Shields of Strength receives religious freedom award

Shields of Strength has provided over a million dog tags to military personnel. The faith-based and family-owned business in Texas creates dog tags that feature an American flag and In God We Trust on one side with a soldier’s insignia, specific military unit and a quote from the Bible on the other. The most popular quote being Joshua 1:9: “I will be strong and courageous, I will not be terrified or discouraged, for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go.”

First Liberty Institute presented Shields of Strength with the Philip B. Onderdonk Jr. Religious Liberty Award on stage at the 104th National Convention of The American Legion on Aug. 30, in Charlotte, N.C. The award is an engraved Henry repeating rifle that features a 24-karat gold bald eagle, Statue of Liberty and Liberty Bell, and laser etched with the award emblem. It is presented annually to honor a champion of religious freedom.

“My father was a soldier, and we love our nation, and we love our military,” said Shields of Strength founder Kenny Vaughn. As an athlete, his wife used to write Bible scriptures on his equipment to help him “overcome fear in my life and my dreams.” When war broke out in Iraq and Afghanistan, Vaughn went to a surplus store, bought dog tags and put scripture versus on them.

“They ended up in a gift shop in Sierra Vista, Arizona,” he said. “And some of the first troops deployed to Afghanistan took some of those dog tags with them. Then the requests went crazy.”

In his presentation of the award to Shields of Strength, Roger Byron, senior counsel with First Liberty Institute said, “One historian said with exception of the insignia on their uniforms, the emblem most often carried by American military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan was a Shields of Strength dog tag. So there’s no overstating the positive impact that Shields of Strength has had on our military personnel.”

However, Shields of Strength’s support and encouragement to military personnel has been stopped. The Department of Defense now has a policy that limits what Shields of Strength can put on its dog tags and provide to military personnel. Then DoD offices received complaint letters from an antireligion extremist group complaining about Shields of Strength and “demanding the DoD to do something about it” because they use Bible quotes.

“Tragically, DoD gave in to their demands,” Byron said. “And at this point restrictions have been placed on Shields of Strength, effectively making it impossible for them to continue to produce these dog tags and get them to our military personnel.

“But it’s not the end of the story.”

The same way First Liberty Institute has represented The American Legion for 20 years in support of religious freedom, they too are representing Shields of Strength. And filed a lawsuit “on their behalf to turn this around,” Byron said. “Hopefully one day very soon Shields of Strength will once again be making these dog tags to encourage our military personnel and get them into their hands.”

Vaughn and his wife have three now grown children who “got to grow up giving and seeing the fruit of giving,” he said. “They got to grow up doing something so special. And then seeing the difference that it made and being told that it was so right.

“But what’s the worst part to me about what’s been going on is that they’ve been told what they did was so right, was somehow wrong. And then they’ve watched us be told to stop doing it.”

Vaughn’s three children were on convention stage watching their father accept the award.

“This is really special to us because they’re here today. What they are reminded of today is that what they did right really was. Thank you so much. Thank you for the gift and thank you all for your service.

“I’m going to leave you with this. The most valuable thing I ever learned in my life was that love was not a feeling, it was a choice. It was a decision to do what was truly best for someone else without regard for yourself. It’s what you do. And that love’s greatest enemy is fear. So love always does what’s best for others without regard for itself, and fear will do what’s best for itself without regard for others. And so I encourage you to keep living a loving life. You’re an example for our nation, and we love you.”