Religious Hostility Fueling Military Misconduct?

Soaring numbers of soldiers are being forced out of the Army for misconduct. Thousands of enlisted soldiers were kicked out last year over drugs, alcohol, crimes, and other violations.

The number shot up from about 5,600 at the height of the Iraq War in 2007 to more than 11,000 last year.

And the number of officers forced out more than tripled in the past three years, up from 119 officers in 2010 to 387 last year.

The spike in misconduct comes in tandem with new restrictions on religious liberty in the military. The Family Research Council has catalogued dozens of examples of this anti-Christian hostility on their website.

"Unfortunately, pressures to impose a secular, anti-religious culture on our nation's military services have intensified tremendously during the Obama administration," Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, executive vice president of the FRC, wrote.

***Boykin addressed the possible link between the rising military misconduct and hostility against faith on CBN Newswatch, Feb. 18.

The military is seeking to clean house after a decade of war. The Pentagon had focused more on competence than character as they tried to meet the demand for more troops.

"I wouldn't say lack of character was tolerated in [war] theater, but the fact of the last 10 or 12 years of repeated deployments, of the high op-tempo, we might have lost focus on this issue," Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told the Associated Press last week.

"Sometimes in the past we've overlooked character issues because of competence and commitment," he said.

Over the past year, a series of high profile scandals -- from sexual assault to cheating during nuclear training to mistreatment of the enemy and unauthorized spending -- has dogged the military.

"I don't think there is one simple answer to the issue of ethics, values, a lapse in some of those areas," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said during a recent briefing.