Troops at Camp Shelby were told by an equal opportunity officer from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute they can’t say the word Christmas.

Fox News’ Todd Starnes reported that at a meeting two weeks ago at the Mississippi base an equal opportunity officer objected to the use of the word Christmas for an upcoming Christmas football tournament.

“Our equal opportunity representative stopped the briefing and told us that we can’t say Christmas,” an unnamed soldier told Starnes. “Almost the entire room blew up. Everybody was frustrated. The equal opportunity rep told our commander that not everyone celebrates Christmas and we couldn’t say Christmas celebration. It had to be holiday celebration.”

A Public Affairs officer for the base told Fox that there is no policy forbidding the word Christmas and said the football tournament was a “team building event” not tied to any specific holiday celebration.

Camp Shelby is the same base where earlier this year a Equal Opportunity officer called conservative Christian groups like the American Family Association a domestic hate group.