Tag Archives: Tradition

Religion and the Military in Pictures: Free Exercise

The third installment of pictures documenting religion and its place in the US military begins with photographs of free exercise.  The first set includes photographs of the US military’s efforts to support expressions of the Jewish faith.

These pictures continue to demonstrate that the US military goes out of its way to support the free exercise of its troops, even when that free exercise might raise eyebrows among conspiracy theorists when it is associated with the US government or the US military.  Celebrations of holy days, the wearing of religious artifacts in uniform, religious celebrations while armed and in uniform, even something as simple as a bar mitzvah in Iraq are shown among the photographs.

Men and women of faith can be in – and express their faith within — the US military.  These pictures and those to come – all of which are publicly available – show that faith has a fitting and integral role in many lives in the military.

These photo galleries are now part of the Resources page of ChristianFighterPilot.com.

Obama Curses…er, Christens…Coast Guard Cutter

First Lady Michelle Obama christened the US Coast Guard Cutter Stratton last Friday.  There was a slight groan from the crowd when the first swing failed to break the bottle; the second was successful.  Maritime tradition considers the failure of the bottle to break on christening “bad luck.”  In one recent example, the Queen Victoria was reported to be a victim of the “Camilla curse” when a virus broke out on the cruise ship’s maiden voyage after the Duchess of Cornwall failed to break the bottle on the ship’s christening.

Maritime superstition notwithstanding, of course, it is laudable the First Lady would take the time to support the Coast Guard and the longstanding tradition of christening sea-going vessels.

Perhaps someday such celebrations will be overcome by events.  After all, ship christening has a long and historied spiritual connection, and even the term christening is ripe with religious connotation.  (See the US Navy’s official history on ship christening.)  Those who want to strip any vestige of religious association from the US military will undoubtedly claim the blessing or christening of military equipment violates the Constitution and endangers American servicemembers fighting in our nation’s wars.  Such a critique would be ridiculous, of course, but that hasn’t stopped similar ones made to date.

Religion and the Military in Pictures: Prayer

Following the first installment of pictures documenting religion and its place in the US military, the second is now posted on the Resources page.  These photos largely show uniformed military members in prayer, practicing their right to free exercise of religion, even while in the US military.

Men and women of faith can be — and express their faith — in the US military.  These pictures and those to come — all of which are publicly available — show that faith has a fitting and integral role in many lives in the military.

Fighter Pilot Traditions: Hat in the Freezer

It’s been said many times before that being a fighter pilot is a lot like being in a college fraternity.  Yes, its true, “pranks,” to use an equivalent word, are still prevalent among the elite fighter pilot crowd.

If you lose something in a fighter squadron, check the freezer.  If you’re lucky, it will just be wet.  If you’ve been gone awhile, there’s a distinct possiblity your lost item, most famously, your hat, is now in a solid block of ice, or your car keys will now need to be thawed before you can drive home.  (Another technique is to put just the head of the key in the block of ice, so the driver can still enter and drive his car, albeit with a 5 pound block of ice hanging off of it.)

While this is a longstanding fighter pilot tradition, the modern Air Force has Read more

Review: Fighter Pilot, Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds

Robin Olds
St Martin’s Press, 2010

Robin Olds is a legend in the fighter pilot community, though he may not be recognized outside of it.  Many people may remember, for example, the famous Operation BOLO during Vietnam, which used F-4s to impersonate F-105s and succeeded in destroying a third of the North Vietnamese MiG-21s in a single mission – but few know then-Col Robin Olds was responsible for it.  Fighter Pilot is his story, and it is explicitly delivered as a memoir, rather than an autobiography.  Thus, it is not a detailed birth-to-death retelling of his life, but a first-hand recounting of the things he wishes to convey.  (The book was completed after his 2007 death by his daughter, Christina Olds, and Ed Rasimus, himself a retired fighter pilot.)

The book starts off somewhat slowly, almost as if (despite its status as a “memoir”), Olds (or his co-authors) felt obligated to include some stories from the early parts of his life.  He mentions his early pilot training days and a few significant events briefly, but provides little detail or introspective.  For example, he casually mentions, without further insight, that he attended the Air Corps Tactical School, which would ultimately form the basis for all air doctrine in the Army Air Forces and eventually the independent Air Force.  He also covers his entire training, from his early wartime graduation from West Point through becoming a pilot, in a scant 20 pages.  Some of the lack of detail may be for a very understandable cause: he simply didn’t remember much from those early days.  Another may be more pragmatic: Olds is known for his time in Vietnam, not pilot training.

Unlike some other fighter pilot books, Read more

Weinstein Threatens Another Suit Over Military Symbols

Previous articles have noted Michael Weinstein’s biased complaint about a red cross on the emblem of a military hospital in Fort Carson.

As reported by the Colorado Springs Gazette, Weinstein apparently had a personal audience with Fort Carson post commander MajGen David Perkins recently.  Weinstein indicated the General basically told him to pound sand, though the military only confirmed Read more

Memorial Service Honors Faith of Fallen Soldier

A moving memorial was held for US Army Major Ronald “Wayne” Culver, killed by an IED in Iraq on May 24th.  The Chaplain, a friend of the Major, spoke of his faith and his salvation:

The service continued with the chaplain speaking of the major’s faith and how he knew he would see his friend in heaven. He choked up at the podium and the squadron command sergeant major walked across the stage to support him. The room was deathly silent, save for the sound of more than 500 battle-tested Soldiers sniffling.

Prayer and the playing of Amazing Grace on bagpipes, another military memorial tradition with spiritual undertones, was Read more

Fighter Pilot Traditions: The Doofer Book

What’s a doofer book?  Generally, its a running compilation of the missteps of the members of the squadron. They are most interesting when kept during deployments and often become a unique collection of history (and often humor) for a unit.

There are few rules, either about content or language — the only criterion is that the story must be at least 10% true. Doofer books have largely fallen victim to political sensitivity.  More detail can be found in the relevant section of this article on Fighter Pilot Traditions.

This definition is part of ChristianFighterPilot.com’s Fighter Pilot Speak, a veritable Rosetta stone of aviator lingo.  Browse the terminology of the zipper suited sun gods, and submit any omissions you may find.

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