Sikhs Challenge U.S. Army's Ban on Turbans, Beards

[Richard]

...good order and discipline is just such a damned nuisance.

And not just for the military.

Richard's $.02

Florida City to Workers: Wear Underwear, Deodorant
AP, 16 Jun 2009

A Florida city is cleaning up with a new dress code that requires city workers to wear underwear and use deodorant.

The city council in Brooksville north of Tampa recently approved a dress code that instructs employees to observe "strict personal hygiene."

It also prohibits exposed underwear, clothing with foul language, "sexually provocative" clothes and piercings anywhere except the ears.

Repeat offenders can be fired.

The city council approved the dress code 4-1 as part of a wider effort to update existing policies and ordinances.

The one vote in opposition came from Mayor Joe Bernadini. He said the underwear edict "takes away freedom of choice."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090618/...rwear_required

[greenberetTFS]

If the Military gives into this one,well than I just give up! ......

Big Teddy

[kachingchingpow]

+1 on 2018commo's comments regarding the Sikh in our company. Damn good NCO, and consummate professional.

Interesting link:

http://americanreality.wordpress.com...heir-religion/

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by Richard

And not just for the military.

Florida City to Workers: Wear Underwear, Deodorant
AP, 16 Jun 2009

Richard's $.02

If you'd ever been to Brooksville, you'd understand.
I have and I do.

[Pete]

Army Allows a Sikh Doctor to Serve Wearing a Turban

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/ny...1&ref=nyregion

Story update - The door is open.

[glebo]

god gawd....it's like a kid. Give them an inch....and they'll take a mile. What are we gonna do next, halt battle drills/contact so folks can face east and pray???? in frickencredible

[Pete]

Sikhs are not Muslims.

As far as I know there is no similar dress requirements for all Muslims. Except for the requirement for women to dress moderatly and a few sect's own rules - nothing for everyone.

The deal about not eating and drinking during Ramadan is also not cut and dried. If it's a military requirement to get the job done they can eat and drink during the day. Now if they don't want to do it they will...............

[Richard]

Not a problem - keep 'em in MOPP-4 whenever they're on duty.

Richard's jaded $.02

[Surgicalcric]

I often wonder why people join something that has known standards, then bitch and moan about those standards.

The doc, regardless of how good he is, isnt good enough to open this pandora's box for... Whats next, open gays?

[Go Devil]

I remember pork being removed from the DFAC at Mackall for some guests that were living in the training area.

Originally Posted by Surgicalcric

Whats next, open gays?

You know that one is coming. It's on the horizon already.

As for the hats, there were physicians in Army wearing turbans in uniform in the 80s and 90s. I doubt they asked permission, but apparently nobody gave them grief about it. The dude that gave me my SF physical at WRAMC in 1990 was wearing one. There was a female full bird colonel that wore one all around Washington DC while in dress greens all the time when I was stationed there in 88-90. I don't know how or why they got away with it. It pissed me off to no end.

On the same token, nobody ever says anything to Jews for wearing those little caps, and they wear them all the time. Granted, they are a lot less conspicuous. Should that matter? I don't think so. They shouldn't be wearing that shit in uniform either.

First it's hats for religious purposes, next it's going to be nose rings to denote sexual preference. The Army screwed up big time by giving in even the slightest bit because it sets a precedence and gets the ball rolling for who-knows-what to float to the surface next.

[f50lrrp]

Army allows Sikh to keep beard, turban, uncut hair

The Army will allow Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, left, to keep his beard and turban. Tejdeep Singh Rattan is awaiting a decision.


The U.S Army has granted a member of a religious minority permission to keep his turban, beard and uncut hair while he serves in the military, the Pentagon and a group representing him said.

Capt. Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a doctor, is a Sikh, a faith that calls on its adherents not to shave or cut their hair.

Kalsi filed a request in the spring for an accommodation to follow the principles of his religion. This month the Army granted his request, the Sikh Coalition told CNN. The Pentagon public affairs office later confirmed that Kalsi would be allowed to keep his turban, beard and uncut hair.

The civil rights group hailed the move as "a major step toward ending a 23-year-old policy that excludes Sikhs from service."

Kalsi said he was "overjoyed."

"Like the many Sikhs who fought before me, I know I will serve America with honor and excellence," he said in a written statement.

But the Sikh Coalition provided what it said was a copy of the letter from the Army.

Maj. Gen. Gina Farrisee said in the letter that Kalsi's "beard, uncut hair, and turban will be neat and well maintained at all times."

She said her ruling applies only to Kalsi's case, and is not a change of Army policy.

"This accommodation is based solely on the facts and circumstances of your case," the letter said. "This accommodation does not constitute a blanket accommodation for any other individual."

She said the exception could be revoked "due to changed conditions."

Her letter was dated October 22 and released by the Sikh Coalition the next day.

Kalsi is not the only Sikh asking permission to keep his hair, beard and turban while serving in the Army. Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, applied at the same time as Kalsi. His case has been deferred until he receives the results of his dental board examinations, the Sikh Coalition told CNN.

Both were scheduled to report for active duty in July.

The Sikh Coalition said Kalsi and Rattan had been assured when they were recruited to join the Army's Health Professions Scholarship that their unshorn hair and turbans "would not be a problem."

"Both are concluding their training and are slated to begin active duty in July 2009. However, the U.S. Army is now disputing their ability to serve with their Sikh identity intact," the Sikh Coalition said in an April 14 letter addressed to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"It doesn't make sense to me, especially in these hard times," Kalsi told CNN at the time. "The military is hurting for professionals. They need doctors, they need nurses."

Amardeep Singh, the head of the Sikh Coalition, told CNN in the spring that the issue affects observant Sikhs, not those Sikh-Americans who entered the military after removing their turbans and shaving their beards and hair.

The issue is important for the roughly 500,000-strong American Sikh community, Singh said.

Sikhs faced hostility after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when people associated them with al Qaeda terrorists because their turbans and beards resembled the militants' appearance. The Sikh religion was founded in India.

"The perception is still there," Singh said. "We're sort of still feeling it."

He said surveys chronicle the problems Sikhs face. Among them is one conducted in the Queens borough of New York City recently in which children reported being on the receiving end of verbal and physical abuse, he said.

"These kids are being harassed in New York. It's Queens, the most diverse county in the United States. If this is happening in Queens, it's happening in other parts of the country."

So, he said, the opportunity to serve in the U.S. Army sends the opposite message -- "that we are part and parcel of the fabric of this country.

[The Reaper]

If a Sikh can serve without shaving or cutting his hair, why can't other soldiers?

Can he still wear a helmet and protective mask?

Are they special?

TR

[Box]

I am surprised that a man smart enough to be a doctor was dumb enough to believe everything his recruiter said.......

[hoot72]

Originally Posted by smp52

This set in motion events that resulted in Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister's assassination by Sikh bodyguards, which were followed by bloody riots with Hindus retaliating against Sikhs. The Khalistan movement folks (who wanted a separate Sikh homeland) were also responsible for the bombing of Air India 182.

A time line of events..... Despite all the violence, majority of the Sikhs remained loyal to India.

Sikhs make up a mere 3% of the population of india now and I believe make up 30% of the armed forces (unsure if this statistic was for officers or a general figure for the entire armed forces).

The vast majority of Sikhs emigrated to Canada, UK, and the United States and the population isn't what it was in the past.