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When people used to say “there are no atheists in foxholes”, my response used to something like this: that’s because atheists aren’t dumb enough to get trapped in one.

The chaplain was struck both by RP2 Chute’s command of the Book of Revelation, and his refusal to take it seriously. “He’s familiar with the Christian doctrine, but he chooses not to believe it,” says the chaplain, a slender-faced, soft-spoken man with a fringe of gray in his black hair. “That’s what I find puzzling.”

But my experience in the secular movement has opened my eyes a bit to the actual numbers of men and women in uniform who are atheists and proud to serve there country. Took me a bit of time to wrap my head around the notion; ‘patriotism’ seems so irrational, so religious.

“He trusts God to keep him safe,” says RP2 Chute. “And I’m here just in case that doesn’t work out.”

The rational thing of course is to settle differences with compromises, not guns, but all too often the world we live in, plays a different game.