HAPPY 238TH BIRTHDAY TO THE CORPS OF AMERICAN MARINES
By Colonel Ronald D. Ray[1]
November 10, 2013 marks the 238th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps. Founded in 1775, in Philadelphia, the Marine Corps predates the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Before the United States, there were American Marines. Since then, in battles around the globe, the Marines, who have earned respect and honor through repeatedly demonstrating “uncommon valor” as a “common virtue”. The service and sacrifice of generations of American Marines who have been willing, as America’s force in readiness, to go first to any fight wherever we can take a rifle. Marines are primarily light infantry, “Soldiers of the Sea,” who take the words of The Marines’ Hymn to heart.
…We fight our country’s battles, In the air, on land, and sea. First to fight for right and freedom, And to keep our honor clean, We are proud to claim the title Of United States Marine…
At this momentous Marine Corps birthday, as Marines gather across the globe to celebrate the Corp’s birthday, it is appropriate to remember not just the Marines who have served, but also to remember the Marine Corps’ high founding standards borne of our first principles.
The Corp’s first principles were drawn under the leadership of John Adams, the father of the United States Naval Service and America’s 2nd President, who chaired the “Marine Committee” during the hard summer of 1775. Blood had already been shed. The strain of the pending war for America’s independence was in the air as Adam’s historic Committee wrote the “Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United Colonies of North-America” which was adopted by the Continental Congress on November 28, 1775. This foundation defined the “virtue, honor and patriotism” that has animated and obligated the Corps for 238 years.
First, Commanders of all ships and vessels belonging to the Thirteen United Colonies were strictly required “to shew in themselves a good example of honor and virtue to their officers and men, and to be very vigilant in inspecting the behaviour of all such as are under them, and to discountenance and suppress all dissolute, immoral and disorderly practices; and also, such as are contrary to the rules of discipline and obedience, and to correct those who are guilty of the same according to the usage of the sea.”
The Adams’ Committee established the standards for sailors and marines preparing to fight for their fledgling nation in an impossible war against the Army and Navy of England, the most powerful in the world. In order to form the American naval forces and enforce the honor and virtue standard, the Adams Committee relied on more than the force of mere human beings. It would take a dedication to Almighty God. And thus, secondly, Adams required “Commanders of ships to take care that divine service be performed twice a day on board, and a sermon preached on Sundays, unless bad weather or other extraordinary accidents prevent it”.
Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution only authorized the Congress “to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the Land and Naval Forces.” The first Article of the Adams’ Naval Committee was eventually reaffirmed and expanded by an Act of Congress in 1956, which is still in force today. That historic law containing our first principle now says; “All commanding officers and others in authority in the naval service are required to show in themselves a good example of virtue, honor, patriotism, and subordination; … to guard against and suppress all dissolute and immoral practices, and to correct, according to the laws and regulations of the Navy, all persons who are guilty of them.”[2]
Likewise, the current statutory mandate that officers of the land and naval forces comport to a higher standard of personal behavior – both on and off duty – traces to the 1775 “American Articles of War,” which forbade officers from “behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner,” and required that any commissioned officer found guilty” . . . be ipso facto cashiered [i.e., dismissed from a position of command or responsibility], and deemed unfit for further service as an officer.”[3]
From the American Republic’s earliest beginnings, the democratically elected Congress has been the primary authority to regulate America’s military services. For the welfare of officers and enlisted personnel, the Congress requires our armed forces to uphold and enforce those high standards from the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to the new recruit, but especially for those in the most senior ranks. As recently as June 3, 1996, the United States supreme Court[4] pointed to the Commander in Chief’s vital role in good order and discipline: “‘The military constitutes a specialized community governed by a separate discipline from that of the civilian,’ and the President can be entrusted to determine what limitations and conditions on punishment are best suited to preserve that special discipline.” (Loving v. United States.)
