#Big Sandy 2016

[EyeQueue]

9 hours ago, formergothardite said:

I don't remember Gothard being KJV only, he just attracted people who were KJV only. 

Here is a picture of Alert guys standing in front of a memorial to real military men. They don't appear to see the irony of them posing in front of this when they stick to their pretend army instead of doing the real thing. 

 

And the irony that it is the *real* US military's sacrifices that have allowed cults like ATI/IBLP the freedom to continue to practice their "religion" and have their pretend super speshul playtime army, because they damned sure wouldn't condescend to join the real thing.

6 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

All disaster relief and recovery has be coordinated by local emergency management. And some churches have teams that are ready to go and sign up. Mine does. I just can't see the IBLP/ALERT types doing much of anything except proselytizing.

And I'm sure they talk a fine game about standing ready to fight back when teh gayz and atheists and feminists come storming their strongholds after Obama gives the order to round up all Christians into FEMA camps.

They obviously have some ideas of whom this military might could eventually be directed.

[Bad Wolf]

Wolf 2 is on a submarine. I didn't ask him if they had any women on board. They didn't when he was on a fast attack, but he's on a boomer now.

[EyeQueue]

3 hours ago, sophie10130 said:

<snip>

Just imagine some little Gothardite joining the military. At first, it's nice, because the only book you're allowed in Boot Camp is the Bible. Then, you go to school and it's school, so you have the weekends more or less free and they have services on the base. Then you get attached to a submarine. And you go on deployments and no church services for months plus you share your living quarters with HEATHENS and eating and working quarters with WOMEN WHO ARE SUPERIOR TO YOU. Then you come home and have to stand duty where you can't leave the boat for 24 hours or more *GASP* sometimes on SUNDAY!!!! The horror! And if you stand duty on Saturday you might not make it off the boat in time for church! Oh the iniquity of it all!!! (I wish there was a fanning myself emoji)

If this is seriously true of the US military, this needs to stop now.

[Loveday]

11 minutes ago, EyeQueue said:

If this is seriously true of the US military, this needs to stop now.

It's not quite true. According to military.com's bootcamp checklist, you may not bring "Magazines, books, crossword puzzles or any other media that is not of a religious nature." I take that to mean that a Muslim can bring a Koran, a Christian can bring a Bible, a Mormon can bring a Book of Mormon, etc. 

 

[EyeQueue]

 

51 minutes ago, Loveday said:

It's not quite true. According to military.com's bootcamp checklist, you may not bring "Magazines, books, crossword puzzles or any other media that is not of a religious nature." I take that to mean that a Muslim can bring a Koran, a Christian can bring a Bible, a Mormon can bring a Book of Mormon, etc. 

 

Then I would think an atheist or agnostic or other non-believer should be able to bring an equivalent, although I don't know what that might be.

I think it would be better to just say, "You may bring 1 book of your choice," and then if you decide to bring your religious book of choice, fine, but if it's something secular, that's fine, too.

ETA: Just did some poking around on the Interwebz and found the Foxhole Atheist blog. Apparently non-believers can and have gotten around this. He, himself (the Foxhole Atheist) took as his religious book The Gospel According to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and others have taken books by, e.g., Dawkins and Hitchens and others.

[feministxtian]

AFAIK, the military is not taking anyone with a GED. There've been troop cutbacks so they can be VERY selective right now. Well, if you have a GED and 15 college credits they MIGHT take you...but they're even being picky with GPAs these days. So...a good little ATI boy would never get in the military. I also understand the ASVAB score cutoff is pretty high these days...like a 60 or above. When #1 son enlisted, they took his GED but it was when things were hot and heavy in the middle east. By the time #2 son tried to get in, they wouldn't look at him with a GED unless he had at least 15 college credits. This was about 3-4 years ago, things may have changed since then. 

[Coconut Flan]

Each service sets their own requirements. 

Here was the latest I found on the AF:

Quote

What are my odds of getting in as a GED holder?

Your odds of getting into the Air Force with a GED are lower than if you have a high school diploma. The rule is that less than one percent of our total number of enlistees can be GED holders, and they must be 18 or older. If we recruit 36,000 enlisted Airmen this year (which is a good average), less than 360 of those recruited can be GED holders. That translates to an average of just seven GED holders accepted from each state. GED holders must also score at least a 65 on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) as compared to a score of 31 required for applicants with high school diplomas.

Note that if you are a GED holder who is 17 years of age or older, you can gain the same eligibility as a high school graduate by obtaining 15 or more semester hours of qualifying college credit. To be qualifying, the credits you earn must be from a fully accredited college or university via classes at the 100-level (college Freshman level) or above.

