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<p class=MsoNormal>Courtesy of the Army Times at:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.ArmyTimes.com">http://www.ArmyTimes.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=maintitle1><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Soldiers
allege punishment over Christian concert</span></span><span class=subtitle1> </span><b><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><br>
<br>
<span class=subtitle1>Army officials launch inquiry</span></span></b><br>
<span style='font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'><br>
<span class=abody2>The Army is investigating alle­gations that soldiers were
pres­sured to attend a Christian con­cert — and punished when they
refused.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Pvt. Anthony Smith says he was one of 80 soldiers in
Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Va., who were punished for opting
not to attend a Christian rock con­cert on post. The soldiers were confined to
their barracks, ordered to clean and were barred from using cell phones and
other elec­tronics, according to Smith and another soldier who has asked to
remain anonymous.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>The Army is conducting an investigation into the incident,
ordered by Lt. Gen. John E. “Jack” Sterling, Training and Doctrine
Command chief of staff, TRADOC spokesman Harvey Perritt said. Perritt and a
Fort Eustis spokesman declined to offer details while the investigation
continues.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Col. Thomas Collins, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said
the military should not impose religious views on soldiers.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>“It’s not a problem to hold a Christian rock
concert on an Army post; it’s a problem if soldiers who didn’t want
to attend were com­pelled to attend or feel punished for not attending,”
he said. “That is not consistent with Army poli­cy.” Smith said he
believes his spiri­tual life should remain private.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>“The religion thing being shoved down my throat is
really something that doesn’t work for me,” said Smith, now in
Arizona with the 640th Aviation Support Battalion. “As far as what I
believe, I believe there’s some­thing out there, but it’s a really
personal thing with me. If I have a relationship with God or that entity, it is
not anybody’s busi­ness, ever.” BarlowGirl, the Christian rock­ers
who played at Eustis as part of a Commanding General’s Spiritu­al Fitness
Concert Series, describe themselves on their website as “tender-hearted,
beautiful young women who aren’t afraid to take an aggressive, almost
warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving
God.” The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is readying a federal
lawsuit, according to its founder, Mikey Weinstein. He blasted the commander
who originated the concerts as a “walking neon sign of Defense
Department-sanctioned, ignominious fundamentalist Christian supremacy and excep­tionalism.”
On the evening of May 13, Smith was with A Company, 1st Battalion, 222nd
Aviation Regi­ment, which was in training at the Army Aviation Logistics
School. The student leader and the duty noncommissioned officer, a first
sergeant, assembled the company in formation and marched it to the mess hall
for dinner. After dinner, the unit was marched to the parking lot just outside
the concert venue.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>“As soon as they told us we were marching to chow
because we were going to this concert togeth­er, people started to f---ing
freak out, people started to get angry,” Smith said. “There were
several Muslims in the company, and peo­ple started getting upset right
away.” Smith said A Company appeared to be the only group entering the
concert as a unit.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Outside the venue, the troops were asked to split into two
groups, those attending and those who would not. Smith and the oth­ers who
opted out were marched to the barracks, where they were placed on
“lockdown,” their activi­ties were restricted until the con­cert
ended.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>“Anybody in the military will tell you that lockdown
is a form of punishment,” Smith said. “When we don’t want to
go to this concert and we’re not allowed to use our laptops or our cell
phones or music, we’re not allowed to be sit­ting in our beds —
that’s a form of punishment.” Smith and eight other soldiers
attempted to file a complaint with a succession of Equal Opportunity officials
in their chain of com­mand.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Smith said as he went through the ranks, each official tried
to dis­suade him from filing a formal complaint, and all but one of the
soldiers who first complained with him backed off.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Smith said he spoke with the company commander, who told him
he took responsibility for directing the first sergeant to send the unit to the
concert.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Smith and the other soldier, who asked not to be identified,
said they would be willing to join the planned federal lawsuit. Neither said
they want to see soldiers pun­ished; Smith said he wants sol­diers to
“know and understand” why he and the other soldiers were wronged.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>“I want to help other people; I don’t think that
anyone should have to feel this,” Smith said. “I think that
somebody should look into these spiritual fitness events because I’m
pretty sure all of them are Christian. I guarantee I can’t go to an Army
base and see a Mus­lim rock concert described as spir­itual fitness.”
Both soldiers said the incident has changed their view of the Army and the
country. The soldier speaking anonymously about the incident said he fears
people who are irreligious by choice are no longer tolerated.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>“We have mob rule, where it is purely Christian in
every direc­tion,” he said. “For someone like me, you feel
surrounded.” Brig. Gen. Brian R. Layer, who was the commanding general of
the Army Transportation School at Fort Eustis during the May inci­dent,
inherited the spiritual fit­ness concert series from Maj. Gen. James E.
Chambers. A professed born-again Christian, Chambers went on to Fort Lee, Va.,
and in April became director for logistics at Central Command, MacDill Air
Force Base, Fla.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>As head of Army Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Lee,
Chambers duplicated the series, telling a post newspaper in 2008, “The
idea is not to be a pro­ponent for any one religion ... It’s to have a
mix of different perform­ers with different backgrounds.” Between 2007
and 2009, the Army paid $125,000 to a booking agency for Christian performers
for events at Fort Lee and Fort Eustis, according to <a
href="http://USAspend­ing.gov">USAspend­ing.gov</a>, a searchable database of
federal spending. The contractor was Indiana-based Street Level Artist Agency.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Several performers who were publicized in the post newspaper
and played at Eustis in recent months all advertised themselves as conveying a
Christian message: Mark Schultz, Josh Wilson, the Micah Watson Band,
Brandishing Steel, True Liberty, Alathea, Phil Keaggy, SonicFlood and
Barlow-Girl.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Lauren Barlow, a band member, said in her Twitter feed Aug.
21 that the band “knew nothing at all about soldiers being forced to go
to our show.” A federal lawsuit by Military Religious Freedom Foundation
would be the third in a series it has undertaken against the Army over the last
few years. The two prior lawsuits, which took aim at alleged proselytizing by
members of the armed forces, were dismissed.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>In January, a federal judge in Kansas dismissed Spc. Dustin
Chalker and the foundation’s law­suit against the Defense Depart­ment,
ruling Chalker failed to exhaust all available remedies before filing suit.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Chalker claimed his rights were violated when he was
compelled to attend military events at Fort Riley, Kan., where prayers were
made without regard to his status as an atheist.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=abody2>Also in 2008, a voluntary dis­missal was filed in a federal
law­suit in which Spc. Jeremy Hall alleged he was harassed and dis­criminated
against because he is an atheist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=abody2><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=abody2><span style='font-size:9.5pt'>The
Christian rock band BarlowGirl was performing in concert at Fort Eustis, Va.,
when some soldiers protested that they were punished for deciding not to attend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=abody2><span style='font-size:9.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><img border=0 width=584 height=397 id="Picture_x0020_0"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01CB4858.83FA1E00" alt="ChristianBand_BarlowGirl.jpg"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>In my twenty years of Army service I had never experienced
anything even remotely similar to this allegation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>But then I retired back in 1989, long before enlistment
criteria was tragically weakened.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Seeya round town, Moscow.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"Patriotism
is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady
dedication of a lifetime."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>-- Adlai E.
Stevenson, Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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