THE CRITICAL ROLE OF FAITH IN THE MILITARY

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." ~Matthew 7:7-8

"Dear Lord, give me the greatness of heart to see the difference between duty and his love for me. Give me understanding that I may know, when duty calls him he must go. Give me a task to do each day, to fill the time when he's away. And Lord, when he's in a foreign land, keep him safe in your loving hand. And Lord, when duty is in the field, please protect him and be his shield. And Lord, when deployment is so long, please stay with me and keep me strong. Amen." ~Army Wives Prayer

A young training officer (we'll call him "Ethan") had approached me after a meeting to speak to me further about the role of faith in the military. I could tell that he was uncomfortable amidst the lingering group of enlisted men and women, so we stepped off into a vacant conference room to speak privately.
"Cris, how can you live your faith so openly in everyday settings?," he opened.

"Well, Ethan, I strive to conduct all of my affairs consistently, regardless of the setting. So, I guess I don't really notice the difference between the business setting, the training setting, and all other settings, " I replied. "Particularly in the critical roles these men and women are undertaking--roles which will separate them from their families and subject them to the very real danger of dying to defend freedom--a foundation built upon the Faith of their choosing is imperative."

Ethan's face betrayed his consternation, and then he stammered out, "But aren't you afraid you're going to offend someone?! I mean, I've seen you speak openly not only with our recruits but also with our senior officers." Now I understood more about the basis of his concern.

I paused for a moment and then calmly replied, "Yes, Ethan, I am concerned about offending Someone...God." I continued, "Each of us has been endowed by our Creator with certain gifts, often mastered through great effort on our part, often undertaken solely on our faith or the faith of our loved ones. Some of us are great commanding officers, field doctors and civil engineers, while others of us are great welders, drivers and gunners. God's love for us and investment in us have absolutely nothing to do with our earning capacity, but have everything to do with how our lives can influence and improve the lives of our fellow men and women through our military service to them."

Ethan interjected, "But, Cris, let's be realistic--not everyone believes in the same God as you and I. What if they think you're imposing your views upon them? Aren't you afraid to lose their respect or cause a breakdown in morale?"

"Ethan, that's the funny thing about my experience with the role of faith in military situations...everyone believes in something. Whether I'm coaching an individual or facilitating a team building leadership exercise, I incorporate the principles that also undergird various faiths. If you observe closely, then you will notice that I only introduce the specifics of faith when the other person opens the door.

"Nearly every day, a colleague, an enlisted man or a waitress at a restaurant will invoke faith in the context of a conversation. Just as likely in the Exchange and the infirmary, as well. I simply remain open to the discussion, never offering more than is being asked for." I paused, sensing that the cautious officer wished to offer a response.

"Now that you mention it, Cris, your principles are universal...and I have seen you speak of God in response to an other's invocation. Never consciously realized the subtlety before," Ethan concluded.

"I'm thankful you approached me about your concern. As people of faith, we have an obligation to give our best effort each day, consistently, regardless of our locale in the world theater. And, further, when the door opens to a deeper discussion with another, we can prayerfully thank God for the opportunity to serve Him through out chosen vocation. I'll be interested to hear how that works for you the next time I'm on base, Ethan..."


TODAY'S QUESTION: Are you able to authentically incorporate your faith--regardless of which faith you adhere to--into your chosen vocation and military career to achieve consistency of character?

Freedom: No Sacrifice Too Burdensome

"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!"  -Sun Tzu

"The mothers and fathers of America will give you their sons and daughters...with the confidence in you that you will not needlessly waste their lives. And you dare not. That's the burden the mantle of leadership places upon you. You could be the person who gives the orders that will bring about the deaths of thousands and thousands of young men and women. It is an awesome responsibility. You cannot fail. You dare not fail..."  -General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

Were you to learn today that your husband or wife or your child had been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, what financial limit would you place upon the medical treatment? After all, you've got bills to pay already...a mortgage, a boat payment, credit cards. And besides, you have been saving up for that vacation trip your family has been planning for next summer! What do you figure...maybe agree to spend up to $5,000...maybe $10,000 max on the medical treatment. "Doc, just set the meter and let me know when it reaches $10,000. We'll just have to stop treatment at that point so I can make my boat payment." ABSURD!

