U.S. Military Unique in All the World

The U.S. Military is, without a doubt, unique. It is the first military in the history of the world capable of deploying to almost any country on any inhabited continent in a matter of days or hours.

In the wake of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, that became a U.S. priority: Put military personnel anywhere at a moment’s notice and in record time. That’s why we keep ships at sea 24 hours a day, and that’s why we have so many military bases scattered all over the world. The idea was we should be able to aid our allies and stop our enemies before the fighting reaches our shores.

This week, however, Associated Press has highlighted how that rapid deployment capability is being used for something else: Humanitarian aid in the Philippines.

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Army Suspends Anti-Christian Briefings

Recently we told you about a training session in which U.S. Army personnel were told the American Family Association is a “domestic hate group.”

The AFA, a Christian ministry well known for its American Family Radio, was likened to the Ku Klux Klan, Black Panthers, and other groups. Similar incidents have happened across the country in what has become a very troubling trend.

Yesterday, however, the Pentagon announced it is putting a stop to these briefings. The training seminars in which these incidents have occurred will resume in November, but under a new directive that states in part,

Emphasize that neither [the Department of Defense] nor the Army maintain or publish any centralized list of specific organizations considered to be extremist in nature or in opposition to the Army’s core values….use [the] chain of command to answer questions and resolve issues.

This is a welcomed change for many who have been concerned about statements made against evangelical Christians by trainers at Camp Shelby, Fort Hood, and elsewhere in recent months.

You can download a copy of the new directive here.

You can read the American Family Association’s response to the new directive here.