Ramstein chaplain found guilty of stealing from German grocery store

[txradioguy]

Capt. Sharior Rahman, an imam at Ramstein Air Base and one of only a handful of Muslim clerics in the Air Force, was convicted by a military judge Tuesday of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny in a shoplifting incident last year

The judge, Col. Mark Milam, ordered the chaplain to forfeit $3,000 of his pay for one month but did not dismiss him from the service.

Whether Rahman will remain in the chaplaincy with a general court-martial conviction still needs to be determined by the organization that endorsed him as a military chaplain, officials said.

The charges stem from a shopping trip last year at an Edeka store in Homburg, where Rahman and his wife, Sanam, a civilian, shoplifted about 70 euros worth of groceries, according to court testimony. A second shoplifting involving the couple occurred two weeks later at the Exchange on Ramstein, though no criminal charges were filed in the latter incident.

https://www.stripes.com/news/ramstein-chaplain-found-guilty-of-stealing-from-german-grocery-store-1.500895

[dfwgator]

Muslims in the military, what could possibly go wrong?

[truth_seeker]

There's probably a verse in their Crazy Koran that justifies stealing from infidels, since infidels to them are sub-human, etc.

Isn't this "conduct unbecoming an officer" etc.?

[txradioguy]

There's probably a verse in their Crazy Koran that justifies stealing from infidels, since infidels to them are sub-human, etc.

Isn't this "conduct unbecoming an officer" etc.?

Seems pretty cut and dried case of that to me.  But with this being an Imam and not a Baptist Chaplain...I'm guessing he isn't held to the same standard for obvious reasons.

[txradioguy]

It would be "cut and dried," and out of the service if it were up to me. No offense, but being a chaplain in the military is a pretty cushy job.

My only contact with a military chaplain, left me unsatisfied. I was concerned over my distraught 18 year old wife back home, during my infantry training at the peak of Vietnam. All he offered me was "buck up, and Kill a Commie for Christ."

 


Thankfully they are better today.  Though your experience with them might go towards explaining why I've seen several older chaplains in my time with a CIB...Jump wings and a couple with the Special Forces tab LOL! 

[mountaineer]

Whether Rahman will remain in the chaplaincy with a general court-martial conviction still needs to be determined by the organization that endorsed him as a military chaplain, officials said.

The story doesn't explain this. Why would anyone but USAF authorities determine his future?

[txradioguy]

The story doesn't explain this. Why would anyone but USAF authorities determine his future?

@mountaineer

To be a military Chaplain you have to have an endorsement from an organization like the United Methodist Church...Southern Baptist Convention...etc etc...if you lose your endorsement...you lose your ability to be a Chaplain in the military.

[mountaineer]

I understand the need to be "ordained," as it were. It just seems to me that the military should have some say in whether this criminal should be a chaplain, too. Perhaps he should have received a dishonorable discharge.

[txradioguy]

I understand the need to be "ordained," as it were. It just seems to me that the military should have some say in whether this criminal should be a chaplain, too. Perhaps he should have received a dishonorable discharge.

IMHO were he not Muslim...what you suggest would have happened already.

[truth_seeker]

Thankfully they are better today.  Though your experience with them might go towards explaining why I've seen several older chaplains in my time with a CIB...Jump wings and a couple with the Special Forces tab LOL!

I generally respect people of faith. My remark was just about this one, when I got less than I hoped to get.

[txradioguy]

I generally respect people of faith. My remark was just about this one, when I got less than I hoped to get.

No i get that. And I'm sorry you got one that was such a dud.

My lame attempt at humor was trying to say that too many folks in combat MOS's got tired of dealing with a Chaplain like the one you had and became chaplains themselves. Hence the CIB and SF tabs while wearing crossses on their uniform collars.

I try harder next time  ^-^

[mountaineer]

My former pastor's son is an Army chaplain. I don't know about him, but his wife is a flaming liberal, which is hard to understand. Off topic, I know. Sorry!