Over the last several years the standards of virtue, honor and patriotism have dipped and good order and discipline in the American armed services have suffered. Morale is reported to be way down. Our motto requires that we be “always faithful”. When we aren’t and our high standards are compromised, not upheld and enforced, the resulting break in faith has caused the services to hemorrhage irreplaceable young officers and NCOs. Key combat veterans – senior enlisted men – are also bailing out too often today. Military training and Combat Readiness are at an all-time low. The New York Times flatly reported on Saturday September 9, 2000 that Navy Department has declared the, “Navy Aviation is in Bad Shape.” Too many of the very best combat pilots are leaving the Navy and Air Force in droves.
Military personnel bemoan too many missions that miscast the American armed forces as the global “911” and the UN’s “Meals on Wheels.” The forces are confused about their role and mission. The military is a fighting force and maintaining a “combat mentality” focused on war fighting is an imperative for Marines and the nation’s other elite “tip of the spear” units. Yet The New York Times reports that these elite war-fighting groups need to be diplomats trained in the “subtler arts of policing streets and preventing violence between ethnic factions.” Over the last eight years, junior officers have been put in harm’s way – often under foreign commanders, who have to balance roles from different competing chains-of-command creating a precarious policy tightrope.
America asks her enlisted members to “solemnly swear (or affirm)” to “support and defend” the Constitution of “the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;” to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same;” and to obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over them, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “So help me God.” So sworn, young officers and enlisted are entrusted by their parents to the Corps to do a difficult and sometimes an impossible job for their country. War, victory and the military’s mission have been redefined by politicians. Military leaders who uphold the once high standards are often relieved of command or not promoted. Those who accept lowered or “politically correct” standards are often promoted. How then can a commanding officer of a warship or an Infantry Company order an 18-year-old sailor or Marine to go in harm’s way in the line of duty, if the commander is not willing to keep his “honor clean” by risking his own personal career ambitions? He can’t. How can that same commanding officer expect good order and discipline from his men without upholding and adhering to the same code? He can’t. A leader must be the example, first and foremost.
Admiral Thomas Moorer, former CNO and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined in the American Navy’s long refrain John Adams began during the hard summer of 1775, when he testified in 1998 before the House Judiciary Committee and addressed the two fundamental issues of military leadership: Honor and Accountability. These virtues are indispensable in our military. Without them, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and civilians die unnecessarily. . . When the troops know their leaders are not being held accountable for dishonorable conduct or “immoral and dissolute behavior”, the “corrosive effect” is devastating on good order and discipline.
Every commissioned and non-commissioned officer learns that “no man is above the law.” It is destructive and hateful for subordinates to see or hear any leader claim that you rate what you skate (get away with). There can be NO expectation that somehow it’s ever okay to evade accountability, even if you can get away with it. A leadership crisis still looms, if our American system of laws and military standards does not again hold all officers and leaders responsible to a standard of full accountability. Yet responsibility without accountability “according to law” undermines the foundations of America as a Constitutional Republic, a principle known as the Rule of Law (as opposed to the rule of men), without which our Constitution, which we swear to defend, is no more than a historic relic.
Across the country there is a hope for a renewed sense of honor and moral courage in response to violent terrorism, both foreign and domestic. As Marines, let us each rededicate ourselves to our historic founding principles and our oath which still obligates us today to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Coupling hope with action by extending the challenge within any Marine command to “commanding officers and others in authority” (10 U.S.C. § 5947), to raise again virtue, honor and patriotism and consider formal training, or even an “Honor, Moral Courage, and Accountability Stand-down.” For those who choose to confront this challenge of moral leadership head on, I recommend as required reading “U.S. Navy Regulations, 1775” (www.history.navy.mil), and for Marine NCO’s and officers and other officer candidates, I recommend for memorization at least the First Article of the 1775 Navy regulations.
