.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Secretary James seemed to have tweaked the Air Force reaction.

In response Read more

US Army Supports Air Force Plan to Cut A-10

The Air Force defended its decision to cut the A-10 from its inventory in a meeting with lawmakers last week:

Graham and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., suggested the Air Force has more work ahead to convince Congress that retiring the A-10 is a smart move.

“So for about $3.5 billion over the next five years, if [Congress] could find the money, could you afford to keep the A-10 on board?” Graham said.

Welsh said money wasn’t the only problem…

In an interesting twist, the US Army — which has traditionally been “accused” of wanting the A-10 and criticizing the Air Force for wanting to get rid of it — actually seems to be supportive of the decision:  Read more

Air Force Leaders on Core Values

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody recently took to YouTube to explain the Air Force core values “matter.”

The video is interesting, but even more interesting is the way the official Air Force Facebook page intro’d the video [emphasis added]:

When you voluntarily raised your right hand and took the oath of enlistment to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against enemies foreign and domestic — you purposely gave up a piece of yourself. You were remolded and given a new set of core values, which are integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do.

That statement seems to presuppose that men and women enter the Air Force without values of integrity, service, or excellence. While that is absolutely Read more

Mustache March: Tradition, Camaraderie, and IG Complaints

Update: General Welsh announced the Mustache March winners.  Retired Naval officer Sara Zak published her own commentary in the Air Force Times, calling it all a “setback for AF’s strong women.”  US Air Force Major Deirdre Gurry begged to differ in her Air Force Times column, saying she’s “proud to say that since World War II women have been invited to join” the military “boys’ club.”

Besides the Air Force Times letter written by the disgruntled female officer, it seems the attempt at a little fun by Air Force Chief of Staff General

Mark Welsh generated some grief as well — including a concerted effort to get him fired:

Retired Navy Commander Sara Zak [sent] a complaint to the Air Force inspector general’s office, she asked that Welsh step down and rescind the challenge, saying the activity was “contrary to his Chief of Staff of the Air Force message to airmen he issued in January, [that] it perpetuated an environment conducive to sexual harassment, and that the Air Force should acknowledge [that] traditions that denigrate or fail to show proper respect to all airmen will not be accepted as part of the Air Force culture.”

Zak — whose retired Navy status makes her interest unclear — was pretty much told to pound sand, so she tried every other avenue she could think of:  Read more

Air Force Major Takes on General Welsh

US Air Force Major Jennifer Holmes, who identifies as the “senior trial counsel at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland,” took issue with General Mark Welsh’s “all in” call for a Mustache March in an opinion column entitled “In Mustache March, I lose“:

I am not invited to be a part of the latest team-building game, Mustache March. I have been relegated to the bench to cheer the real players on…

This “gauntlet” thrown down by the most senior leader in our Air Force does not bring us together by tradition; it promotes Read more

Rhodes Scholar Zac Crippen on USAFA, Religious Freedom

US Air Force Lt Zac Crippen has a unique perspective on Michael “Mikey” Weinstein — Weinstein published his name for all the Internet to see back when he was a cadet in 2011.  Crippen recently talked about this at The Federalist in an article entitled The Sorry State Of Religious Freedom At The Air Force Academy:

When I was a senior at the Academy, I was an approval authority for emails disseminated to the student body. One of these emails — written by a fellow senior of mine — was collecting support for a charity campaign called Operation Christmas Child (OCC)…

MRFF filed an immediate complaint, and the next day I received an email from one of my superiors instructing me and my classmate to retract the email, which we did.

As he routinely does, Weinstein credited this Read more

General Welsh: No Religious Persecution in US Air Force

Update: Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council released the following statement in response to General Welsh’s testimony [italics original]:

“The perception is that Mikey Weinstein is setting the policy for religious expression in the U.S. Air Force, as evidenced by the growing number of incidents of religious hostility toward Christians.  Instead of denying reality, General Welsh should have taken the opportunity in Friday’s hearing to discuss how he would bring the Air Force into compliance with the new DOD instructions protecting religious expression…

“Family Research Council and the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition will not stand by while the Air Force Chief tries to evade the reality of these attacks on religious expression.  We will continue to do all we can to protect the rights of the men and women serving in the Air Force and in all the uniformed services.”

A visibly frustrated General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, fielded questions about religious liberty during what was supposed to be a congressional committee meeting on the Fiscal Year 2015 Air Force budget:

The single biggest frustration I’ve had in this job is the perception that somehow there is religious persecution inside the United States Air Force. It is not true.

Interestingly, the words “religious persecution” were General Welsh’s characterization, not the Congressman’s.

To be fair, that statement may be technically accurate in Read more

General Welsh Declares Official Air Force Mustache March

At the 2014 Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium, Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Mark Welsh decided the Air Force should have an “all-in,” MAJCOM vs MAJCOM official Mustache March.  With a nod to the MAJCOM commanders in the front row of his audience, Gen Welsh said

In just a few days, its March. Now, I don’t know, but I don’t think we’ve ever had an all-in Mustache March, have we? So I’m putting the smackdown on you guys: Air Force-wide Mustache March. MAJCOM competitions. [Laughter] You identify your winners, we’ll check the imagery to make sure nothings been doctored. We’ll find our Air Force winner and I’ll figure out a way to honor…him.

At that point, Gen Welsh seemed to become aware that he had to say “him.”  Read more

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