Friday, February 20, 2009

Exercise Iron Fist


Recently I was underway with the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD52) during its participation in Exercise Iron Fist off the coast of California. This is a joint amphibious exercise with Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, so some of the Japanese personnel were embarked on our ship during the exercise. Although my Japanese is now practically non-existant, I did manage to talk to a few of them who knew a little English. I think they were surprised to see a Buddhist chaplain! (The JSDF does not employ chaplains). Although most Japanese identify themselves as Buddhist, it is a popular assumption that most are what we in Western terms would call "non-practicing." The few guys I managed to talk to did identify themselves as Buddhist (also as Jodo Shinshu), one older man assuring me that "thought daily" of the Buddha-dharma. I think there are many ways in which we "do" Buddha-dharma, either through a daily practice, such as actually doing meditation, or what we do with other people, or simply contemplating the Dharma. The latter is probably harder to identify because it is private and personal. But it does not make it any less a "practice!"

Namo Amida Butsu

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Military Scholarships Available Through Grantham University

Military Scholarships Available Through Grantham University

Grantham's desire is to make education affordable for our nation's service members, which is why they have established scholarships for active duty, reserve, guard, veterans, and military family members. Grantham's Military Scholarship covers the tuition remaining after Military Tuition Assistance (TA) benefits have been applied, up to the fiscal year (FY) cap, even for National Guardsmen and reservists who only receive 75% TA benefits ($187.50 per credit hour). It also includes a Textbook and Technology grant that covers the costs of required textbooks and software. In addition, military students, who use all their allotted FY TA with Grantham, are allowed to take one additional credit hour - at no additional cost - for every $1,000.00 of TA paid (Additional credits must be used the same FY they are earned).

Grantham University offers online undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Criminal Justice, Business Administration, Business Management, General Studies, Computer Science, and other technology-related fields. For more information, visit: http://www.grantham.edu/admissions/scholarships.php.
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Buddhist Military Sangha by Jeanette Shin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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