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A highly decorated Kirtland Air Force Base colonel who refused to sign a certificate of appreciation for a retiring master sergeant’s same-sex spouse says he was wrongly disciplined for following his religious beliefs.
Col. Leland Bohannon was relieved of command and a letter was sent by a superior officer recommending against his promotion after an Equal Opportunity complaint against him was substantiated. A religious liberties group is now demanding the reversal of the decision.
In May, Bohannon, then the commander of the Air Force Inspection Agency headquartered at Kirtland, was asked to sign certificates for a retiring master sergeant, including a “certificate of spouse appreciation,” according to an appeal letter to the Air Force from First Liberty Institute sent on Oct. 5.
The certificate is one traditionally given to the spouses of retiring military members; it is not legally required to be given and is not an official document.
Bohannon did not sign the certificate for the master sergeant’s same-sex spouse, as it conflicted with his religious beliefs.
According to the letter, Bohannon consulted others on the base, and his command chaplain suggested he file a religious accommodation request that would excuse him from signing the certificate.
That request was returned “without action” six weeks later, the letter states.
Instead, an off-base superior officer agreed to sign the certificate in Bohannon’s place.
The master sergeant subsequently filed an Equal Opportunity complaint, alleging Bohannon unlawfully discriminated against him due to his sexual orientation by not signing the certificate himself.
The complaint was substantiated, and Bohannon was removed from command. A letter was sent by a superior officer to the Air Force Brigadier General promotion board, recommending Bohannon not receive a promotion.
He has since been transferred to Washington, D.C., said attorney Mike Berry of First Liberty Institute, who is representing Bohannon.
Berry said the Air Force doesn’t provide clear guidelines to members in situations such as Bohannon’s.
“There was no guidance for him to know how to navigate that,” he said. “… The accommodation should have been granted.”
He said he was unsure of why Bohannon’s religious accommodation request was returned “without action,” as the only two options for such requests are typically approval or denial.
Berry also argues that the directive informing the Air Force’s Equal Opportunity policy enacted in 2016 contradicts existing law, in that it includes sexual orientation in the definition of “sex.”
“No airman … should ever have to forfeit their religious beliefs in order to serve in the military,” Berry said.
Paula Neira, a transgender Navy veteran, attorney and clinical program director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health, equated Bohannon’s actions with “bigotry.”
“The military is a secular institution and if an individual’s deeply held religious beliefs prevent them from doing their duty and leading/treating all of their subordinates equally then they need to resign,” she said in an email.
A Kirtland Air Force Base spokesman referred inquiries on the case to Air Force headquarters.
“The Air Force is aware of the issue, and is working it through the proper channels,” Air Force spokesman Maj. Ethan Stoker said in an email.
In addition to reversal of the substantiated Equal Opportunity complaint, Bohannon is seeking removal of any associated unfavorable materials from his service record. He is also requesting that adequate training be given to commanders on how to deal with similar situations in the future.
“He, like me, hopes for a swift and favorable outcome,” Berry said.
Berry said they will take legal action should it become necessary.
According to an August 2015 article in the Kirtland Air Force Base Nucleus newspaper, Bohannon has more than 3,300 flying hours as a pilot, including combat missions.
He was awarded the Bronze Star after service in Afghanistan.
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©2017 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
‘Take what’s inside and get it outside’ — Air Force psychologist reminds airmen of mental health resources
Kirtland Air Force Base isn't much different from the world beyond its gates when it comes to dealing with mental illnesses, a base clinical psychologist says.
Maj. Benjamin Carter told the Journal the most frequent diagnosis on the base is an anxiety disorder.
"It's not a surprise, but I anticipate about anytime in the population in America, about 20% of the population has some form of diagnosable anxiety disorder, and it's no different in the military," he said.
Leading the way among the anxiety disorders, he said, were post-traumatic stress disorder "or something like panic disorder or generalized anxiety disorder."
77 years later, remains of Kansas Marine killed in WWII Battle of Tarawa finally identified
The DNA of a niece and nephew, who never met their uncle, has helped identify the remains of the Kansas Marine who died in WWII.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that 21-year-old U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Raymond Warren was identified using DNA and circumstantial evidence. Warren had been buried in a cemetery in the Gilbert Islands, where he was killed when U.S. forces tried to take secure one of the islands from the Japanese.
The Battle of Tarawa lasted from Nov. 20 to Nov. 23, 1943, and claimed the lives of 1,021 U.S. marines and sailors, more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers and an estimated 1,000 Korean laborers before the U.S. troops seized control, the agency said.
Arizona lawmakers are vowing to fight a plan by the Air Force to start retiring some of the nation's fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jets — a major operation at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base — as part of a plan to drop some older, legacy weapon systems to help pay for new programs.
U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., a former A-10 pilot, and U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., both vowed to fight the move to retire 44 of the oldest A-10s starting this year.
During a press briefing last week, Air Force officials unveiled plans to start mothballing several older platforms, including retiring some A-10s even as it refits others with new wings.
Kim Jong Un keeps spending tens of thousands of dollars on horses from Russia
MOSCOW/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong Un was filmed riding through the snow on a white stallion last year, has spent tens of thousands of dollars on 12 purebred horses from Russia, according to Russian customs data.
Accompanied by senior North Korean figures, Kim took two well-publicized rides on the snowy slopes of the sacred Paektu Mountain in October and December.
State media heralded the jaunts as important displays of strength in the face of international pressure and the photos of Kim astride a galloping white steed were seen around the world.
North Korea has a long history of buying pricey horses from Russia and customs data first reported by Seoul-based NK News suggests that North Korea may have bolstered its herd in October.
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A high-profile local Taliban figure who announced and justified the 2012 attack on teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has escaped detention, Pakistan's interior minister confirmed a few days after the militant announced his breakout on social media.
Former Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, who claimed responsibility on behalf of his group for scores of Taliban attacks, proclaimed his escape on Twitter and then in an audio message sent to Pakistani media earlier this month.
The Pakistani military, which had kept Ehsan in detention for three years, has declined to comment but, asked by reporters about the report, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, said: "That is correct, that is correct."
Shah, a retired brigadier general, added that "you will hear good news" in response to questions about whether there had been progress in hunting down Ehsan.