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    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to Click on the graphic above to link to the original sermon.  The Signs of Christmas A couple of weeks ago I decided my room in the BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters, sometimes simply called "the Q") needed to be festive for the Christmas season. In typical Marine Corps fashion, Camp Pendleton was established in 1942 as a major training command. Interpretation: austere. I like Webster's definition number 3: Lacking adornment or ornamentation: simple or plain. That pretty well describes a Marine Corps base. So...

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 December 19, 2003Release Number: 03-12-51 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MOSUL AREA HOUSES OF WORSHIP RECEIVE HEATERS FROM 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION MOSUL, Iraq – As part of a nearly $30,000 project to supply heaters to local mosques and churches, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Friday delivered 100 kerosene heating machines to the Ninevah province Ministry of Religious Affairs. To date, 200 additional heaters have been supplied to the ministry office, where Imams and Priests pick them up to...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the 607th Military Police Battalion in Iraq Click on graphic to link to the original sermon.  Counting Blessings in Iraq Chaplain Steve Munson, 50, is a military chaplain stationed in the Persian Gulf with the 607th Military Police Battalion from Grand Prairie.   Chaplain Munson, who is senior pastor at Grace Fellowship Baptist Church in Fort Worth, is sharing some of his experiences with The Dallas Morning News.   We gathered for worship, a small group of mostly older soldiers from diverse backgrounds....

Paratrooper Spc. Shirley Baez, Headquarters and Company A, 407th Forward Support Battalion, Task Force 1st Armored Division, talks to a couple of orphan Iraqis during their special Eid Al-Fitr dinner celebration Nov 26. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jason B. Baker Paratroopers Celebrate Holiday With Community’s Orphans   By U.S. Army Sgt. Brent M. Williams / 49th Public Affairs Detachment (Airborne)   BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 5, 2003 — The Iraqi children were shy, staring at the festive decorations adorning the walls of the dining room where the paratroopers awaited their arrival. Hesitant at first, the children’s timid faces began...

It is a story played out in thousands of American homes. A member of the family is serving the country in some distant land. That is true for the immediate family of Rev. Wylie Johnson, and his extended family at Springfield Baptist Church. Home for a two-week leave over the Thanksgiving holiday, Johnson, a chaplain in the U.S. Army, will be with yet another "family" in Afghanistan come Christmas. Johnson was called up in his role as chaplain last April when the war with Iraq was on the front burner. Though not in Iraq, Johnson has been cycling through several...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the Chaplains at West Point Click on graphic to link to the original sermon. The Founding of the Jewish Chapel at West Point Sermon given July 9, 1999, by COL Merton Singer on the Occasion of the Temple's Armed Forces Sabbath The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is both a military school and a university. It was started in 1802 by President Jefferson, acting on George Washington's advice that to avoid war our country must be strong. Admission is by appointment by...

The Navy's secret brig Prison's mission evolves as terror suspects arrive BY TONY BARTELME Of The Post and Courier Staff It's 4:30 p.m., quitting time at the Naval Weapons Station, and hundreds of cars and trucks roll single-file past the gate onto Remount Road. Across the street, a photographer aims his camera toward a distant building on the base. BRAD NETTLES/STAFF The brig in Hanahan is one of the military's main medium-security prisons in the United States. The building is mostly blocked by live oaks and pines, but between the trees, you can make out an orange barricade, a fence...

Guantanamo chaplain charged with porn offences A Muslim chaplain who served at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay has been charged with adultery and storing pornography on a government computer. Army Captain Yousef Yee, who served at the prison camp for terror suspects, was released from pre-trial confinement after being served with the additional charges, said Raul Duany, a spokesman for US Southern Command in Miami. Adultery is a crime under the uniform code of military justice. He was arrested earlier this year in Florida and confined to the military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Military officials brought the...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the Click on graphic to link to the original article.   Remember to pray for troop safety this Thanksgivingby Connie D. Rouse*A few months ago, I sat in a crowded room with the families of marine personnel who had been, or were going to be, deployed in Iraq. My husband, a naval reserve chaplain, was holding a briefing for the families. His job, along with another officer, was to answer questions regarding the condition of servicemen and women, and to give assurance of...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the Chaplain of the U. S. Marine Corps Click on graphic to link to the original sermon. MREs for the Soul(Motivational, Relevant, and Ecumenical words of hope and inspiration) WORDS THAT COUNT I think I'm safe in making the following observation: Most people have an interest in a person's last words before dying. Please, don't get me wrong! I don't mean a morbid or gossipy curiosity. In fact, it's very possible that we may experience a sense of reverence when witnessing or listening...