In conclusion, as United States Marines celebrate our 238th November 10, let us remember the foundation of our honor and animating spirit found in the standards born of our first principles given to us by John Adams in 1775. Today the Marine Corps has a more fundamental challenge to leadership than simply instilling America’s long adversity to any lying, cheating, and stealing: Marines are the “first to fight for right and freedom,” but after physical courage, how is moral courage to again be instilled in young Marine leaders so that we might, as our Hymn says, “keep our honor clean?” Our pride in claiming the title “United States Marine” comes in large part from the moral courage necessary to admit wrong and to accept accountability for all mistakes made from our senior Marine leaders to the lieutenants. Shrinking from “right” and the defense of the public interest because of the risk to one’s personal interests or ambitions is no excuse for any officer of the United States Marine Corps anymore than is shrinking from the sound of the guns.
Happy Birthday Marines!
[1] Ronald D. Ray, Colonel, USMCR, (Ret.), Colonel Ronald D. Ray is a Christian, husband and father, a practicing attorney and a highly decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War (two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart). He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense during the Reagan Administration and was appointed by President Bush to serve on the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. He is an author, historian and lecturer whose most recent published article is entitled “Subversion of a Moral Principle.” Scott & Stanley, editors; “Gays and Lesbians in the Military,” 1994. Colonel Ray writes and speaks on a wide range of subjects and has appeared on a variety of national television news broadcasts including ABC World News Tonight, Larry King Live, The Today Show, and Crossfire.
[2] 10 U.S.C. § 5947. The 1775 version reads: “ART. 1. The Commanders of all ships and vessels belonging to the THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES, are strictly required to shew in themselves a good example of honor and virtue to their officers and men, and to be vigilant in inspecting the behaviour of all such as are under them, and to discountenance and suppress all dissolute, immoral and disorderly practices; and also, such as are contrary to the rules of discipline and obedience, and to correct those who are guilty of the same according to the usage of the sea.” (www.history.navy.mil).
[3] See 10 U.S.C. § 933 (“Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentlemen”). The 1775 version reads: XLVII. Whatsoever commissioned officer shall be convicted before a general court martial, of behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner, such as is unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, shall be discharged from the service. . . “Additional Articles. . . 2. All commissioned officers found guilty by a general court-martial of any fraud. . . shall forfeit all his pay, be ipso facto cashiered, and deemed unfit for further service as an officer. . . 4. In all cases where a commissioned officer is cashiered for cowardice or fraud, it be added in the punishment, that the crime, name, place of abode, and punishment of the delinquent be published in the newspapers, in and about the camp, and of that colony from which the offender came, or usually resides; after which it shall be deemed scandalous in any officer to associate with him.” (Winthrop, MILITARY LAW AND PRECEDENTS 957, 959 (2d ed. 1920).
[4] In the Constitution, the “s” in supreme Court is lower case.
“So help me God” The Latest Target of Anti-Christian Proselytizing in the Military
American Center for Law and Justice
The president of the deceptively named Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), Mikey Weinstein, is at it again, taking his anti-Christian crusade once more to the U.S. Military.
A week ago, he wrote a letter to the Air Force Academy demanding that the words “so help me God” be stricken from the cadet Honor Code. He claims that the phrase violates the Constitution as an establishment of religion and the imposition of a religious test to hold office.
What his assertions clearly ignore is the long history and tradition of this phrase throughout American public and military service. President George Washington himself added the phrase to the Presidential Oath of Office, and it is in fact part of the actual oath of enlistment for the Air Force.
The fact is no one is forced to say the phrase or denied the ability to serve in the military for refusing to say it.
The ACLJ recently wrote the new Superintendent of the Air Force Academy, Lieutenant General Michelle D. Johnson, a letter explaining the constitutionality of the Academy’s use of the phrase “so help me God”:
First, no cadet is compelled to recite the phrase, and failure to recite the phrase results in no penalty. Second, the phrase establishes no religion. In fact, the phrase is no more onerous to the Constitutional rights of Air Force Academy cadets than is the phrase, “In God We Trust,” on the currency they receive in payment for their military service. From the very beginning, this has been an artificial crisis wholly contrived by individuals in the MRFF who are hostile or hypersensitive to any and every example of religious expression in the military (no matter what the source of such expression).
