To the Journal Editor:

I wish to take exception with Therese Scram, (who wrote a guest) op-ed Nov. 2.

I do not take exception with most of her opinions or obvious political leanings; those are hers and her right. However, I do take exception to her statement in the fifth paragraph of the op-ed, quote, “He is a contemporary of my husband, many of those in that era, who were drafted into the service or enlisted because they had no choice.”

“They had no choice.” Really?

One of the greatest and most dangerous gifts God gave us was free will, in other words, choice.

I too, am a veteran, two tours in Vietnam and one in Iraq. I joined the U.S. Army in 1967 because I had a choice!

When and where you were born, who your parents are and the number of “Y” chromosomes you have, yeah you don’t have too much of choice there. But just about everything else is one choice after another throughout your life.

I had two brothers. One went to college, got married, had children and was deferred. The other went to the seminary and became a priest and was deferred.

A classmate of mine changed his religion and was deferred. Another declared his conscious objector status and worked in an alternate service for two years and one even moved to Canada.

A friend of mine got into trouble with the law and given a choice by the judge to join the service or spend some time in jail.

Yes circumstances, peer pressure, societal pressure, education or social economic status may all influence the choices you make but you still have choices. Every veteran, be they drafted or enlisted deserve our thanks and deserve the benefits and resources that were promised them.

But please stop dropping us into some emotional second class status just because we served and you do not understand why we made the choice to serve.

“Freedom, for those who fought, has a different flavor than for those who were protected.”

James Baker (1SGT. ret.)

L’Anse