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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Atheist Captain In Iraq Has A Point |
| 2011-12-06 |
| Captain Jason Torpy about the incident he described, which he said occurred in Iraq when he was with the Army's 1st Armored Division. Going on a military mission, for example, we were getting ready to roll out. And ‘Everybody come in.’ So as the commander of this convoy (said), ‘Everybody come in and we’re going to do a prayer first together.’ We’re not going to talk about communications, we’re not going to talk about route planning, we’re not going to talk about first aid, we’re not going to talk about maintenance. So I had to opt myself out of that situation, to ‘out’ myself because this commander took it upon himself to have a personal religious activity in the midst of a military mission. Well, as a captain, there’s a lot fewer people that can tell me what to do. Now the person that was in command was a major so I was still stepping outside – he was extremely unhappy about it. He said. “Why are you creating trouble?” And I said, “Why are you creating trouble? Why are you excluding me from this activity? This is a military mission, and I support your right to pray, but right this second we have a military mission, and for to use your power to pull everyone in to do a Christian prayer is wrong.” Well, it was the assumption on the part of the military officer that was in charge of me for that time that everybody was Christian and this his role as the commander--he could use his power to impose his personal religion on the unit. I was being excluded from the team; put in a bad position that made it more difficult to be a part of that military team--he was putting that religious wedge, which was bad for the team in general. So he was sort of dishonoring his military command which was putting a wedge in the team, and for the purpose of that mission, he was distracting from the main point at a critical time. He reiterated that there were “a lot of things we could have been doing at the time” besides prayer. There’s a lot better time that people can engage in prayer--and at that particular point, emphasizing the purposes of the mission, the preparation for the mission and the important focuses to ensure the success of that mission from a military perspective--from a command perspective--is what he should have been doing. And he chose instead to put his personal religious practices. I believe the Captain was correct as far as this goes, but he also made some unsubstantiated and debatable arguments about religious exclusion and the purposes of military Chaplains. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 He could have considered the event a pre-game chant by the team instead of being a prima donna. If I recall correctly, Chineger Spimp7684, about 71% of Americans label themselves as Christians of one sort or another. That suggests that if the unit contained ten people, three of them likely were not Christian...and the rest of the unit would have had an idea which ones, even if the major was oblivious. Activities which divide the group into us and them reduce its effectiveness, particularly unwise at the start of a mission. Also, pre-game chants focus on the team, like "Yaaaaaaay Team!" or "We are the Raiders, the mighty mighty Raiders/ Everywhere we go-o, people want to kno-ow, etc." |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-12-06 23:47 |
| #5 Freedom of religion includes freedom from religion. If the maj wants to proselytize, he can do it some other time. Any commander who thinks his troops have gone through the plan enough times that he can change the subject needs to be looked at very carefully. Remember that old military maxim, "God helps those who memorize the plan." Maybe the maj should be off in a corner someplace praying he hasn't left anything out and that he won't screw up. I expect the rest of the guys would approve of that. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2011-12-06 20:30 |
| #4 "What we need is a good Satanist. No Satanist in this battalion." |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-12-06 17:07 |
| #3 He could have considered the event a pre-game chant by the team instead of being a prima donna. |
| Posted by: Chineger Spimp7684 2011-12-06 16:57 |
| #2 "Why are you creating trouble?" His reply should have been - If I wanted to make trouble I'd file an Article 138 complaint to end both our careers. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-12-06 16:20 |
| #1 Religion in the military has long been a tricky subject, and like politics, not something to get too gleeful about during business hours. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-06 15:53 |