The letter goes on to point out the unrelentingly anti-Christian agenda of MRFF. For example, in one Op-Ed he wrote recently, Weinstein referred to Christians in the U.S. armed forces as “monsters who terrorize” and other derogatory terms nearly 50 times. On other occasions he has compared Christian members of the military to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
This is nothing more than an ongoing, calculated effort to proselytize atheism and anti-Christian propaganda in the military at the expense of religious freedom.
As our letter concluded:
Mr. Weinstein’s numerous, erroneous demands invite extreme caution on the part of all those who are targets of his periodic tirades and who receive his periodic letters, lest the recipients become unwitting pawns in Mr. Weinstein’s strategy to eviscerate religious freedom in the Armed Forces. . . .
In this matter, the mere presence of the phrase “so help me God” in the Honor Code does not violate the Constitution and laws of the United States. As such, Air Force Academy officials must absolutely reject Mr. Weinstein’s imagined Constitutional violation.
Nearly 100,000 Americans have signed our petition defending religious freedom in the military against these outrageous anti-Christian attacks. Sign the Petition to Protect Religious Freedom in the Military today.
US Army NATO brigade holds spiritual fitness breakfast
Story by Sgt. 1st Class John Wollaston
Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Stanley Allen, U.S. Army NATO Brigade chaplain, speaks about the importance of spiritual fitness as a key component of the overall comprehensive soldier fitness plan during a breakfast gathering at the Sembach Community Activity Center. Soldiers and civilians from the tenant units on Sembach attended the event.
SEMBACH, Germany – Think of comprehensive soldier fitness as a three-legged stool. For a soldier to be at his or her best, all three legs of the stool need to be solid. One weak link and the overall well being of the soldier could collapse.
The Army Chaplains Corps has been involved with helping to develop a soldier’s spiritual fitness for more than 25 years, starting with a wellness plan entitled “1,2,3 Fit to Win!”
The program stressed that “TOTAL fitness also involves emotional and spiritual aspects.” To that end, the unit ministry team for the U.S. Army NATO Brigade brought together soldiers, airmen and even some sailors stationed on Sembach Kaserne recently for a spiritual fitness breakfast, aimed at ensuring the spiritual fitness of those in attendance was at its peak.
“We’ll spend an hour to an hour and a half in the gym every day to ensure we’re physically fit,” said chaplain (Lt. Col.) Stanley Allen, the U.S. Army NATO brigade chaplain. “But how much time are we willing to spend in prayer to ensure that we are spiritually fit?”
Allen says that while the physical and mental aspects of soldier fitness are the ones most soldiers tend to focus on the most, spiritual fitness is the one most often over looked in a soldiers daily life, even though it’s just as critical to a soldiers well being as the mental and physical. To hammer home his point, Chaplain Allen quoted the former chief of staff of the Army, General of the Army George C. Marshall.
“The soldier’s heart, the soldier’s spirit, the soldier’s soul are everything. “He quoted Gen. Marshall as saying. “Unless the soldier’s soul sustains him, He cannot be relied on and will fail himself, his commander and his country in the end.”
The event started off with a breakfast buffet and scripture reading. Soldiers from the various units on Sembach attended the event as well as sailors from the Navy Reserve’s Warrior Transition Program, also located on Sembach.
US Army defines Christian ministry as ‘domestic hate group’
By Todd Starnes
Published October 14, 2013 | FoxNews.com
Several dozen U.S. Army active duty and reserve troops were told last week that the American Family Association, a well-respected Christian ministry, should be classified as a domestic hate group because the group advocates for traditional family values.
The briefing was held at Camp Shelby in Mississippi and listed the AFA alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.
A soldier who attended the briefing contacted me and sent me a photograph of a slide show presentation that listed AFA as a domestic hate group. Under the AFA headline is a photograph of Westboro Baptist Church preacher Fred Phelps holding a sign reading “No special law for f***.”
American Family Association has absolutely no affiliation with the controversial church group known for picketing the funerals of American servicemembers.
