January 26, 2020
DOD should not allow promotion of religion on branded dog tags
The headline immediately caught my eye: “Anti-religion group seeks to deny troops inspirational dog tags.” It’s a shocking claim and seemed unbelievable — open religiosity was one of the components of military life I found most surprising when I joined, and it’s hard to imagine any organization trying to deny troops something as innocuous as dog tags with inspirational sayings on them.
A careful read validated my suspicion: It is not the case that a nonprofit has been denied the ability to donate innocuous dog tags with inspirational sayings to individual service members by a supportive nonprofit.
Rather, the Marine Corps — which is notoriously protective of its brand — denied a license for the private business Shields of Strength to produce and sell dog tags with both verses from the Bible and Marine Corps trademarks on them.
Read the full article in The Hill.
More from CNAS
-
Podcast
National Security Human Capital Program
Could the U.S. Bring Back the Draft?In this episode of At the Boundary, GNSI’s Dr. Guido Rossi sits down with Katherine Kuzminski, Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), to explore...
By Katherine L. Kuzminski
-
Commentary
National Security Human Capital Program
Hegseth Brings the Culture War to CombatThe fundamental challenge of military leadership lies in creating cohesive teams that can work together in an environment of mortal risk and, when called upon to do so, use le...
By Dr. Jason Dempsey
-
Podcast
National Security Human Capital Program
Hegseth Says Trump Boosted Military Recruiting. It’s Been Improving for over a YearDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth says military recruiting has shot up since the Trump administration's return. In fact, it's been improving for at least a year, with big jumps i...
By Taren Sylvester
-
Podcast
National Security Human Capital Program
Pete Hegseth’s Views About Women and Military StandardsIn recent weeks, Hegseth walked back comments made while promoting his book, where he said women did not belong in ground combat units. Without citing specific examples, he co...
By Katherine L. Kuzminski
