The universal soldier fights on either side of a conflict for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods, even if they are the wrong gods. – Richard Fernandez, the Belmont Club.

But they are never the wrong gods. When a Persian soldier lowered his spear and walked steadily toward a distant line of glinting shields, did he consider that Ahura Mazda might be the wrong god? I think not. When a Hittite bowman went careening across the field in a wild chariot charge, was not Warunkatte with him? When a legionnaire raised his shield did he not commend his spirit to Mithra? It has been said there are no atheists in a foxhole, and there were no atheists in a Spartan phalanx either.

It matters not to fighting men
What god be bona fide
What matters is that if and when
He fights, god’s on his side
Egyptian god or German god
The soldier sees as friend
Obeys the scepter and the rod
And soldiers to the end
When angels or Valkyries ride
To take him to his rest
Where in god’s arms he will abide
For he has done his best