Chaplain honored with medalBy BETH IPSEN, Staff WriterAir Force Chaplain Lt. Col. Charles Davidson went to Iraq armed only with a Bible. Davidson was the first Air Force chaplain to hit the ground when he arrived at Baghdad International Airport under enemy fire in April. He remembers the bumpy landing at night, the flares, rockets and tracers streaking through the sky. Under different circumstances, he would have thought it was the Fourth of July. But this was war and Davidson and his assistant, Airman 1st Class Timothy Tabiz, ran in full gear and packs from the back of the C-130...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Day Home Page Click on graphic to link to the original sermon.  WHAT IS A VETERAN?Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them, a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.Except in parades, however, the men...

Donors Sought for 'Gift of Groceries' Program for Military Families By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2003--With the holiday season right around the corner, officials at the Defense Commissary Agency are encouraging the American public to show its support for U.S. service members through its highly successful "Gift of Groceries" program. The program, which enables anyone to purchase and donate gift certificates good at all 280 military commissaries worldwide, reached the $1 million mark just six months after its launch in September 2002, according to Kaye Kennedy, the agency's corporate communications chief. Now that figure has...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the Navy Chaplain Corps Click on graphic to link to the original sermon.  MAKING ASSUMPTIONSA story making the rounds this past week told of a policeman who was heading home after a long, hard day on patrol. He had dealt with a whole succession of difficult people, and a mountain of frustrating paperwork. All he wanted at this point was to kick back, unwind, enjoy some peace and quiet, and maybe watch a few innings of baseball on TV. But, as he neared...

Navy blues RELIGION: Are evangelical chaplains who refuse "to preach pluralism among religions" too "narrow" for the Navy?By Lynn VincentSHEATHED IN LILAC CHIFFON, the barefoot bride padded across the grass carpet of a small tropical garden. Her groom, dressed in U.S. Navy crackerjacks, waited near a towering coconut palm, the masts of a dozen yachts reaching for the sky in the harbor behind him. Wedding guests in attendance at the private ceremony behind the Island Palms Hotel in San Diego then listened as Navy Chaplain Patrick Sturm joined the couple in marriage. "Have Christ as the center of your love,"...

    Welcome to The USO Canteen FReeper Style   Today's Spiritual Journey takes us to the Navy Chaplain Corps Click on graphic to link to the original sermon.  REFLECTIONS ON GROWING OLD(ER)Someone once said that we are now living in the age of age. In fact, there are more old people alive today than at any time in history. It was projected that by the year 2000, over half the population of the Industrial West will be over 60. There are, today, more people over 65 in the United States than the entire population of Canada. Faced with...

SEAL Wives, Widows Embark on Journey Against Terrorism By K.L. VantranAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2003 -- Tears for those they lost in the line of duty -- particularly in the global war on terrorism -- mixed with cheers here today as 10 women began the first leg of a 300-nautical-mile journey to New York City. The SEAL Wives Against Terrorism Boat Tour is raising scholarship funds for the children and families of the Navy SEALs community, including those killed during the war on terrorism. Funds will be distributed through the Naval Special Warfare Foundation. Members of...

....... " Abdurahman Alamoudi, a consultant to the Pentagon on the chaplain program for more than a decade, is now accused of helping Osama bin Laden and Hamas.  Court documents filed late Wednesday night claim Alamoudi has provided “financial support to Hamas” and “financial support to fronts for al-Qaida.”   One of the groups allegedly tied to Alamoudi is a charity that gave a Virginia post office as its address. Alamoudi was the charity’s vice president. Who founded it? Abdullah bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s nephew.   Also ringing alarms: Alamoudi’s Palm Pilot, which the government claims included the names and numbers...

ABDURAHMAN ALAMOUDI is a prominent American Muslim leader, welcomed by presidents and founder of the Muslim chaplain program for the U.S. military. Now he's in jail, caught heading to Syria with $340,000 in cash, money prosecutors believe came from Libya. According to FBI counterterrorism chief Steve Pomerantz, “It's very hard to explain in any innocent way a suitcase full of money going from one terrorist-sponsoring nation to another terrorist-sponsoring nation.” AUDIOTAPE EXAMINED U.S. investigators speculated in court that the money was headed for Hamas or another terror group in Syria. A British document obtained by NBC News describes Alamoudi as...

Senate chaplain pays a visit By Allison Williams Staff writer The Rev. Barry Black is a spiritual mentor to some of the most powerful people in the world. The Rev. Barry Black, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, stresses the Bible’s importance at First Presbyterian Church on Sunday. On Sunday, the chaplain of the U.S. Senate came home to North Carolina. He preached at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Fayetteville. At the 11 a.m. service, Black paced in front of the congregation, Bible in hand. But he did not need it to quote scripture and tell the story of the...