“I had to show Americans what our soldiers are now being taught,” said the soldier who asked not to be identified. “I couldn’t just let this one pass.”
The soldier said a chaplain interrupted the briefing and challenged the instructor’s assertion that AFA is a hate group.
“The instructor said AFA could be considered a hate group because they don’t like gays,” the soldier told me. “The slide was talking about how AFA refers to gays as sinners and heathens and derogatory terms.”
The soldier, who is an evangelical Christian, said the chaplain defended the Christian ministry.
“He kept asking the instructor, ‘Are you sure about that, son? Are you sure about that?’” he said, recalling the back and forth.
Later in the briefing, the soldiers were reportedly told that they could face punishment for participating in organizations that are considered hate groups.
That considered, the soldier contacted me because he is a financial contributor to the AFA ministry.
“I donate to AFA as often as I can,” he said. “Am I going to be punished? I listen to American Family Radio all day. If they hear it on my radio, will I be faced with a Uniformed Code of Military Justice charge?”
The soldier said he was “completely taken back by this blatant attack not only on the AFA but Christians and our beliefs.”
It’s not the first time the Army has accused conservative Christian groups of being domestic hate groups.
Earlier this year, I exposed Army briefings that classified evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremism.
Another briefing told officers to pay close attention to troops who supported groups like AFA and the Family Research Council.
One officer said the two Christian ministries did not “share our Army Values.”
“When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values – don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem,” the officer wrote in an email to his subordinates.
At the time the military assured me those briefings were isolated incidents and did not reflect official Army policy.
If that’s true, how do they explain what happened at Camp Shelby?
I contacted the Pentagon for an answer but they referred me to Army public affairs. And so far – they haven’t returned my calls.
And their claim that the classifications are “isolated” is not washing with AFA.
“The American Family Association has received numerous accounts of military installations as well as law enforcement agencies using a list compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which wrongfully identifies and defames AFA,” reads a statement they sent me.
Bryan Fischer hosts a talk show on American Family Radio. He called the Army’s allegations “libelous, slanderous and blatantly false.”
“This mischaracterization of AFA is reprehensible and inexcusable,” he told me. “We have many military members who are a part of the AFA network who know these accusations are a tissue of lies.”
Fischer said their views on gay marriage and homosexuality are not hate – it’s simply a disagreement.
“If our military wasn’t headed by a commander-in-chief who is hostile to Christian faith, these allegations would be laughed off every military base in the world,” he said.
Hiram Sasser, of the Liberty Institute, told me the Army’s briefing is a smear.
He recalled what President Obama said last year when Muslim extremists attacked our diplomatic outpost in Libya.
“Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths,” President Obama said. “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.”
Sasser said he wished the president and the Army would treat the American Family Association with the same deference and respect they show those who mean to harm us.
“Why must the Army under this administration continue to attack Americans of faith and smear them?” Sasser wondered.
I fear the answer to that question.
Because it appears the Obama administration is separating the military from the American people – and planting seeds of doubt about Christians and some of our nation’s most prominent Christian ministries.
URL: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/14/us-army-defines-christian-ministry-as-domestic-hate-group/
A SOLDIER SAVED ON THE TARMAC: A STORY FROM AFGHANISTAN
Every soldier has a story. Some cannot be shared, others are never told. But the one you’re about to read from CH (CPT) Pete Stone in Afghanistan is one that should be shouted from the mountaintop.
As a chaplain, I’m forever amazed at how Jesus gives us opportunities to share his love, even in the most difficult places. The challenge is being ready when you hear his voice. This soldier’s story I’m about to share with you is overwhelming, but he bravely asked me to share it with you here.
I was standing on the airport tarmac waiting for a helicopter ride back to my base after several days of ministry on the front lines. My ride was late. So I waited. As I did, my senses were rattled by the whine of engines, the thump of helicopter blades, and shouts of men around me.
