I read this shortly after a talk with a 'Nam Vet which turned into a duet of Country Joe and the Fish's Viet Nam era protest ditty which starts with "Gimme An F! Gimme a U!" If you're too young to remember, you might want to look it up. People weren't buying into being shipped off to a foreign land for questionable reasons back then. I wondered where that rebellious spirit had gone. Frankly I still don't know why many more don't question the reasons for our involvement in Iraq.
SPC Jeremy Hall wrote "I hope I am not the victim of a hate crime while I sleep tonight. I do not want to die for my country this way." He wrote that a non commissioned officer was threatening to beat him among other things. "I'm doing my best right now. But I am afraid that I might be harmed or worse."
It's times like this when I'm especially proud to be an American, with our soldiers on foreign soil fighting for the rights we all enjoy, or once did. Rights like freedom of speech and religion. *WINK, we'll pretend that's what it's about, since some folks actually seem to believe it.
Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed a lawsuit earlier this week against a Major Paul Welborne and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. It seems Welborne has threatened to block Hall's reenlistment for trying to hold a meeting of - non Christians and Atheists in Iraq. Shocking isn't it? Hall is in his second tour, having been in Iraq since 2006 with the 97th Military Police Battalion. He has been roughed up by other soldiers, and bloggers have been threatening to frag him with "friendly fire".
The story went to the AP after he filed suit, only because the military claims to no record of a Major Paul Welborne. Amazing! They simply LOST him! When asked by reporters the usual canned statement was issued from the Pentagon about recognizing religious freedom etc.
The suit alleges Gates permits a military culture in which officers are encouraged to pressure soldiers to adopt and espouse Fundamentalist Christian beliefs.
It seems you don't have to go that far to be murdered by your own unit. I wish Hall luck after the "friendly fire" incident of the chiseled jawed, football star, Pat Tillman by his fellow Army Rangers which seems to be swept under the rug, even with evidence of murder by his own squad, with every appearance of the assassination being from orders on high. His unpardonable sin was starting to verbalize his observations and thoughts on the Iraq conflict and our country's role in it. Apparently thinking is reason enough for murder in our military. Who knows what forming meetings for atheists and people of other beliefs can buy you.
Atheist Specialist Jeremy Hall vs Maj. Freddy J. Welborn
It would be very hard to "lose" an officer, since records are duplicated in thousands of locations, and anyone in the military can access AKO and look up his contact info, unit and email. And no, they couldn't just delete his AKO, since it's impossible to operate in the modern military without computer access.
It could be a typo--wellborn, welborn, wellborne.
But it could also be the kid's a screwup and trying to create enough of a mess that no one notices him.
While I've had to deal with Evangelical assholes, it's unlikely there's an entire chain and an inspector general ALL involved, which is what would be needed for this kind of discrimination.
Of course, Halliburton or 911 conspiracy nuts won't have trouble believing in a mere 20 people arranging to all be in the same place at the same time to repress a soldier.
I'm interested in seeing what develops. Consider that if the kid IS lying, he'll be a huge black eye to Weinstein and his work. I really don't want to see that.
It would be nice if you assume that few people in the military are not the fascistic thugs you dream about.
My wife was officially sanctioned to wear a Wiccan pentacle AS UNIFORM INSIGNIA while supporting chaplain issues for other Wiccans/Pagans. Does that sound like some sort of Evangelical repression?
It was a Lutheran AF chaplain and an Army captain who signed off on that.
Yeah, it helps if you actually know your commander's name when filing a complaint.
Okay, let's see how it plays out.
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