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In reply to the writer of “An unfair comparison,” (letter, Feb. 10), I would just like to remind the author, and everyone in the military, that all service branches and the nation are composed of a variety of religious beliefs.

In reality, it doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is, what your sexual orientation is, or what your religion is. If you are willing to fight and die for our country, you should be allowed to do so without being discriminated against.

In regard to the matters of morality, the reason society is allowed to dictate what is right and wrong is because we are allowed the freedoms that we, as soldiers, fight to protect. Not all religious beliefs have the same morals, nor does everyone in the country. I believe, as a person and as a soldier in the U.S. Army, that people should be allowed to choose whether they want to be gay, or whether they want to be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, Buddhist or any of the other religions available to us, each with its own morals, ethics and beliefs.

It is immoral for any of us to expect everyone else to adhere to our own sense of morality. The U.S.A. is the land of the free and the home of the brave, so let soldiers be free to be whom they are.

I would far more trust a soldier who is open about whom he or she is than one who is forced to lie in order to keep fighting and protect the country he or she loves. What else are we fighting for, if not the freedom for each individual to choose?

Sgt. Vance E. WilliamsonFort Buckner, Okinawa

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