ACTIVE DUTY US ARMY CAPTAIN – “MRFF Causes My Commander To Do The Right Thing”

Published On: February 11, 2016|Categories: Top News|1 Comment|

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To Mr. Weinstein and all of the hardworking staff and volunteers at MRFF,

                I would like to thank you all for your hard work and dedication in the fight for religious freedom throughout the United States military.  I’m writing you today to let you know that your efforts in holding leaders accountable are paying off and people are beginning to take note! 

                I am an active-duty Captain in the United States Army with (number of years withheld) years time-in-service and was raised in a good Catholic household.  I had been very fortunate in my military career and never had to experience first-hand the cases of blatant and unconstitutional proselytizing that required MRFF intervention…until I got here; (military installation and unit name withheld).  From the moment I first walked through the door, I was bombarded with fundamentalist Christian proselytizing materials at literally every turn!  No matter which route through the hallways I took, it was impossible for me to get to my office without passing stacks and bookcases full of bibles, fundamentalist Christian pamphlets, flyers encouraging people to get baptized, etc.  In one location, there was even a bookcase of bibles and pamphlets placed in an already narrow hallway that would have served as a main evacuation route in the event of a fire!  It became agonizingly clear to me that the leaders who allowed this disgusting evangelizing to take place day after day were more concerned with converting their subordinates to their fundamentalist version of Christianity than they were with anything else.  Not only were they willing to breach their professional ethics and desecrate the very constitution they swore an oath to uphold, but they were willing to risk the very lives of those they were charged with leading to accomplish their religious goals. 

                Day after day for more than nine months I walked through those hallways feeling like I was somehow less valuable to my organization because of my personal beliefs.  I had considered submitting a complaint to my Commanding General, (name and rank withheld), but thought that if he was willing to let the proselytizing occur in his own building then he also might be willing and certainly able to negatively affect my career if I didn’t go along with it.  Several months went by and we finally got a new Commanding General.  I had been trying to formulate the best way to express my concerns to the new CG, (name and rank withheld), when I got an E-mail requesting that I complete his initial command climate survey.  I took that opportunity to put my complaints in writing and clicked send not expecting anything to ever come of it.  To my surprise, however, I walked through the door about a week later and noticed that every last piece of fundamentalist Christian propaganda had been removed overnight!  I was reading on MRFF’s website later on that evening about another case involving a top leader in my organization, (name and rank withheld), who had been using his office to promote his own religious beliefs and it all became perfectly clear.  I don’t believe that my single complaint would have been enough to garner such a quick response by itself.  I attribute 100% of my success in confronting my leadership to the outstanding work that MRFF is doing.  If my Command here in (unit name withheld) had not already been confronted by MRFF for the other incident, I am convinced my complaint would have been simply brushed aside.

                Again I would like to express my undying gratitude for all you are doing.  My experience has shown me that the proselytizing leaders know that what they are doing is wrong and all it takes to stop them is for someone to hold them accountable.  In my case, I think that all it took was for the Commander, (name and rank withheld), to think that MRFF might get involved and he made the correction himself almost immediately.

                     Without MRFF doing all of the good you all do for those of us in uniform, none of this night and day difference would have ever happened in my military unit here at (military installation name withheld)

With sincerest thanks,                                     

                                                                                      Very respectfully, 

                               CPT (Name, MOS, military installation and unit all withheld)

                                United States Army

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One Comment

  1. John Schuster February 12, 2016 at 3:56 am

    Kudos to Mikey and the Team! Your hard work is turning into a bit of a revolution.

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