Airman says officer biased over wearing LDS apparel

Air Force officials and a Utah congressman are investigating claims that an LDS airman faced religious discrimination from his commanding officer.

Airman 1st Class Andrew Howells of Salt Lake City says his commander threatened to kick him out of his unit if he did not remove his sacred religious undergarments. His commander complained that the garments worn by faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints showed through his uniform.

"One of the reasons why I fight is to defend religion and freedom," Howells told the Deseret Morning News. "It's kind of an irony that the very organization I fight with is denying me that."

Church members are instructed to wear the symbolic clothing at all times and to remove it only for very specific activities.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, filed a formal inquiry Wednesday on Howell's behalf with the Air Force Congressional Liaison Office, spokeswoman Alyson Heyrand said. A spokesman for the Air Force refused to comment specifically about Howells' complaint because the incident is under investigation.

Howells said the July 18 ultimatum came in a busy airport in Incirlik, Turkey, just before Howell's unit, a traveling Air Force entertainment group, boarded a plane to Qatar.

Howells' commander, Tom Edwards, chief of Air Force Entertainment, reportedly told Howells, "(You) have a choice to make: lose the shirt or leave the tour."

Instead, Howells turned to an LDS chaplain for help. The chaplain, based in Qatar, came up with a compromise: Howells would wear a black T-shirt on top of his flak vest and underneath his black polo shirt to hide the undergarment.

"Religious garments should not be visible while in uniform," an Air Force official said in a written statement to the Deseret Morning News.

While on stage, Howells always wears his religious undergarments because they don't show through his costume, he said. Off the stage, Tops in Blue members must wear a black polo shirt without a T-shirt underneath. Howells said the collar of his sacred religious undergarments barely showed while wearing his black Tops in Blue polo shirt.

Howells said he was happy to compromise but is angry he was berated for his religious principles in front of his unit and strangers at the busy airport terminal.

"A statement like that cannot be made, especially by someone who is the head of a whole entire entertainment branch of the military, and in the manner it was made and how it was said and where it was said," Howells said.