No, U.S. Air Force Academy, “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus” is NOT a “Professional Military Book”

Wednesday Afternoon, March 15, 2023

MRFF OP-ED BY BGEN (RET.) MARTY FRANCE:

NO, U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY,

"THE LEADERSHIP LESSONS OF JESUS"

IS NOT A "PROFESSIONAL MILITARY BOOK"

"The key leadership and strategy texts were covered at

Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama,

and then later in more depth at the National War College,

where I was named a distinguished graduate, and, because

of that designation as well as some other awards, I was

given more books on leadership and strategy. They line

my home office walls, dog-eared and margin-noted.

"Not once during ALL of that military education was I asked

or tasked to read a book on leadership from a religious

perspective. Not once. I can’t even remember it being

suggested. But here, finding space on two shelves at a government-run store on a military base, the message

I receive is that “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus” is

an important part of one's professional military library."

— MRFF Advisory Board Member Marty France,

Brigadier General, USAF (Retired)

Bookshelf in Air Force Academy uniform store showing Leadership Lessons of Jesus book

"Professional Military Books" display at Air Force Academy uniform store

MRFF OP-ED

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No, U.S. Air Force, “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus” is NOT a “Professional Military Book”

By: MRFF Advisory Board Member Marty France,

Brigadier General, USAF (Retired)

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

One of these books doesn’t belong on this shelf. Can you recognize the one to which I refer? It’s not that this book shouldn’t be in a library or on a military base—that would be perfectly fine. Frankly, if the bookshelf were bigger and contained a larger selection of books written from complementary perspectives, I might overlook it, too. But, like we learned on Sesame Street, “one of these things is not like the others.”

On this base (the US Air Force Academy, but the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received photos of the same situation at many other bases), inside the uniform store, there are only two shelves of books for sale and only one has a religious perspective. Not surprisingly, that perspective is Christian.

Bookshelf in Kirtland Air Force base clothing store showing Leadership Lessons of Jesus book

March 6, 2023 photo at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM,

military clothing store at the main base exchange

Bookshelf in Patrick Space Force base clothing store showing Leadership Lessons of Jesus book

Photo from a MRFF client taken 21 months ago at the

Patrick Space Force Base, Florida, clothing store

There are tens of thousands of books on leadership and other issues that qualify as “Professional Military Books.” This shelf held many of the classics: Sun Tzu; “Lincoln on Leadership,” “Thinking Fast and Slow.” John Boyd’s biography was on the bottom shelf—generally considered to be more than just a minor deity in the fighter pilot world—as were other biographies of military leaders.

I’ve read many of these books, having completed the three primary pillars of professional military education during my 37-plus years of active duty and four years of cadet time. The key leadership and strategy texts were covered at Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and then later in more depth at the National War College, where I was named a distinguished graduate, and, because of that designation as well as some other awards, I was given more books on leadership and strategy. They line my home office walls, dog-eared and margin-noted.

Not once during ALL of that military education was I asked or tasked to read a book on leadership from a religious perspective. Not once. I can’t even remember it being suggested. But here, finding space on two shelves at a government-run store on a military base, the message I receive is that “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus” is an important part of one's professional military library.

I don’t see any books on Islamic leadership, though a Google search tells me many exist, including “Muhammed: 11 Leadership Qualities That Changed the World,” or “Leadership: An Islamic Perspective.” Any books on Jewish leadership? There are plenty of those, too, as well as books on Buddhism and leadership, books on how to be a “Dharmic Leader.” I didn’t see any Bertrand Russell or Richard Dawkins on the shelf.

The message I take from this encounter is that, from a religious perspective, the only leadership perspective that’s acceptable at the Air Force Academy is that of Jesus. A plurality of cadets and staff may be Christian, so if we’re only going to have ONE book on religion and leadership, it had better be Christian.

This is no surprise to me. Over my four decades in uniform, I endured the presumption that all who serve are Christian. Any who aren’t are just novelties to be tolerated and trotted out if we need to show that we support diversity. But the bias is there. It’s in the scheduling, in the privilege, in the holidays, in the preference—and, therefore, in the promotions and the power that are the hallmarks of the military hierarchy.

Overall, this is a difficult issue to fix completely—not unlike racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. Removing one little book in a small uniform store isn’t going to solve the issue. But the military got here in the first place by putting one book here, by giving some personnel the day off on their religious holidays, but not all. We’re where we are because of personnel records that, in many cases, still list religious preferences and can subtly and not-so-subtly be used to discriminate. We’re here because too many official events start and end with religious (mostly Christian) declarations and speeches (i.e., prayers), regardless of the make-up of the event. We’re here because Christian leadership is seen as valuable and in-line with honorable military service, while other perspectives are ignored.

Let’s fix this one little problem. First, let’s just sell uniforms in the uniform store. That can’t be so hard. Let’s put the professional military books in the base exchange where there can be shelves and shelves of hundreds of books and we can find samples from every perspective. We can put “The Leadership Lessons of Jesus” in the base library in the section marked for religious works. Better yet, let’s put it in the Christian section of the base chapel—where it truly belongs. It’s really not that hard.

If we do that, then maybe those that shop at the uniform store won’t get the impression that only Christians are welcome to lead and serve or that only Christians can understand military leadership. If we fix this problem, then we can move on to others and make some progress. I’m not asking anyone to ban a book or to even remove it from the base. I’m simply asking that this book be displayed and available in its appropriate place.