I’ve got no problem with Sikhs....but this ruling doesn’t make any sense to me.
The stumbling block? The gas mask.
Our military men used to have beards - just about every civil war general sported one. But that all changed with World War I. Mustard gas was being used, and soldiers had to put masks on their faces - and the masks had to seal well to the face. Nothing has changed, and the same is true today.
WWI also was so industrialized, and each side was able to bring so many men to the battles, that lice and other critters became a major problem - so short hair also became a requirement.
So how is a Sikh going to put on his gas mask? If I recall, at least once a year we had to go through the gas tent, demonstrate we could put the thing on in time, etc. Will the Sikh’s be exempt from this training?
“So how is a Sikh going to put on his gas mask?”
That’s an excellent question that I honestly couldn’t answer. There are Sikhs in the British army. I wonder how they’ve handled the gas mask issue - presuming they have similar mask standards as we do. Don’t our submariner and special forces guys also grow beards? I wonder how the gas mask thing works for them? It would be interesting to know. In any event, Sikhs have been fighting Islamic terrorists for many centuries and would be an asset to the US military if these issues could be worked out.