What are your thoughts on Free Masons in the military?

So far in my almost 18 year career, I have only had mildly negative experiences with the Masons. I do not believe that anything remotely religious/political/fraternal should be allowed in the workplace. Do what you want outside of work, but leave it there when you are working. I have listened to Soldiers talking to one another when they should be working, secure in the knowledge that their Masonic NCO will have their back. I have seen Masons tap their rings on a desk, thereby gaining acknowledgement from another of who they are. This simple act puts anyone not a Mason immediately on the outside of any conversation. I have also seen recruited, younger Soldiers, end up spending a lot of money (on what, I'm not sure) and way too much time away from families and memorizing/reading at work in order to prepare themselves for initiation. I believe wholeheartedly that if there is a Mason in another Mason's chain-of-command/concern, they would benefit from that, if only on a small scale. I have seen senior leaders out-ranked in the Masonic world by their junior Soldiers. Although not a constant factor, this must cause confusion and/or problems in the workplace, knowing that you are supposed to be someone's boss during the work day, but junior to that same person outside of work. Let me be honest in admitting that I don't know a ton about Masonry, but my limited knowledge and experiences have clouded my ability to form a non-biased opinion. I realize calling Masons a 'gang', as some do, is wrong. I lump Masonry with religion and politics as some of the things that should not be discussed in the workplace. People join all sorts of organizations, and that is fine, but there is a line that should not be crossed. Unfortunately, I have seen it crossed way to many times. One last thing: I've read a lot of posts on this subject stating that Masons do wonderful things for their units, but no one says anything specific. What are these wonderful things?

Why are you worried that they actually ARE the Illuminati....? ;o)

I don't really see where it matters, its not like the free masons are somehow anti military. It's like saying how do you feel about a member of the YMCA joining the military. Some groups don't need to be in the military like the KKK or westboro baptist church members but over all it shouldn't matter.

The concept is innocuous and most of the comments here seem to repeat that message. The Masons (all kinds) are outstanding fraternal organizations that do amazing work in their local communities and have for a long time. The major concern to the military is that there is a separate rank structure in the Masons. You could be a SFC who has been in the Masons for 20(+) years and a CPT can be in the Masons and only be in 4 years. There is a rank issue there that has to be separated and non-influential. I have never seen any issues outright, but I can see the potential. It comes down to the maturity of the Mason in question and his understanding of the separation necessary in the military, as there are UCMJ possibilities if it is abused. Fraternization is another possibility, but only applies to officers. ART134 of the UCMJ states the elements: 1) That the accused was a commissioned officer or warrant officer, 2) That the accused fraternized on terms of military equality with one or more certain elisted members in a certain manner, 3) That the accused then knew the persons to be enlisted members, 4) That such fraternization violated the custom of the accused' service that officers shall not fraternize with enlisted members on terms of military equality and, 5) That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces. The issue is "equality." Even worse if it is a reversed inequality. SO...while the Masons are great organizations and have been around forever (as stated below, George Washington and many members of the Federalists were Free Masons...but they were usually-normally-most of the time...land holding powerful men and officers or politicians), the modern ramifications are a possibility that did not exist back in the day because back then, most enlisted WERE NOT Masons.

I think masons should be paid, like all other soldiers.

Now if you want to belong to groups outside of your duty day, no problem...as long as it does not distract from your duties.

i am a prince hall mason and it has nothing to do with me being in the military. what i do outside of the military is me but as long as it do not get in the way of my duty's and it do not

I think it is great.  Nothing wrong with it as long as it is not used to show favoritism towards or protect service members.