Local foxhole atheists thriving

This spring has seen military folks in more deployments to the Middle East, retiring, at the American Atheists Convention and Reason in the Rock, Las Vegas Church of Bacon protests and continuing local events. Next week, look for MAAF in Colorado Springs and Denver for the American Humanist Association Convention.

At CENTEX MAAF at Ft Hood, long time organizer Trey Moody is improving himself every day. He has enrolled at Baylor University in a Medical program. This is just after his successful graduation from the Drill Sergeant instruction course. He plans to participate in the ROTC program to help those prospective new lieutenants respect their NCOs. What’s your story?

MAAF San Diego and Doug Wright have been holding regular meetings and have an exciting visit April 30 at the base chapel building with A Humanist Chaplain and director of United Coalition of Reason. It’s encouraging to see a chaplain facility open to all personnel.

Eamonn O’Shea and Sawyer Braun from MASH Ft Campbell ran the MAAF table at the American Atheists Convention. They met a lot of new members at the event, including retired pilot Albert El. They’ve really led the way by attending a screening of atheist attack film God’s Not Dead at the local church (a friendly visit to bust any myths). They also set up an Ask an Atheist Booth in the local community to help meet others and improve respect in the area.

MAAF POC Louise Hardin along with North Alabama Freethought Association participated in a panel for Ask An Atheist Day. She dispelled myths and provided a positive representation of atheists in foxholes.

Welcome to new groups at Scott Air Force Base, Vilseck / Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany, and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. If you’re in these communities, reach out to them directly or through MAAF.

Members are still deploying overseas. After 15 years+ of war, we can often forget about deployed personnel. MAAF is sending out 25 packages every month to deployed service members. This includes books, food, thank-you letters, and humanist materials. Members have recently deployed to United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Afghanistan to name a few. There is a strong group forming at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan for anyone not already connected. Personnel overseas have too much to do already and too much stress, but connecting with other MAAF members is a good way to de-stress and get much-needed support.

Special congratulations go out to Vicki Gettman, great leader with the trainees at Lackland Air Force Base who retired last month. It was a long journey for her, and she’s refocusing not just on MAAF activities but also Atheists Helping the Homeless. She’s proving true that saying that we get busier in retirement. What other retirements and promotions should we be celebrating?

It’s always tough to fit everything in. The only solution is more updates to celebrate everything going on…