Taking God Out of the Airman's Oath
The Air Force announced that it will no longer require airmen to include the phrase "so help me God" as a part of an enlistment or officer appointment oath.
Under the new policy, Air Force support offices will now allow airmen to omit "so help God" from the end of their enlistment of appointment oath if they prefer to do so. Previous Air Force regulations did not permit the support offices to process enlistment paperwork with any omissions. The policy change is effective immediately while the Army and Navy already allow their enlistees to omit the phrase.
"The Air Force will be updating the instructions for both enlisted and commissioned Airmen to reflect these changes in the coming weeks, but the policy change is effective now," the Wednesday Air Force press release said. "Airmen who choose to omit the words 'So help me God' from enlistment and officer appointment oaths may do so."
