Bring the troops home…from the airport

The Air Force Times has posted a sad story , and one that I can relate to. With the airlines declaring bankruptcy due to the cost of rising gas prices and the laissez-faire economic policies of the Bush Administration, some military personnel coming home from Iraq for leave or for good are having their flights cancelled. Soldiers could be sitting in airports for up to a week.

I guess I should be glad when I came home on my leave that I only waited 45 minutes for a flight. After flying for 23 hours from Kuwait to Dallas, another 5-hour flight to Seattle wasn’t a problem!

Please write your airline and tell them to expedite getting the troops home – after 15 months of daily combat, waiting in the airport for another week would feel like an eternity for them.

Thanks David and Newsweek: Soldier’s Home

Soldier takes Army to court over atheistic beliefs

At CNN.com, a soldier filed a lawsuit against the Army over religious harrassment for being an atheist.

Spc. Jeremy Hall has been called “the atheist guy” by fellow soldiers, and has claimed persecution for his atheist beliefs while serving in both America and Iraq. Hall said:

“I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That’s what I believe everyone else should see,” he said.

This is a problem because the troops in Iraq are already thinned out as it is, and we can’t lose another soldier to something as ridiculous as this. Right now, the Army can’t meet its recruiting quota, so they need every soldier they can get, atheist or not.

Every American has the right to practice whatever religion he or she wants, and that includes to practice the lack of a religion, as atheism would classify as. The Army should not allow this kind of behavior to happen from other soldiers. I hope Jeremy wins this case and receives the needed justice he deserves.