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Wiccan Veteran Speaks Out
As a member of Circle Sanctuary and a United States military veteran, I would like to have the Pentacle included on a grave marker issued by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) which I have earned through my years of service. Furthermore, I support efforts by Wiccan organizations of faith, including Circle Sanctuary, to add the Pentacle to the VA list of emblems of belief. Circle Sanctuary is welcome to use the information I provide here in their work to support equality of religious freedom.I served in the United States Air Force from 1980 to 1995 and retired at the rank of Major. I have served in missle-launch operations, and my duty tours include missle-warning and space-surveilance operations. I have been a staff officer at Air Force Space Command Headquarters. My decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Air Force Achievement Medal. Furthermore, I have received a Certificate of Recognition for my service during the period of the Cold War.
During the early 1990's I studied Wicca both individually and in formal classes, and I am dedicated to the Craft. I have embraced Wiccan spirituality as part of my everyday life. The Pentacle has been important to me as a religious symbol on a personal level. Now, it takes on a greater significance as a symbol of religious equality for all Pagans who hold the Pentacle as symbolic of our spirituality: those of us who served have done so in support of principles such as religious freedom for all. We deserve to be hailed as fellows-well-met at veterans' cemeteries across the nation.
I feel compelled to go public with something deeply personal to me, something that impacts no others negatively, in support of efforts to right what is perceived as religious discrimination. The apparent stonewalling of the VA to approve the Pentacle as an emblem of belief, while at the same time approving other emblems in dissimilar bureaucratic fashion, is anathema to the Constitution of the United States, which I have vowed to support and defend. It is inexplicable how Wiccan religion is otherwise accommodated by the Department of Defense and Department of Justice, with whom Circle Sanctuary has worked in the past.
Michael D. O'Leary, Major, United States Air Force, Retired
Order of the Pentacle member