zahavasdad,
The Army is about everyone being equal
Respecting diversity and treating people as equals are certainly not mutually exclusive concepts. In fact, forcing some in a unit to compromise on their values but not others is not treating people equally.
When you are in the Foxhole and being shot at, the bullets being shot at you dont ask if you are Makpid Chalav Yisroel, Beis Yosef or even if you eat Kosher.
And in the U.S. army, the bullets don’t ask if you keep kosher and go to shul on Shabbos, or if you eat fish on Fridays and go to mass on Sundays. Are you opposed to the U.S. army providing kosher food to Jewish soldiers, or allowing Catholic soldiers leave to attend mass?
Part of army training is getting people to follow this philosophy.
Training which should actually include respect for diversity, not squashing it.
You have to have the thinking your fellow soldier is your comrade and equal otherwise you cannot fight together and when one of you is hurt, you have to help your wounded comrade
What is the relevance of this sentence?