 

[DaisyD]

It's fairly commonly known in the forces that the Air Force is the pickiest about who they take. The next is the Navy. As far as I know the Army and Marines are about the same. The AF also doesn't take prior enlisted anymore, whereas the others do (or did, my rackmate in boot was former army).

The bottom line is showing proficiency in a skill they need, hence the ASVAB scores. Even though Mr. D didn't graduate (or get his GED) because life got in the way, he did take the ASVAB to get out of class. He got a 96 and was harassed for years by the recruiters to get his GED and sign up. I graduated and got a 91, they handed me a huge book of ratings and told me to pick whatever I wanted. The ASVAB score is all they really care about.

Of course, I discharged in 2003 so my info is a bit dated at this point.

I'm glad they're getting women on subs, but there was no way that would have been me. I much preferred the idea of hunting subs to being in one. I hope some of my fellow female STs are still in. Some of those gals were really gung-ho for sub service. 

[sophie10130]

3 hours ago, EyeQueue said:

If this is seriously true of the US military, this needs to stop now.

Whoops! Sorry, I wasn't too precise with my wording. Other holy texts are allowed. I just meant to a Christian fundie it seems like a nice gesture. "Oh wow! We get to read our Bibles and only our Bibles!" It almost sounds like a Bible retreat.

My husband is an athiest, but they gave him a blue camo Bible anyway, and on his tags it says he's American Baptist. When I asked why he said "I dunno, that's just what they put on there and I never said anything about it." 

[EyeQueue]

24 minutes ago, sophie10130 said:

Whoops! Sorry, I wasn't too precise with my wording. Other holy texts are allowed. I just meant to a Christian fundie it seems like a nice gesture. "Oh wow! We get to read our Bibles and only our Bibles!" It almost sounds like a Bible retreat.

My husband is an athiest, but they gave him a blue camo Bible anyway, and on his tags it says he's American Baptist. When I asked why he said "I dunno, that's just what they put on there and I never said anything about it." 

No worries. I figured that that extended to other religious texts. I get rage-y when the military gets all religious, and is especially unwelcoming for non-believers (my headship experienced this kind of crap when he was in the Army), but the "one religious book" was a new one for me.

Speaking of your husband's "That's what they put on there and I never said anything about it," I just read on The Foxhole Atheist that that's a huge problem. In a lot of cases when people try to put "atheist" or "no religion," they'll get talked into putting "no religious pref" or other responses, because there seems to be this entrenched idea that you can't possibly have no religion.

The Foxhole Atheist cites one egregious example where a serviceman was talked into putting "no religious pref" and then when he was killed in Afghanistan his family then had to put up with ton of proselytizing sent from the chaplains b/c they didn't have religion.

[DaisyD]

That's interesting. I thought they put Christian on mine as the default, but maybe I specified the word. It was a whirlwind of paperwork. I do remember not really knowing what to put. I was raised agnostic, went to Unity in high school, and hadn't really thought about it since. The chaplain on my base was mostly there like a counselor. I spoke with him several times and religion never came up. I guess I just took for granted that that's the way it is with all of them. Harassing people who've just lost a loved one is awful. 

[Ungodly Grandma]

17 hours ago, sophie10130 said:

oh man SO many evangelical christians. But also tons of people who grew up in rural Christian families, don't go to church anymore, but judge people who aren't Christians. 

And also, off topic, a lot of Mormons. I guess you can either pick military service or a mission these days? Maybe this is for more laid back Mormons.

Yeah, thinking about it, my husband's job does not lend itself well to weekly church meetings. He's on a submarine, and as far as I know, there aren't any services on board. They say that if there's enough interest they will make one for whatever groups there's interest in, but I've never actually heard of his boat doing that.

Just imagine some little Gothardite joining the military. At first, it's nice, because the only book you're allowed in Boot Camp is the Bible. Then, you go to school and it's school, so you have the weekends more or less free and they have services on the base. Then you get attached to a submarine. And you go on deployments and no church services for months plus you share your living quarters with HEATHENS and eating and working quarters with WOMEN WHO ARE SUPERIOR TO YOU. Then you come home and have to stand duty where you can't leave the boat for 24 hours or more *GASP* sometimes on SUNDAY!!!! The horror! And if you stand duty on Saturday you might not make it off the boat in time for church! Oh the iniquity of it all!!! (I wish there was a fanning myself emoji)

But, how do you know what to do without your headship? Gasp.

[Howl]

On 4/20/2016 at 7:53 AM, paganbaby said:

See the second picture on this story. It's supposedly a scientific reconstruction of what he would actually have looked like.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/15/experts-reconstruct-face-of-jesus-and-heres-what-he-looked-like-5566053/

Brilliant!  Did you get a, "Hey, I know that guy!" feeling looking at the reconstruction?
 

