Since September 11th, the United States Department of Defense has tried to inform those in uniform about Islam in what appears to be a significant effort to avoid outbursts of Islamophobia or the mistreatment of Muslim soldiers and service personnel. Just take a quick gander at a Defense Department article from October 2001 article on “Islam Growing in America, U.S. Military”:

In the United States, Islam is the fastest growing religion, a trend fueled mostly by immigration. There are 5 million to 7 million Muslims in the United States. They make up between 10,000 and 20,000 members of the American military.

Army Chaplain (Capt.) Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad is a Muslim Imam stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. In his chaplaincy, he ministers to all faiths.

Imam Muhammad said Muslims all believe in the Five Pillars of the Faith. “The foundation of the faith, or Shahada, is the testimony in the belief in one God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God,” he said.

Another of the pillars is prayer. Muslims pray to Allah five times a day, at dawn, midday, afternoon, evening and night. Wherever they are, they bow in the direction of Mecca, the Saudi Arabian city where Muhammad was born, for their prayers.

Charity is another pillar, Imam Muhammad said. “One gives a minimum of 2.5 percent of their wealth to the Islamic community yearly,” he said.

Another requirement is fasting during the month of Ramadan each year. Ramadan begins Nov. 18 this year.

Finally, Muslims are expected, if possible, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime. This is the Hajj to the Grand Mosque.

This near bullet-point summary of Muslim practices and more in-depth discussion by one of its adherents in the armed forces does much to undo misconceptions about Islam — namely the underlying idea that Islam and American identity are incompatible. It also quotes then-President George W. Bush in saying that “Islam is peace.”

This article — and the number like it that one can find on the Department of Defense website — is admirable, and all the more so given the potential for (and reality of) Islamophobia following 9/11. It shows the extent to which the Department of Defense has invested in maintaining cohesion within its ranks, even as they become increasingly religiously diverse. Yet it I wish that the article — and perhaps also the Department of Defense — did more to tell the stories of the Muslim men and women who serve our country with boldness and valor.

Only one article, admittedly from my finite number of searches on the Defense Department website, does justice to the story of a Muslim-American serving his country’s military with honor and pride. Based on some estimates, there may be as many as 13,000 more to tell.

In September 2010, Army 1st Lt. Rafael Lantigua, became the Army National Guard’s first Muslim Chaplain. Lt. Lantigua grew up in a religiously diverse family — with a Baptist Mother, Roman Catholic Father, and Buddhist Step-Father. As a teenager he found himself drawn to Islam and eventually decided to convert. His decision to serve in the military may also be closely linked to his belief system — both in what he hopes to do for Muslim servicemembers and for non-Muslim servicemembers who may have misapprehensions about Islam. He explains,

I hope that I will be able to encourage more servicemembers of my faith to open up about their religious beliefs, especially with how we are viewed politically…. I hope to show my fellow military members that Muslims are not bad people and that we are not all radical Muslim terrorists.

Lt. Lantigua’s story is not unique, but those like it are too rarely heard. “Muslims have been with us since the formation of this great country. There were Muslims fighting with us during the Revolutionary War,” affirms Lt. Lantigua. It is time that we tell their stories and salute their efforts. Theirs are the faces of Islam in America — and role models to all Americans in their decision to serve.