Sikhs have served in the United States military at least as far back as the early 20th century, when one Bhagat Singh Thind, who though not a citizen joined the United States Army and served in World War I. Thind requested citizenship at the end of the war, being granted and revoked twice, before finally being naturalized in 1936. Far larger numbers of Sikhs served in World War II, and all American wars following.
The ability of observant Sikhs to serve in the American military has, since 1985, been compromised by a discontinuation of exemptions to uniform standards which previously allowed Sikhs to maintain their religiously-mandated beards and turbans while in uniform. Currently, a Sikh doctor, Kamaljeet S. Kalsi, and dentist, Tejdeep Singh Rattan, are the only Sikh officers to be permitted to serve in uniform with beard and turban. In addition, Simranpreet Lamba was permitted to enlist, with exemption to wear his turban and beard, in 2010 due to his knowledge of Punjabi and Hindi.
I don’t doubt that there are brave men and women who are highly qualified and would be a valuable asset to our military - that can’t join because of religious beliefs.
But I have a problem with carving out exemptions for a few.
You give a brave warrior Shikh an exemption - and along comes Muslim Terrorist Nidal Hasan wanting the same exemption.
So just why did the Judge get yanked off Nidal’s case . Something that RARELY happens in the Military Court System.
I assume the beard controversy isn’t over. If the new Judge allows him to keep the beard - or shave it off - either way it will cause a problem.