Tag Archives: Military.com

Changes In The Military Chaplaincy

Posted on by

On June 4th, Military.com posted an article about the changes made to the military’s recognized religion list.

The article reports:

Military.com has learned that the Department of Defense, for the first time in almost 10 years, has dramatically reduced its number of recognized religious faiths and belief systems by approximately 180.

The reforms mark the first time the list has been officially revised since a memo was issued March 27, 2017, decreasing the total number of faiths from 211 to its new number of 31. The changes were iterated in a May 20, 2026, memorandum issued by the Under Secretary of War and signed by Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, and obtained by Military.com.

This latest revision to the faith codes comes at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to the Tata-signed memo, done to “streamline the DoW collection of religious preferences collection for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy.” It calls for the previously instituted faith and belief codes to be revised within a 60-day period from the issuance of the memorandum.

“The new list will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information that will better enable them to anticipate the religious support needs of service members and to provide religious support activities that align with service members’ personal faith and practices,” Tata wrote.

He added that members will not be limited to the list of “religious affiliation codes” when selecting information for their dog tags. The revised list, according to documents obtained by Military.com, includes Agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Islam (Muslims), Judaism, Sikh, and a wide range of Christian-based groups like Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists.

…This restructuring of faith codes, which help identify service members as well as the military in planning for appropriated religious coverage to include them, has now excluded minority faith/worldview groups including Atheists, Asatru, Deists, Druids, Eckankar, Heathens, Humanists, Magick, New Age churches, Pagan, Rosicrucianism, Shaman, Spiritualists, Troth, Unitarian Universalists and various Wiccans.

The First Amendment prevents a government-sponsored religion; it provides freedom for Americans to worship as they please. That being said, however, America was founded on a Judeo-Christian legal system and was at one point declared a Christian nation by the Supreme Court. Some of the religions no longer recognized involve practices that are illegal in the United States–such as animal sacrifice.

I think this move will make life much easier for military chaplains.

This Should Anger Every American

Posted on by

On July 18th, Military.com reported the following:

The Department of Veterans Affairs expects to be nearly $15 billion short of what it needs to pay for benefits and health care this year and next, in part because more veterans are using VA services than expected, officials told Congress this week.

An increase in benefits claims driven by the PACT Act could leave VA benefits accounts $2.9 billion short this year. Meanwhile, health care accounts could be nearly $12 billion short next year because of higher-than-expected staffing and prescription drug costs, among other factors.

In a statement Thursday morning, the VA said it is working with the White House and Congress to address the budget shortfalls in a way that doesn’t harm veterans.

The article also notes:

Congress has yet to approve government funding for fiscal 2025, meaning lawmakers could still allocate more than the VA requested, but they also would have to reach a bipartisan agreement to ignore the previously approved budget caps.

The budget request anticipated that there would be a staffing cut of about 10,000 employees in the Veterans Health Administration. But the agency now expects to have about 20,000 more employees than the budget projected for next year, which is about 5,000 more than there are right now, according to the slideshow.

Pharmacy and prosthetic costs for next year could also be about $4 billion higher than expected if they follow the same trends in price increases as this year, the slideshow said.

More veterans using community care is also a factor in the budget shortfall, the VA said in the slideshow. The community care program allows veterans to see doctors outside the department using VA funding. The department had originally projected a 12% increase in community care costs next year, but now foresees a 16.5% increase.

Let’s remember where some of these cost increases come from. In December 2023, I reported the following (here) (here):

When an illegal immigrant under ICE detention requires healthcare, they are typically treated on-site by medical professionals. However, if specialist or emergency care is required, they may be transported to an independent private provider.

In such cases, ICE contracts with the VA’s Financial Service Center (VA-FSC) to process reimbursements to those providers. According to a report from July, ICE has hundreds of letters of understanding in which ICE’s Health Service Corps (IHSC) will reimburse providers at Medicare rates. That uses the VA-FSC’s Healthcare Claims Processing System — a portal that allows providers to submit and view claims and access other resources.

When you add administrative oversight to something new, it increases the cost. The Biden administration and much of the current Congress are not veteran’s friends. We owe our veterans a whole lot more than we owe people who are here illegally.

Under The Radar Cuts That Directly Impact Military Families

Posted on by

Military.com is reporting:

The rules for Hostile Fire and Imminent Danger Pay have changed. Service members will now  receive imminent danger pay only for days they actually spend in hazardous areas. This change went in effect on February 1, 2012.

A member of a uniformed service may be entitled to Hostile Fire and Imminent Danger pay at the rate of $225 for any month in which he/she was entitled to basic pay and in which he/she was:

Subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines;

On duty in an area in which he was in imminent danger of being exposed to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines and in which, during the period he was on duty in that area, other members of the uniformed services were subject to hostile fire or explosion of hostile mines;

Killed, injured, or wounded by hostile fire, explosion of a hostile mine, or any other hostile action; or

On duty in a foreign area in which he was subject to the threat of physical harm or imminent danger on the basis of civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism, or wartime conditions.

This is simply petty. Again, the Obama Administration is only cutting the budget in areas that impact the Defense Department and our military.

Enhanced by Zemanta