Army Program Labels Some Soldiers “Spiritually Unfit”

Torture-linked Shrink’s Army Program Labels Some Soldiers “Spiritually Unfit”
By: Jeff Kaye Thursday January 6, 2011 6:45 am

Jason Leopold has posted a new article at Truthout, describing how an “experimental, Army mental-health, fitness initiative” called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) is drawing criticism from civil rights groups and rank-and-file soldiers by testing military personnel for “spiritual fitness.”

CSF examines “spiritual fitness” with questions like “I am a spiritual person, my life has lasting meaning, I believe that in some way my life is closely connected to all humanity and all the world.” One soldier tested last month told Truthout that he was labeled “spiritually unfit” because he answered the “not like me at all” box. As a result, the Army has told him he “may lack a sense of meaning or purpose in his life.” Presumably, like other soldiers with low spirituality scores, he’ll have to attend remedial courses and “be forced to participate in exercises that use religious imagery to ‘train’ soldiers up to a satisfactory level of spirituality.”

According to the Truthout article, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has sent letters to the Army demanding it “immediately cease and desist administering the ‘spiritual’ portion of the CSF test.

http://firedoglake.com/

You can't make crap like this up...

Sounds like that men who stare at goats movie.

Maybe they can cut the military budget first by eliminating the CSF boards.

Wow, if the MRRF were funded by the military, then eliminating them might save a dollar. But since they are a private 501(c)3 organization and funded by tax-free donations, I guess that wouldn't work...huh?

They missed the Muslim whack job in Texas who killed a bunch of people.

residenttroll wrote: They missed the Muslim whack job in Texas who killed a bunch of people.

missed? I'll bet he scored very high on the spirituality part......religion is often the basis or rationale for war, killing, and prejudice.

archer wrote:

residenttroll wrote: They missed the Muslim whack job in Texas who killed a bunch of people.

missed? I'll bet he scored very high on the spirituality part......religion is often the basis or rationale for war, killing, and prejudice.

See! You want soldiers who act like holy crusaders!

Agnostic moral relativists just might go to the other side and join the Assange project. :VeryScared:

SS109 wrote:

archer wrote:

residenttroll wrote: They missed the Muslim whack job in Texas who killed a bunch of people.

missed? I'll bet he scored very high on the spirituality part......religion is often the basis or rationale for war, killing, and prejudice.

See! You want soldiers who act like holy crusaders!

I do? how did you get THAT out of my post? Personally I would prefer educated, logical, motivated by patriotism soldiers and not religious fanatics. uh....change religious fanatics to "those motivated by religion". It sounds more politically correct doncha think?

I'd prefer that to some "re-education camp" designed to "‘train’ soldiers up to a satisfactory level of spirituality." What a load of crap.

I didn't mean to say you wanted a certain type of soldier, I meant a nation would want a religious/nationalist type who is willing to die for his country, a Bushido code. Instead of a coexist type who understands why people are bombing their cities.

LadyJazzer wrote:

Torture-linked Shrink’s Army Program Labels Some Soldiers “Spiritually Unfit”
By: Jeff Kaye Thursday January 6, 2011 6:45 am

CSF examines “spiritual fitness” with questions like “I am a spiritual person, my life has lasting meaning, I believe that in some way my life is closely connected to all humanity and all the world.”

Actually, this was a frequent type of question asked during the Air Force's annual Morale survey. It has nothing to do with religion, but with spirituality. I guess supervisors and higher-ups thought if a person had a meaningful life and felt that way, they would be more productive and less likely to have physical ailments to include depression, which could lead to suicide and/or harmful acts towards others.

This AF Morale survey was anonymous...though it did ask for demographic information such as unit and flight as well as rank and gender and ethnicity...so if you were the only Caucasian SSgt female in the flight, you were pegged.

The Army has a tendency to get all into their soldier's business...it is their way.