Re: U.S. soldiers encouraged to spread message of their Christian faith in Afghanista
You're just differentiating between the military as a whole engaging in illegal military action as opposed to military service folks breaking codes of conduct, right?
I am. There is no way this happened as people here are portraying. First, you would have to get a group of soldiers together that believed that passing out some Christian Bibles would make things easier on them in their local position. Second, you would have to find an actual jack-ass willing to organize something against what he knows is counter productive and essentially dangerous to everyone around him.
Are there sermons about Christian duty? Of course. But even though all pastors and priests have a background, they serve as the soldiers shoulder to lean on for spiritual and emotional internal conflicts. They ease tensions and encourage positive frames of mind in an environment where death and destruction is the agenda. They are not there to convert anybody. And the fact that Al-Jazeera is the source of this BS thread, I would point out that Al-Jazeera also ran stories about how Pokiman is the Jews tool to convert Muslims.
People should consider that in a region where religious conversion continues to be a mission of statement, the way to incite the masses against an enemy is to paint a picture where the modern crusade continues under the
tyranical flags of Christianity and Judiasm.
As a side bar are military folks allowed or not allowed to wander around in uniform at malls, the movies, etc. This is an argument some friends of mine were having the other day.
Depends on the branch of service and the uniform. If you are a soldier, an airman, or a sailor, you can be as nasty as you want to be. They are authorized to walk down Malls, Wal-Marts, and even upscale their eating habits by passing up McDonalds to enter a Taco Bell (careful of Swine) in their camoflouge utilities and their PT gear. Marines are not. The utility unform is considered a work uniform, which means that mud, grease, and oil travels with you. The PT uniform is made to sweat. Both uniforms do little to show off the military and to serve in an ambassadorial capacity. There was a time when Marines could wear their cammies to get gas and to pick up milk from a corner store for his baby and such, but not any more.
All branches, however, are authorized to wear dress uniforms in public. They are proper recruitment tools and they serves much like a man's business suit. If a man wants to show off his success, he shows up in his business suit and carries himself in a specific manner. The military man (or woman) should do the same.