You and I would both move Heaven and Earth, sell everything we might have, borrow exceedingly, and pray ceaselessly until our cherished loved one recovered or went home to be with the Father. One does not place a price upon the genuine love we have for our spouse or child.

Likewise, as Americans we have been smart enough to know better than to place a phony or politically-motivated price upon our Freedom. From the American Revolution to the Civil War to the World Wars to our current missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have long learned that families across America demand Freedom and the world looks to the greatest nation on Earth to safeguard freedom from tyrants and terrorists. Today's war-torn foreign family could be tomorrow's American entrepreneur. Today's forlorn orphan could be tomorrow's state college graduate.

I don't know about you, but I'm not of Native American ancestry. I am the son of a son and daughter of sons and daughters of immigrants...some dating back centuries, others to the early 20th century. Our Ellis Island loomed large as the ships made their way into New York's harbor, much as Miami or Los Angeles or Seattle or Houston loom large to tomorrow's engineers, fishermen, firefighters and ditch diggers.

While my immediate family and yours (perhaps even YOU personally) have bravely and unquestioningly served our nation at home and on foreign soil, our immigrant ancestors with one foot planted on American soil and one foot planted in their homeland, looked upon us from Heaven and smiled proudly. The Department of Defense has acknowledged that our legal immigrants are a welcome addition to our strong military. As the United States Senate supported our military in standing up for inclusion and diversity this week, I thought back to why we fought the American Revolution (freedom from unlawful taxation and oppression) and the Civil War (equality for all God's children)...and acknowledged that we're still the "land of the Free, the home of the Brave" that draws families craving God's love, entrepreneurial and educational opportunities, and the Call to Military Service.

We cannot deny that we live in the greatest God-loving nation on Earth! Just as we would never think to turn off the financial tap to save our beautiful wife, our precocious child, our hard-working husband, why would we--ourselves descendants of immigrants--divisively and discriminatorily tell this generation of immigrants not to likewise serve in the strongest, proudest Military on Earth? Much as we cannot look back at the racial segregation of the American Military with any pride, nor will our grandchildren look back with any pride if we deny men and women who yearn for Liberty the opportunity to serve God and Country simply because of an accent, a wardrobe, or a skin color difference.

God bless you and your family, and God bless America!

STEALING FROM MILITARY FAMILIES?!?

DISCLAIMER: As always, this brief policy article represents my own research and opinions and does not purport to represent the opinions of nor was it funded by any third party organization.

"Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."  -Dwight D. Eisenhower

"I think the lack of credit cards and easy loans in those days protected us from getting into too much trouble ... Unfortunately, that’s not the case for military families today."   –David Petraeus

I have become very disturbed over the past several weeks as I've received innumerable pleas from military spouses regarding the effect of the pending Debit Card Interchange Rules that threaten to add transaction fees for using a debit card and to take free checking away from those brave military families struggling to make ends meet.

http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/

Why would anyone want to charge families more to purchase children's clothing and groceries. Don't those big retail corporations earn enough profits already?

And why would anyone want to increase restaurant costs for a family that can only only afford to eat out every once in a while, and even waits to splurge for such a luxury for times between deployments?

I like fast food, but I certainly don't like any politician pulling a fast one that harms our military families.

Just plain disrespectful of our brave men and women in uniform if you ask me or any other patriot! 

What does Illinois Senator Dick Durbin have against military families?
You can call and ask him at (202) 224-2152.


What did debit card interchange fees have to do with protecting military families from a few unscrupulous and irresponsible former mortgage lenders? And what motivated Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to bring his amendment to the Senate Floor to be included in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 when he did?

http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/What_Can_I_Do_675.html

Initially it would appear that Senator Durbin, as a member of the Senate Leadership, simply recognized that the Congressional mood for financial reform legislation could easily absorb another "consumer protection" measure. Yet I couldn't help but question who/what had motivated this particular measure, since the public had not been clamoring for it and no definitive study of the debit interchange topic had concluded that it harmed either the consumer public or the sophisticated commercial enterprises that freely contracted to provide or benefit from debit card interchange services.


