At Merrimack Valley High, the yearbook policy prohibits photos like the one Jordan Westgate submitted. He's wearing his army combat hat, and he's standing in front of the American flag. What's the problem? asks Jordan, a senior who completed the Army's basic training last summer.

He's showing no disrespect. No disrespect at all. No hats and no props? Well, okay, for the most part. But shouldn't exceptions be made, especially these days, when we're fighting two wars simultaneously?

In fact Westgate, who will become a full-time soldier after graduation, believes he's showing more respect than anyone else in his class.

Where's the beef?

"I think it's disrespectful to disassemble the uniform," says Westgate, sitting in his kitchen with his stepmother, Dee, nearby. "It's disrespectful to the men and women who have fought and died before me."

Jordan and Dee want the issue in the open. They feel passionate about their cause. The MV administration, meanwhile, has dug in and stuck to the letter of its law.

The rule debuted four years ago, after students began submitting their own digitally snapped photos, often casual, posed, full-length and, the administration believed, inappropriate for the formal flavor sought in the student's portrait section.

Therein lies the seeds of our feud. It's lasted the better part of two months. Jordan will have his yearbook photo taken by a fellow student and her digital camera, but the residual effects linger with the family.

It certainly didn't help when Dee, anticipating a fight and searching for ammunition, found a picture of a Muslim girl who covered her head with a traditional scarf in the 2007 yearbook's junior class section.

Dee quickly slid the little photo of the Muslim girl across the kitchen counter to bolster her case.

"We feel we're being discriminated against for being in the military," Dee said. "She had to wear something as part of her religion. What's the difference?"

Mike Jette, the MV principal, is in the eye of the storm. He calmly answered questions about the issue this week. He emphasized that this is not a statement against the military, noting that his grandfather and father served.

But he says religion and the controversy surrounding Jordan are, indeed, different. The Muslim student had no choice; Jordan did.

"I think there's a difference with religion," Jette said. "If a Jewish student came here and said he had to wear a yarmulke (for the portrait photograph), we'd have to look at that."

Jette added that students, maybe one or two a year, ask for permission to submit photos of themselves in military uniform. He's held firm so far.

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