OK, we’ve heard all the pros and cons of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” I happen to think that it doesn’t matter if you are homosexual, straight, bisexual, white, black, purple, male, female, religious or not: The only thing that should matter in the military is that the job gets done. If you can’t get the job done because of personal reasons, i.e. discrimination, there’s the door and thank you for your service.

In “A matter of maturity” (letter, Feb. 15) it was asked, “Would the writer feel comfortable knowing someone was possibly ‘checking out’ her husband in the shower?” and “Would the writer agree to her husband sharing quarters and showers with a female soldier?” Many in the younger generation that was raised with a lick of common sense (or should we call it uncommon sense, as there is a serious lack of it) don’t care. I went to a few nude spas while in Germany and I felt fine. If a man hit on me, which has happened, I just said I’m not like that and it was over.

Guess what? This happens to heterosexuals trying to pick up another heterosexual too! “You’re not really my type.”

People, will it affect our troop levels a bit? Maybe, but the contract they signed states they “will obey … the orders of the officers appointed over me ... will protect the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic … [and] bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” If you can’t follow those orders and protect the freedoms of all Americans, then maybe we need some force shaping. At least then, some of the more mature folks can rise through the ranks as the letter writer suggests.

Staff Sgt. Jason GeddingsMisawa Air Base, Japan