[crawfishgirl]

Someone mentioned that Alert is paramilitary.  Are they trained on gun usage?  I looked at their website and didn't notice any gun references or pictures with any, so I'm curious.

I found the Alert application.  It's very entertaining.  http://alertacademy.com/alert/wp-content/uploads/alert_application_updated_2016.pdf

[19 cats and counting]

3 minutes ago, crawfishgirl said:

Someone mentioned that Alert is paramilitary.  Are they trained on gun usage?  I looked at their website and didn't notice any gun references or pictures with any, so I'm curious.

I found the Alert application.  It's very entertaining.  http://alertacademy.com/alert/wp-content/uploads/alert_application_updated_2016.pdf

I noticed you have to be 18 to go to boot camp Alert Academy.  How is Jer Duggar there if he's not 18 until December?

[docmom]

16 hours ago, EyeQueue said:

  22 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

All disaster relief and recovery has be coordinated by local emergency management. And some churches have teams that are ready to go and sign up. Mine does. I just can't see the IBLP/ALERT types doing much of anything except proselytizing.

This.  Disaster services must be coordinated in order to be effective.  What does an ALERT cadet do if the head of disaster services is a woman?  Can they obey her orders or do they have to find a man to report to?  What if the woman is wearing pants and isn't a Christian?  Have they thought this all through?

[formergothardite]

10 minutes ago, crawfishgirl said:

Someone mentioned that Alert is paramilitary.  Are they trained on gun usage?  I looked at their website and didn't notice any gun references or pictures with any, so I'm curious.

I found the Alert application.  It's very entertaining.  http://alertacademy.com/alert/wp-content/uploads/alert_application_updated_2016.pdf

You can tell Gothard helped write that. Government officials from all over the world are calling on Alert when they need help? 

 

[Loveday]

27 minutes ago, crawfishgirl said:

Someone mentioned that Alert is paramilitary.  Are they trained on gun usage?  I looked at their website and didn't notice any gun references or pictures with any, so I'm curious.

I found the Alert application.  It's very entertaining.  http://alertacademy.com/alert/wp-content/uploads/alert_application_updated_2016.pdf

The questions. 

"Explain your father and mother's relationship."

"Are you plagued with doubts concerning your salvation?"

"Do you ever struggle with your thought life?"

"Are you involved in a courtship?"

"If yes...would you say that your parents are 'guiding' or 'tolerating' this relationship? Explain."

"Have you ever heard or seen a spiritual being in your room or anywhere else?" 

And I haven't even gotten to the Father Questionnaire. Naturally, there's no Mother Questionnaire. 

 

 

[bertnee]

That Alert application is hilarious. I love how they are trying to make it seem like this is a Really Big Deal. And the music rules:
 

Quote

 

•No music, including instrumental and computer-generated music, that has any of the following characteristics, is allowed:

1. A lack of resolution-new age, elevator, and modern-era symphonic music

2. An insistent rhythm or backbeat-country/western, some modern a cappella, rock, rap, etc.

3. A fundamental dissonance-jazz, post-modern music, much rock, and other contemporary music

Oh no! Not music with a lack of resolution!!!! 

[crawfishgirl]

Yeah, we all know that elevator music is satanic....  

[Gimme a Free RV]

Gregorian Chant.  THAT's where it's at!

[Shiny]

Hahaha, that Alert application is the best thing I've ever read. The questions feel really defensive and loaded. "Are you adopted? If so how old were you" Describe your parents relationship, who is the spiritual leader, etc. 

What a joke. 

 

[formergothardite]

Oh how times have changed!

I think this is how most people think of IBLP events:

But this is what it looks like now:

 

Same awful teachings, but with nicer, more normal looking clothes. 

[Georgiana]

3 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Oh how times have changed!

I think this is how most people think of IBLP events:

But this is what it looks like now:

 

Same awful teachings, but with nicer, more normal looking clothes. 

I love and want all of those dresses (except the green one).  Anyone know where they are from?

[Gimme a Free RV]

1 minute ago, Shiny said:

Hahaha, that Alert application is the best thing I've ever read. The questions feel really defensive and loaded. "Are you adopted? If so how old were you" Describe your parents relationship, who is the spiritual leader, etc. 

What a joke. 

 

It stinks of Gothardism.  

"Are you adopted?"  Yes, by the King.

"Describe your parents' relationship."  Monogamous, caucasion-coupled, heterosexual, modest, humble, God-fearing Christians who only copulate within the intimate privacy of their own bedroom on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday nights after 9:30, with the intent of procreating an army for the Lord.

"Do you ever struggle with your thought life?"  No, but at times, my thought life struggles with me until I wrestle to the ground and pummel it to dwell upon pure and upworthy ponderings.