The Air Force in mid-June will host the next iteration of its Come Be With Us tour that gives Catholic priests the opportunity to meet face-to-face with recruiters to discuss the military lifestyle and job requirements of serving in the Air Force. These four-day tours are part of the Air Force Recruiting Service’s efforts to address the shortage of priests in the Air Force’s ranks, according to a May 16 AFRS release. “There are currently 53 Catholic chaplains providing religious support to more than 190,000 Catholic airmen and their families,” said John Kinney, AFRS’ Chaplain Corps accessions director. That number is less than half of the 120 chaplains needed to meet the needs of Catholic airmen, he said. The tours are held twice a year at Creech Air Force Base and Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Each tour hosts 10 to 12 priests from around the country. (Randolph report by TSgt. Hillary Stonemetz)
Some lawmakers in the Senate are advocating for a more bipartisan approach to paying for the Pentagon’s $185 billion Golden Dome missile defense project, arguing that the effort’s goal of bolstering homeland defenses has support across ideological lines but the process for funding it has been politically charged—leaving the program’s…