Battle of the Bilge

An Old Restriction, A New Accusation

BotB Verdict

Average Number of Times Received Daily at MOAA: 7

“It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.” – Jacques Ellul

Summary

Although restrictions have been in place prohibiting the type of appearances and participation Active Duty service personnel can partake in for well over a decade, a recent email detailing an incident in which a Green Beret was denied permission to speak at a faith based fundraiser has been twisted to create the impression that President Obama has enacted a policy to keep all military personnel from speaking at any faith based public events. This email is another example of a growing trend that assigns blame to the President and completely misrepresents the facts surrounding the case.

The Most Common Email

Another freedom gone . . .
I wanted to give ya’ll some disturbing information on our wonderful president.  I work with the Catch-A-Dream Foundation  (www.catchadream.org) which provides hunting and fishing trips to children with life-threatening illnesses.  It is a great program needless to say.   This past weekend we had our annual banquet/fund raiser event in Starkville.  As part of the program, we had scheduled Sgt. 1st Class Greg Stube, a highly decorated U.S. Army Green Beret and inspirational speaker who was severely injured while deployed overseas and didn’t have much of a chance for survival.   Greg is stationed at Ft. Bragg  and received permission from his commanding officer to come speak at our function.  Everything was on go until Obama made a policy that NO U.S. SERVICEMAN CAN SPEAK AT ANY FAITH-BASED PUBLIC EVENTS ANYMORE.  Needless to say, Greg had to cancel his speaking event with us.  Didn’t know if anyone else was aware of this new policy..  Wonder what kind of news we all will receive next?

Origins

According to TruthorFiction:

The originator of the email was not an employee at Catch-A-Dream but a volunteer who sent out his vents to a few friends and it eventually avalanched on world wide web.

Evaluation and Commentary

While the story is true in the fact that Sgt Stube was going to speak at the fundraiser, the request was denied due to longstanding DoD regulations regarding charity/fund raising appearances by Active Duty soldiers.  It had nothing to do with the faith based nature of the event, and the regulations have been in place since long before President Obama took office.

The relevant DoD regulation is DoD 5500.7-R and can be found here.

Since the document is written in typical DoD style, I thought it best to just copy and paste the relevant section:

3-210.  Fundraising and Membership Drives

a.         DoD employees shall not officially endorse or appear to endorse membership drives or fundraising for any non-Federal entity except the following organizations
which are not subject to the provisions of subsection 3-211 of this Regulation, below:

• The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC);
• Emergency and disaster appeals approved by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM);
• Army Emergency Relief;
• Navy‑Marine Corps Relief Society;
• Air Force Assistance Fund, including:

(a)     Air Force Enlisted Men’s Widows and Dependents Home Foundation, Inc.;
(b)     Air Force Village;
(c)     Air Force Aid Society;
(d)     General and Mrs. Curtis E. LeMay Foundation.

• Other organizations composed primarily of DoD employees or their dependents when fundraising among their own members for the benefit of welfare funds for their own members or their dependents when approved by the head of the DoD Component command or organization after consultation with the DAEO or designee.  (This includes most morale, welfare and recreation programs, regardless of funding sources).

Most viral emails that tend to serve personal agendas are based on a sliver of truth wrapped in a lot of bilge. This one fits the bill precisely. The fear that the current administration is anti-Christian is almost as pervasive as the fear that it is anti-veteran. There is no doubt that the appearance was for the purpose of raising money for Catch A Dream, which is at least partially motivated and funded by religious parties. But it was fund raising, and Catch A Dream is not one of the approved organizations for DoD employees to endorse. There are clearly no restrictions on servicemen speaking at faith based events as long as it is not intended to be an endorsement or attempt to raise money, and President Obama had nothing to do with it.

Further Reading/Tools
Truth or Fiction Page
Urban Legends Article
Starkville Daily News (local coverage, with false information regarding the ‘new’ regulation)

You Can Help
Remember that forwarding a message you read but are unsure of without checking the available resources helps contribute to the Bilge. Help us battle it, and if you haven’t seen us write one of them up, email it to us here.

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