The US Navy recently announced that its Surface Warfare Officers (SWOs) — those Sailors who operate and maintain the surface fleet of ships — will be allowed to wear a black leather jacket for “esprit de corps” and to identify with a “long lineage of professional ship drivers.”
Yet even the Navy’s official release noted the jacket’s aviator connotation: Read more
Celebrating “Diversity”…You’re Doing it Wrong.
Documented histories of the Tuskegee Airmen indicate the famed World War II aviators “overcame segregation” to become some of the best combat units of the war, and that their continued excellence in service ultimately contributed to the de-segregation of the US military long before the rest of American society.
In a twist of apparently unintended irony, the US military has repeatedly chosen to celebrate the Tuskegee triumph over segregation by…instituting segregation [emphasis added]:
The aircraft was a C-5M Super Galaxy assigned to the 22nd Airlift Squadron, and its 11-person crew was all African-American. This historic mission was created to honor the heritage of the Tuskegee Airmen…
This flight was historic since it was the first time an all African-American C-5M crew was formed to honor the heritage of the Tuskegee Airmen and highlight the diversity of the Air Force…
“It is important that the Air Force is diverse enough to have an all African-American crew…”
To make the crew work, they needed to de-conflict schedules…“The barriers to making this happen were just coordinating a time when everyone could be available between other training events, leave and other obligations.”
In other words, a US Air Force unit went out of its way to coordinate the schedules of personnel and aircraft to make sure it could man a mission with an entire crew of one particular skin color.
That was 2018, but it continued in 2019 and the trend continues today, with US Air Force units bending Read more
US Air Force Chief of Staff General Dave Goldfein has announced that the third verse of the Air Force Song — most often sung alone, during memorials or at the end of Service Academy games — is now officially gender neutral:
At the Air Force Association’s conference in Orlando, Florida, Thursday, Goldfein recalled attending a women’s volleyball tournament at the Pentagon last year, when the U.S. Air Force Academy thoroughly beat the other service academy teams.
As Goldfein sang the Air Force Song with the female cadets, it was apparent that the lyrics left them out…
So, Goldfein said, he’s ordered the song to be tweaked slightly, to reflect that fact that women serve in the Air Force.
“These are the women we will ask to go into combat and fight, just as women have done for a generation…Yet this version of the song, their alma mater, was not about them…It is time for us to change.”
This is far from the first time the Air Force has neutralized Read more
As previously discussed, the Bayview Cross in Pensacola, Florida, had been challenged on the same grounds as the Bladensburg Peace Cross, with accusations it was an unconstitutional endorsement of the Christian faith.
The original court ruled against the Bayview Cross — reluctantly, essentially asking the Supreme Court to overrule it. The Supreme Court remanded the Bayview Cross case after its Bladensburg ruling.
Now, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has finally formally ruled the Bayview Cross can stand: Read more
The US military often gets accused of promoting or endorsing religion — particularly when it has the gall to associate religion with the uniform. The vast majority of the time, such complaints are baseless, as the mere presence of religious content and the military context does not constitute anything impermissible. In fact, it is often virtually required.
One religious practice that gets a pass is yoga. A product of eastern religions — which military articles on the topic sometimes, but not always, avoid — the military proudly publishes articles on Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines endorsing the practice.
And the same people who complain about associations between Christians and the military seem to have no problem associating Buddha and the military.
A recent article documents US Air Force Master Sergeant Kathleen Myhre’s 30-day journey to India to become a certified yoga instructor. Now, MSgt Myhre occupies a space in the Airman and Family Readiness Center, where she evangelizes those who enter on the value of her ‘spiritual’ endeavors: Read more
US Army Soldier Jarrett William Smith out of Fort Riley recently pleaded guilty to “distributing explosives information”.
Smith used social media to advise others on how to construct improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, McAllister said. Among the explosives was a recipe for improvised napalm…
Smith detailed the instructions for how to construct a cellphone detonator for an IED “in the style of the Afghans.” He also detailed how to build a bomb using the heads of matches.
Due to be sentenced in May, prosecutors are recommending “supervised release”.
Smith’s motivation? The devil, apparently.
While Smith’s defense attorney Read more
Last week, Scott Air Force Base tweaked the wording of its invitation to it annual National Prayer Breakfast after Michael “Mikey” Weinstein complained. The breakfast is scheduled for the 25th of February.
The original e-vite — which was not sent to anyone but was only available if you clicked through to the Air Force’s official RSVP site — followed standard Air Force protocol. The guest of honor is the Command Chief Master Sergeant of the Second Air Force; the “host” was the Wing Commander, Col J. Scot Heathman.
Weinstein loudly complained that by having the Wing Commander’s name on the invite, random subordinates felt “coerced” to attend. The fact that the POC on the invite was the chaplains’ office, not the commander, apparently escaped him.
(Remember that this is the same person whose lawsuit about coercion over a USAFA national prayer breakfast fell apart when the judge ruled they hadn’t remotely demonstrated any actual potential of retribution if they did not attend.)
Scott AFB was apparently Read more
Last week, the US Air Force quietly published an update to its uniform regulation, AFI 36-2903, Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel, which governs how Airmen are required to wear their uniforms. The new regulation included attachments that specifically covered turbans, hijabs, and beards for the first time. While AFI 36-2903 previously discussed “religious apparel,” this is the first time it was covered in such depth.
In addition, it prioritized accommodation Air Force wide. For example, previous versions often restricted accommodation — if it was even granted — to a single military installation.
The new regulation also lowers the level of approval required for some accommodations. For example, Wing Commanders (generally, the commander of the Air Force base) are authorized to approve
hijab, beard, turban or under-turban/patka, unshorn beards, unshorn hair, and indoor/outdoor head coverings.
Importantly, however, if the commander desires to disapprove that accommodation, the request has to be disapproved at AF Headquarters at Read more