Air Force rules limit size of tattoos, role of gospel

[cbayer]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/22/13397843-air-force-rules-limit-size-of-tattoos-role-of-gospel?lite

By Kari Huus, NBC News


U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz at the Pentagon, who recently retired. Schwartz was criticized by both sides for his handling of religion in the military.


Just days before retiring as Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz issued a document designed to dictate the conduct of U.S. airmen worldwide — all violations enforceable by military law. For the first time, amid regulations on tattoo size and flag handling etiquette, it laid down the law on religious proselytizing by leaders: Don’t do it.

Section 2.11 of the 27-page Air Force Instruction AFI 1-1 Standards of Conduct is the latest salvo in a battle over religious bias and Christian proselytizing in the military branch. It calls on officers and supervisors to "avoid the actual or apparent use of their position to promote their personal religious beliefs to their subordinates or to extend preferential treatment for any religion."

The document's section on religion echoes a memo Schwartz sent out to all Air Force leadership on religion last September, but adds the threat of penalty for violations.

"COMPLIANCE WITH THIS PUBLICATION IS MANDATORY," the memo says in bold, adding that "failure to adhere to the standards set out in this instruction can form the basis for adverse action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)."

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[MineralMan]

1. It's about time.

When I was in the USAF, way back in the mid-1960s, being an atheist was not an approved-of thing. I was one of the first, and maybe the first to have "Atheist" on my dogtags, and it was very difficult to make happen.

In Basic Training, there were penalties for not attending religious services on Sunday. If you did not, your reward was KP for that day. KP was a 14-hour thing, working non-stop in the mess hall. So, those who attended services sat in the chapel for an hour, and then had their Sunday almost completely to themselves. Those who did not, worked for 14-hours.

That ended after Basic training, and I was too smart to make an issue of it during that training phase. So, I went to services. I just went from one chapel to another each week.

Chapel attendance wasn't mandatory after Basic Training, so it got easier.