A question of religion.

With our last day at NMPS tomorrow, and the prospect of splitting up to travel to different training sites all over the country before deploying to different conflicts and locations around the world, the last of the medical checks were conducted today, including the now famous ANAM cognitive test; a battery of computerized reaction and mental-spacial processing tests to establish a baseline to compare against results following potential traumatic brain injury after exposure to an IED or other pressure/concussive event.


Yesterday, we were given new sets of dog tags, stamped from aluminum blanks with data collected at the start of the week. My tags came back with my religion printed across the bottom. This isn't my first deployment to a Muslim country, rather, it's my fifth, but I've never had an issue pair of tags before where I've actually been required to wear the dog tags daily. I haven't practiced my religion in almost fourteen years, and I don't think it's appropriate that I be potentially singled out, tortured, and possibly killed by Islamic terrorists in the name of clerical accuracy on a small tag on a necklace.

After receiving those original tags, I brought them back to the NMPS staffer who dropped them on my desk and requested a new set be printed. This is what I'll be wearing for the next year. May the force be with with me.

Location:Norfolk, VA, USA