Thoughts on MRFF

From: (MRFF Client’s email address withheld)
Subject: Thoughts on MRFF
Date: June 8, 2026 at 7:56:36 AM MDT
To: [email protected]
Cc: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>

Dear Mr. Weinstein-

Last Thursday, when I saw the military.com article about Secretary Hegseth’s order I felt a swell of emotion inside me about the current state of this country. However, I also felt pride in reading in the article about how you and MRFF were at the forefront of fighting this unconstitutional outrage. It led me to spend the past few days reflecting on my almost twenty years of following MRFF and I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

I commissioned into the Air Force in 2005 as an active duty officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, a newly minted attorney. As the son of immigrants from India, I felt a calling to give back, in my small way, to the country that had given our family so much. While I was proud to serve, almost immediately I felt oddly uncomfortable about how Christianity was trotted out at seemingly every opportunity under the very flimsy guise of spirituality. I have no objection to Christianity, but I was concerned about how in the wrong hands intertwining religion with the military could be unconstitutional at best, at worst it could lead to very dark consequences. I put my discomfort to the back of mind, figuring the leadership of the Air Force and the DoD would be there to keep the line between religion and the military intact and focused on my new life as an Air Force JAG. 

In 2007 I attended a JAG conference at Lackland Air Force Base. Most of the conference was dry, death by PowerPoint stuff we all expect of military TDYs. Then at one session a very senior colonel I had run across previously appeared on stage. He is a stern man, with a deep southern drawl. Always the picture of perfect military bearing when he speaks. However, this time he looked somewhat frantic. Also standing up there was a man in civilian clothing, who turned out to be you. The colonel said something like “this man has something to say,” and then shuffled to the back of the stage. You stepped forward and proceeded to change my life.

You began to speak very passionately about the danger that unconstitutional religious zealotry posed to our country and military. You then told us very poignantly about how your own son, then a cadet at the Air Force Academy, called you in tears saying he wanted to drop out because of discrimination he faced from classmates because of his Jewish heritage. You told us how you instantly sprang into action to put a stop to systemic discrimination and harassment of non-Christian students at the Air Force Academy, and now you were making it your full-time mission to stop the unconstitutional encroachment of religion into the military by founding MRFF.

You spoke for about 20 minutes, the whole time the colonel stood behind you, his eyes darting about with the look of concern on his face. Finally, it seemed the colonel had enough, thanked you for your talk, and proceeded to escort you out of the auditorium. You talked to a few attendees in the hallway for a few minutes and I stood in back listening. An instructor eventually appeared to pull us back into the auditorium and you walked away.

For the rest of the conference and after I could not stop thinking about your talk. I had no idea who you were, but your passion about this cause stuck with me. You gave voice to the fears that had been bothering me. At the end of that year, I decided to make a small monetary donation to the MRFF. I think at that point MRFF was you, your Blackberry, and a website. I had no idea what would happen, but I just had a feeling that this was the beginning of something special.

In the years since, it has been shown time and time again that being an MRFF donor is the best investment I have ever made. Seemingly not a month goes by where there are at least one or two cases of unconstitutional acts implicating religion and the military where MRFF swiftly steps in and puts a stop to it. These are just the cases I see in military focused media. I’m sure there are dozens we never hear about. Fortunately, during my own nine years of active duty in the Air Force I only had to contact MRFF once, but boy does it stand out.

I was at the Andrews Air Force Base Exchange looking at the books when I happened on something titled “The Airman’s Bible.” What caught my eye was that it had the official Department of the Air Force seal on it. There were also bibles for all the other services, each with their respective seals on the covers. The thought of an official version of the Bible for each military service horrified me. I emailed you and you gave me your cell phone number and asked me to call. I called you and you said you would contact the Air Force leadership right away.

The next morning, I got a call from a 703-area code phone number. It was a general officer from the very highest levels of the Air Force. He promised me they would investigate this, and he was also troubled by this. A few months later it was announced that the DoD had come to a settlement with this publisher and all service seals would be removed from these bibles. I was amazed at how quickly MRFF had resolved a situation that implicated the whole DoD.

From the almost twenty years that I have watched MRFF Mr. Weinstein, I have always appreciated how much you care for our servicemembers. A lot of these service members are very young, vulnerable people. MRFF always answers the call for them, whether it’s an E-1 or O-10, I know you will fight equally hard. Although my career in the Air Force is long over, I’m still proud to be a donor to the MRFF and celebrate all your successes. MRFF gives hope to those who are charged with defending our constitution that all that their sacrifice will never be in vain. You all give me confidence that the best days of this country are ahead of it.

With my Greatest Respect,

(MRFF Client’s name and all other ID info withheld)
USAF Active Duty 2005-2014

---