Tag Archives: Military

Hasan’s Superiors Worried, but Promoted Him

As noted at a variety of sites, a Defense Department review has found that Army Maj Hasan’s superiors were routinely concerned about his performance and his views, but continued to promote him anyway.  This seems to already confirm what has previously been said about Hasan: people knew and were concerned about him.

Between 2003 and 2007, Hasan’s supervisors expressed their concerns with him in memos, meeting notes and counseling sessions. He needed steady monitoring, especially in the emergency room, had difficulty communicating and working with colleagues, his attendance was spotty and he saw few patients.

The question that isn’t (officially) answered is why they didn’t do anything, though speculation has already arisen that people were afraid to say anything out of fear of being considered prejudiced against Islam.

The discussion in the article about officers being promoted despite poor performance Read more

Ethics and the US Military: the Army Reconsiders

The US Army is “[rethinking] how it teaches ethics.”

Some of the interest in ethics is tied to the wars: the black eye of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, concerns that stress from unconventional conflict leads to bad decisions, and, for at least one retired general, the sense that the military lost the public’s trust in Iraq.

Officers involved in the effort say that eventually a soldier’s grounding in ethics — strong or weak — will become a factor in promotions.

Two of the primary places that ethics might intentionally be taught in the Army include the US Military Academy at West Point and the Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth.  The need for ethical maturity has already been recognized in some sense at the military academies.  Each has its own variation of a “character development center.”

Oddly, the director of military ethics at West Point provided a contradictory assessment of ethics in the Army:  Read more

Atheist Lawsuit Against US Military Dismissed

Chalker v Gates, the lawsuit which pitted the MRFF and an atheist Soldier against the Department of Defense, has been dismissed.  The case was brought by Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and US Army Specialist Dustin Chalker.  The primary complaint was that Chalker was forced to attend formations at which Christian prayers were given, though Weinstein used the lawsuit as a forum to accuse the military of promoting Christianity.

According to various reports,

US District Judge Kathryn Vratil ruled Thursday that Chalker failed to exhaust all available remedies before filing suit.

Weinstein has said he will appeal the decision.

The ruling that dismissed the lawsuit (pdf) is slightly more complex than the media summary.  The ruling stated:  Read more

Fighter Pilots and Pigs in Space

Fighter aircraft are, by stereotype, fast, maneuverable, and nimble jets capable of amazing feats of dogfighting, turning, and speed.

What many people fail to realize, however, is that most fighters are only stereotypical “yank and bank” dogfighters when they are stripped down to their bare essentials and flown at low altitude.  When loaded with sensor pods, electronics equipment, weapons, and external fuel tanks, virtually every fighter becomes a “truck” or “bus” rather than a Read more

Fighter Pilots and Science Fiction

A rule of writing is that an author must “spell out” a term before using its abbreviation or acronym.  It appears that military public affairs writers have taken this rule to heart, almost to a fault.

A recent article from Balad, Iraq, talks about the men and women who maintain the flight equipment that pilots wear on missions.  These servicemembers may sometimes be overlooked, but if pilots are forced to depend on their equipment (for example, following an ejection), strong bonds often develop between the Airman who packed a survival kit and the pilot whose life is saved by it.

In the article, the public affairs Airman says  Read more

Soldier’s Faith Inspires Him to Help

An Army Lieutenant spearheaded an effort to provide an Iraqi child with the surgery she needed to give her sight.  US Army 1st Lieutenant Jason Hickman’s efforts were in no small part a result of his faith, as he acknowledged that there are no such things as chance occurrences:

“I don’t believe in the traditional sense of the word ‘destiny,’ but I do believe that God puts people in certain places at certain times,” Hickman said. “Things don’t happen solely by coincidence. All you have to do is look for the road signs…”

“The Lord may not push you around the board like a pawn, but every now and again he puts you where he wants you,” Hickman said. “We were supposed to end up in Zwaynat that night. It was just up to us what we were going to do when we got there.”

Read the full story.

Weinstein v Ammerman, Continued

In September, Michael and Bonnie Weinstein filed a civil lawsuit against the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches and Gordon Klingenschmitt.  The primary issue seems to be Klingenschmitt’s “imprecatory prayer” against Weinstein and Barry Lynn, as was noted in a previous analysis.  (Weinstein has amended his lawsuit twice in the intervening months, but only the original is currently publicly available.)  This case will be interesting for religious freedom in general, not just in the military, since it may delineate what control–if any–the government is willing to place on public prayer.  Initial commentators, including allies of the Weinsteins, doubted they would succeed in their suit.  However, despite the initial furor, there has been little in the media since.

The case continues, however.  It appears one of the initial issues will be jurisdiction, which is a legitimate question in this case.  Weinstein is a resident of New Mexico, the CFGC is headquartered in Texas, and Klingenschmitt is presumed to be a resident of Colorado.  Weinstein is suing in Texas district court.  Since the CFGC is in Dallas, it would appear to make sense that Weinstein would sue the CFGC in Texas.

However, the CFGC’s connection to the complaint is tenuous.  As noted already, the precipitating action in this litigation appears to be a prayer by Klingenschmitt, not anything done or said by the CFGC or its head, Jim Ammerman.  The CFGC’s role in the prayer is nonexistent, except insomuch as Klingenschmitt is a Read more

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