Amid the chaos, I noticed a young man I had been speaking with for a few months, Staff Sergeant (SSG) Livingston. His home situation is somewhat tragic, largely having to do with a teenage daughter who struggles with severe personality disorders and a wife who is sadly dealing with health issues.
Livingston is one of our nation’s great soldiers. He has helped provide freedom to us through his staggering five combat deployments in only a few short years. But unlike his previous tours, this one is different. It’s taking a toll on his life that even this seasoned veteran is not used to.
A soldier needs time to recover after deployment. Time to rest. Time to heal and reconnect. But he didn’t have the chance this time around. And with the heartaches of home adding to this burden, this soldier was in need of help.
We spoke briefly, and then he started talking. Once he began, it was like the floodgates opened up. He shared about his troubled childhood, the pain, and still-open wounds.
After about 40 minutes, I couldn’t take it any more. I was overwhelmed and wanted to find an excuse to walk away, but then I heard God whisper softly in my ear: You’ve been working with this guy for a long time, Pete. You know he’s spiritually sensitive. You’ve earned his trust. This is the right time to ask him what he’s waiting for.
So I listened. I blocked out the noise, took a deep breath and asked him, “What are you waiting for? You are carrying an impossible weight around. When are you going to let Jesus come in, take possession of your life and start handling this for you?”
I waited for a response. Then he said, “My pop says I need to get saved, but I’m not sure what that really means.”
“This is important,” I said. “I’d love to explain it if you want to listen.” He nodded.
I spent the next 15 minutes explaining a simple faith. I spoke about the good news that Jesus suffered on our behalf, and in return gave us his own righteousness so we could stand justified before God.
“That’s why it’s called grace,” I said. “And the change comes when the life of Jesus becomes your own life. The change will come through his power.”
Livingston listened intently, until we were suddenly interrupted by screams of urgency— “We’ve got a civilian gunshot wound at the gate. We need to get the stretcher out there now!” shouted a medic. Immediately people all around us started to move, grabbing medical supplies and running toward the gates. It was a frantic moment and one that diverted my attention.
But my friend didn’t flinch. He stood firm and barely noticed what was happening around him. So, I continued: “Do you want to have this in your life? Do you want this?”
“Yeah, chappy,” he eagerly replied. “But I don’t know how. What do I do?” We moved around the bunker to a place of privacy. As men around us rushed to save a wounded man’s life, we asked Jesus to save another.
As soon as we finished praying he started sobbing. This warrior . . . this patriot . . . this man of valor . . . this broken family man let Jesus in.
Article from Mars Hill: http://marshill.com/2012/11/12/a-soldier-saved-on-the-tarmac-a-story-from-afghanistan
Priests threatened with arrest if they minister to military during shutdown
By Alex Pappas, Political Reporter
The Daily Caller
October 4, 2013
In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown.
“With the government shutdown, many [government service] and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer,” wrote John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, in an op-ed this week. “During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”
According to its website, the Archdiocese for the Military Services “provides the Catholic Church’s full range of pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the United States Armed Forces.”
In his piece, Schlageter worries about this restriction as Sunday nears. “If the government shutdown continues through the weekend, there will be no Catholic priest to celebrate Mass this Sunday in the chapels at some U.S. military installations where non-active-duty priests serve as government contractors,” he wrote.
Because of the lack of active-duty Catholic chaplains, the military relies on hiring civilian priests to serve as government service and contract ministers. Those civilian priests are not allowed on the bases during a shutdown, Schlageter wrote.
One Republican lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee told The Daily Caller on Friday that this “crosses a constitutional line.”
“The constitutional rights of those who put their lives on the line for this nation do not end with a government slowdown,” Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo, a graduate of West Point and an Army veteran, said in a Friday statement. ”It is completely irresponsible for the president to turn his back on every American’s First Amendment rights by furloughing military contract clergy.”
Added Pompeo: “The President’s strategy during the slowdown, just as during the sequestration, is to create as much pain as possible. However, this action crosses a constitutional line of obstructing every U.S. service member’s ability to practice his or her religion.”