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You have got to be kidding me ("If gays can serve openly, will straights still want to?," article, Nov. 18). Gays are serving now. I shower in the same trailer as lesbians. My male counterparts work side by side with homosexuals. [Gays] do not hide it, nor do they flaunt it, and no one really cares.

Regardless of the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy, we are not stupid. To say that repealing this policy would break down unit cohesion is to insult the intelligence of most soldiers. I understand that a line unit may have bigger problems with this. However, just because someone could come out does not mean they will. Nor does it mean they will be less of a soldier in any way.

The only real issue here is that the military will have to find a new and improved way to selectively discharge its problem children. There will be a few who will have issues serving with openly gay soldiers; just as others had to get used to serving with "openly Muslim" soldiers and "openly female" soldiers.

As long as someone can move, shoot and communicate effectively, who cares what they do in their off time (adhering to legal and moral standards, of course). We are all human beings from all walks of life from all over the world. Professionalism and tolerance are part of the military lifestyle. This is not news. If the big dogs decided to ask those currently serving, then they would most likely find the vast majority of us are too busy trying not to get our appendages blown off to worry about it one way or the other.

They’re here, they’re everywhere, get over it.

Sgt. Samantha PangBaghdad

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