Editor:

I have a hard time believing anyone could be so self-centered and closed-minded as to think that an enlistment ceremony at a football game is a display of fascism (“Air Force ceremony at football game felt like fascism,” Nov.9)

These ceremonies have been going on for decades in thousands of public places around the world, and are not performed to force those who witness them to “wave the flag.”

They are performed for the morale of those who serve this country. Even more importantly, for that individual as well as his/her friends and family, this time-honored enlistment ceremony is a very important first step toward his/her military service.

These are the same men and women who gladly sign up to put themselves into harm’s way so the writer can feel “sick to [your] stomach,” and then compare them to Nazi fascists.

Having seen the 229th birthday of the Marine Corps fall on Wednesday and Thursday marking Veteran’s Day, it seems to me that Saturday’s game was an ideal time and place for such a ceremony.

I would hope that regardless of your political ideology or hatred of all things military, you could put that aside for a few moments, wish these airmen well, and keep the Nazis out of it.

John Grothe

Alumnus