Aim Higher

There's a story in the DN this morning about an Air Force officer hassling an airman for wearing "LDS apparel" under his uniform. [Hat tip: BCC sidebar newsfeed.] In a tactfully written story, the airman, a touring member of an Air Force musical group, says he was told to "lost the shirt or leave the tour." Turns out the officer is an Evangelical who likes to pick on non-Evangelicals in his unit. The story quotes a Catholic in the unit who faced similar flak from the CO. Timely intervention by an LDS chaplain resolved the particular conflict with the LDS airman. [Sounds like they do good work — maybe LDS stakes should have chaplains, too!] It will take more than a chaplain to solve the Air Force's problem. Not to mention the Evangelicals' problem, which runs even deeper.

Comments

[Clark Goble]

It's interesting that the investigation of the Air Force Academy involved a lot of charges regarding persecution of other airmen by evangelicals. While I'm sure much of it was overstated or just improper actions by a few, the number of tales are sufficient to make me wonder if the Air Force does have a problem here.

[Capt Jack]

I served as an officer on active duty in the Air Force from 1991-2000, getting out as a captain. During that time, I never saw any anti-Mormon bias, nor did I see any pro-evangelical bias.

As a matter of fact, one of my commanders who was a Roman Catholic treated me better than my peers because he knew I was, at the time, an active Mormon. I never, in all those years of going to EQ with an almost all military crowd, heard of anti-Mormon bigotry.

I had commanders who were Mormon, the commander of US Air Forces in Europe was LDS, and I know of several colonels who are LDS who I expect to see reach the general officer ranks very soon.

I'd be extremely hesitant to judge Air Force attitudes in general based on what goes on in the "Tops in Blue". Frankly, that little joke of an organization should've been disbanded years ago.

[Dave]

Nice feedback, Capt. Jack. The Air Force doesn't seem like the kind of organization that would have these sorts of problems, but the recent stories and official investigation (I haven't followed the details closely) make it hard to know what's really going on. At the very least, they have a PR problem, although it's fairly minor compared to what the other services have dealt with in the past.

[Lt Col Air Force Dude]

This should not be an issue. Maybe the A1C does not know that he can now have black or other colored undershirts silk-screened with the appropriate marks.

I'm happy to provide more details by e-mail.

Given the current political/religious climate in the AF, I am steering my own kids towards other services, if they're so inclined.