With respect to Lt. Col. Bill Hestir (“Grant and Lee’s Beards Never Saw Gas Masks,” Letters, Nov 2): I deployed to Afghanistan for the better part of a year—my gas mask stored safely in my foot locker the entire time, far from my Apache helicopter. A beard would have made no difference one way or the other. There is great value in our military projecting a professional image, but also great value lost in the service going deliberately out of its way to have its members look distinctly different than the society it serves.