Three readers penned letters to the editor for the April 27 issue of Navy Times. Have thoughts you’d like to share on Navy Times stories or letters? Send them to navylet@navytimes.com. Include your name, address, phone number and rank. Submissions may be published in print and online.
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JUDGING CHAPLAINS
All of this blather over the supposed rights, and slights, of Cmdr. Wes Modder misses a central point laid out in the Navy’s “Confidential Communications to Navy Chaplains” mandate:
“The chaplain is available to provide Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and families a safe place to talk without fear or judgment. Chaplains serve as an advocate to help individuals get the support needed to overcome the challenges they face.”
American taxpayers spend billions of dollars a year to provide the services of chaplains, whose sole purpose, allegedly, is to provide aid and comfort to active-duty military personnel and their families. Unbeknownst to the American public, proponents of a radical Christian fundamentalist agenda have spent the last 20 years undermining and redefining the historical role of chaplains in the United States military.
Most Americans would be horrified to learn that many in the Chaplain Corps now believe it is their right and duty to inflict their narrow, and often angry and judgment-filled, agenda on active-duty personnel and their families; and arrogantly demand that this activity be paid for by the American public.
Thanks to legislation passed as recently as 2014, many of these government-funded radicals go so far as to refuse to lead worship for any group other than those from their own narrow denominational affiliation, and further insist that it is their right to demand that those they counsel either subscribe — and submit — to the chaplain’s specific theology and dogma or go elsewhere for help or advice.
The old-timers who are coming to Cmdr. Modder’s defense need to understand that the perquisites and prerogatives of active-duty military chaplains have changed profoundly in the past couple of decades. Caring and universally pastoral exemplars like “Lt. Father Francis Mulcahy” (depicted on the TV show “MASH”) are no longer the only models of pastoral care offered to members of the military community.
Former E-3 Franklyn Busby
Waukegan, Ill.
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PC IS KILLING THE NAVY
I joined the Navy back in the 1970s after Vietnam; the wounds were still fresh and many people who were my friends before I joined called me baby-killer afterwards. This had a profound effect on me as a 17-year-old.
I joined on the minority program and was in for three years active and three years reserve. Now I had been swayed so much by the public opinion that I swore I was out after my three years. But the Navy offered me $16,000 to re-enlist and, well, that was more money than this 20-year-old had ever seen. So re-enlist I did; buy a Corvette I did; wreck it 6 months later I did. That put me on track to become a lifer, I survived many things, a plane crash on an aircraft carrier; three collisions at sea; initiations, Blue Nose and Shellback and Chief.
A huge change in the service started after Tailhook. We were required to go to through sensitivity training on how to treat females. Odd, I thought, as I was not present at Tailhook, nor was I even invited. In addition, I have never forced myself on a woman nor thought about it. Toward the end of my career a new watch phrase emerged, “politically correct,” so we again received training on how to speak. Odd, since I had never cursed in front of a woman to the best of my knowledge. I treated everyone the way I wanted to be treated. I thought it was odd to learn about political correctness when I was not a politician but a sailor.
Where has our military gone? I am certain they can’t fight, because they can’t talk without offending someone. From the time I was a nub in the Navy until my retirement, I was never offended by anything anyone in a position of authority said to me, even if it was personal. We were a fighting force and when all was said and done, every one of those men and women who would speak harshly to me would stand up for me as well.
We’re tied up in a war of words that someone has said is offensive, most likely a politician who has …never served a day in the military, nor ever thought about serving. When we go to war, will we tell our enemies they can’t use offensive language as that is not politically correct?
We can trace the origin of this all back to North Africa, when Patton slapped a coward. From that point on it has gone south in a hurry! Where has our military gone? The way of the old ghost ships in a Pennsylvania harbor, rusting and decaying from lack of use.
I will never regret the 20-plus years I gave this country, but I will regret the rest of my life the ruin our military has been brought to by the elected officials who seem to hate this country and have no regard for the Constitution they and I swore to protect. The difference between the two is I was serious about my oath and meant every word, I am willing to die for the country I love.
NCC (AW/NAC) Robert Babcox (ret.)
Grand Junction, Colo.
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MORE MILITARY MOVIES
I looked at your list of the 64 films that made the [Military Movie Madness] list. Whoa! Who on the committee takes the hit for omitting “From Here to Eternity?” It won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture in 1954!
I have to agree that “The Dirty Dozen” should be at least a No. 2 seed. If you like a memorable movie line, then it comes from the flirtatious Nazi fraulein who’s about to be carved up by the psychopathic Archer Maggott (Telly Savalas). As she enters the bedroom suite, she coyly calls out “Wolfgang, wo bist du?” You know she’s never going to make it to the next book burning rally. And what a cast: Richard Jaeckel (a staple of every war movie ever made); Donald Sutherland (before he became President Rose); Robert Ryan (who plays the archetype of every egomaniacal O-6 in the Army); and of course, Lee Marvin, a former Marine who was wounded on Saipan in WWII.
But to get to the point: Where are the fine foreign films (other than “All Quiet on the Western Front”)? How about “Life is Beautiful?” This film won three Academy Awards, and was nominated for four others. Or “The White Rose?” This is a thought-provoking German film about a group of university students in Munich who secretly protest against the Nazi Regime, only to face the guillotine after they’re caught.
And an outstanding Polish film titled “In Darkness.” This WWII movie is based on a true story of a Polish sanitary sewer worker named Leopold Socha who worked in the Nazi-occupied Polish town of Lvov. Socha risks his life and the safety of his family to save Jewish refugees hiding in the city sewer system. If you enjoy clever dialogue, this film is right up your alley.
Army Col. Thomas Rybczyk (ret.)
Tallahassee, Fla.
