This photo appeared in the July 2008 issue of the Trinity Broadcasting Network's (TBN) "Praise the Lord" newsletter with the caption:

 

"For many years TBN has been honored to work alongside the United States military in supplying programs for the Armed Forces Network (AFN). AFN provides radio and television programming to U.S. military personnel serving in 178 countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as to 189 military ships at sea. We were recently visited by AFN representatives, USAF Chaplain, Major Bruce Kite, Director of Religious Programming and U.S. Army SFC Klaus Baesu. Among the most popular TBN programs aired by AFN are Real Videos, Extreme Life and Top 3. (Pictured outside of TBN’s Tustin, CA studios: Chaplain Bruce Kite, Brittany Crouch-Koper, and SFC Klaus Baesu)."

 

MRFF has received a number of complaints from service members stationed in Europe about the regular promotions of Christianity on the Armed Forces Network Europe (AFNE), and the airing of only Christian religious programming. 

 

The AFNE itself has apparently already been questioned by enough service members about this issue to see the need to address it. In an article on the AFNE website, titled "What's Up With Those AFN 'Infomercials?,'" an article explaining why the AFNE airs messages "from commanders, on-base activities and chaplains" rather than commercials, the AFNE gave the following reason for the religious "infomercials:"

 

"Some viewers wonder why we run inspirational messages from chaplains at all. The 'legal' answer is because the constitution and a provision to the U.S. Constitution's 1st Amendment allow it.  But just as importantly, commanders see a need for it.  General George C. Marshall said, 'The Soldier's heart, the Soldier's spirit, and the Soldier's soul are everything. 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 AFNE claims that the reason that all of its many hours of religious programming are exclusively Christian is that "Christian distributors are currently the only religious producers able and willing to meet the guidelines ... established by the Armed Forces Chaplains Board and provide the quantities of programming necessary for regular scheduling."