When a diverse array well-respected public responsibility groups, including the NAACP, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, join together to urge Congress to revisit the well-funded and erroneous legislation, consumers immediately recognize that something is amiss in Washington.  Our military leaders certainly wouldn't approve of such financial measures that harm our hard-working military spouses stretching every budget dollar!

Does your Congressional representative stand with military families on the Debit Interchange issue? 
Ask them: http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/What_Can_I_Do_675.html

The debit card interchange rule doesn't actually have anything to do with legitimate consumer protection for military families. Financial services professionals have always supported the common-sense market-driven consumer protection measures and licensing requirements that protect the public from the few unscrupulous charlatans who engage in predatory practices. Since financial services professionals are simply honest, hard-working consumers with families just like you and me, they clearly recognize that protecting the integrity and public trust within the financial services industry has always provided a win-win outcome. The majority of potential misdeeds are squelched before any damage can be wrought due to internal control policies, ethics training, licensing requirements, and the self-policing nature of the industry.


The debit card interchange rule was a pro-business creation born upon a conference room table within Suite 1100 at 325 7th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., home of the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, the National Council of Chain Restaurants, and the Merchant Payments Coalition. These trade associations represent corporate retail and restaurant conglomerates that have long sought to unilaterally renegotiate the debit card interchange fees to which they had contractually agreed. Apparently dissatisfied with their own business leaders' efforts employing commercial negotiation in the free market, these organizations turned to trade association lobbyists to continue the effort using Federal Government action to harm military families by establishing debit card usage fees and eliminating your free checking account.


Enter Rob Green, Executive Director of the National Council of Chain Restaurants (NCCR), who succeeded Jack Whipple last month to manage all NCCR government relations advocacy. Preceding his move within the confines of Suite 1100, Green was Vice President, Government and Political Affairs at the National Retail Federation (NRF), where he served as a senior lobbyist for the world’s largest retail trade association during the influential time leading up to Senator Durbin's introduction of the debit card interchange "consumer protection" rule.


Lobbyist Green immediately recognized that a perfect storm would briefly open the display window of opportunity for the NRF during which time he would propose a government price-fixing rule that would amount to a  72.7% reduction in interchange revenue for the financial services industry that had built the networks and provided the fraud reduction technology that facilitated cost-savings for consumers and businesses. Imagine if the NRF had found themselves on the receiving end of proposed legislation that would have mandated reducing their retail prices by 72.7% to those very same consumers? Would the NRF have simply "embraced" that legislation? We think not.


I am certainly not accusing Senator Durbin or Rob Green of any violations of federal law, but FEC records detail that more than just burgers and fries were in the bag when the honorable Senator and his colleagues met the former-NRF lobbyist and current NCCR Executive Director at the drive-thru window of opportunity. You yourself may follow the money transfers disclosed in publicly-available documents. While some of the world's largest big box retailers represented by Green poured money into organizations associated with Durbin and his former aides lobbying for the rule, the good Senator wove the rule into the larger legislative framework intended to curb the egregious mortgage-related abuses perpetrated by the few.


From a corporate executive viewpoint framed to maximize shareholder returns, one can certainly understand why the investment into lobbying appeared (and continues) to be a prudent investment. But given the certain unfavorable financial impact that the debit card interchange rule would impose upon American families struggling to emerge from the recent financial downturn, I would urge Senator Durbin to assume a new ethical stance and join his colleague Representative Barney Frank to support further objective study of the issue in the light of day and allow the results of such studies to be fully disclosed to non-lobbyists to allow for a proper analysis of the real impact upon the American military family's budget.

For leading this effort on behalf of all American families--military and civilian--I applaud the consistent and untiring effort being put forth by Frank Keating (ABA) and Fred Becker (NAFCU) nationally, as well as John Llewellyn (Michigan Bankers Association) and Jordan Kingdon (Michigan Credit Union League) to educate the public about the very real household economic effect that implementation of this dubious rule would wreak. Ultimately, our collective efforts to preserve consumer choice and to protect business from government unconstitutional price-fixing will prevail in the bright light of day.