Two Sikh-American military recruits, both medical professionals already in the US Army, who have been denied the right to report for active duty in July unless they remove their turbans and cut their unshorn hair and beards, have called on the Pentagon to allow them to serve their country without having to compromise their religious principles.
Captain Kamaljit Singh Kalsi, a physician, and Second Lieutenant Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, said at a press conference on Tuesday organised by the Sikh Coalition -- a national civil rights organization-- and held symbolically at the US Marine Corps War Memorial, more popularly known as the Iwo Jima Memorial adjacent to the Arlington Cemetery, that they had been assured by military recruiters that their turbans and unshorn hair "would not be a problem" when they were recruited to join the Army's Health Professionals Scholarship Program, which paid for their medical training in return for their military service.
Both maintained their turbans, unshorn hair and beards throughout graduate school and during specialized Army training, and at Army ceremonies and while working in military medical facilities. But, now the Army was telling them that the recruiters' assurances were false and that they would have to forsake their religious practices if they want to go into active duty.
Kalsi said, "I was shocked to learn that the Army would go back on its promise, and tell me I would have to give up my faith in order to serve. There is nothing about my religion that stops me from doing my job. I know I can serve well without compromising my faith."
"I have trained in my profession as a medical doctor thanks to the assistance I received from the US Army," he said. "Now, I want to make sure that I give back to the country and the people who have invested so much in me."
Kalsi, of Riverdale, New Jersey, argued, "At a time when our troops need as much help as they can get, I cannot understand why the Army would want to keep me from serving."
"Today, I have children of my own," he said, and added, "As a father, I hope they achieve all their hopes and dreams. And, as an American, I hope they never have to choose between their religion and their country."
Rattan from New York City, while acknowledging that he was not born in the US, said, "This is now my home and I am an American, and our country was built by people like me, from different parts of the globe, from different races and religions."
"All of us came here trusting in the core principle of equality and that is the same right I am asking for today."
Rattan said, "As an immigrant, I hope that my desire to serve in the Army shows my commitment to my country. I am willing to lay down my life for America. In return, I ask only that my country respect my faith, an integral part of who I am. My turban and beard are not an option -- they are an intrinsic part of me."
He said that he had "been looking forward to my service since I first signed up," and lamented that "it is deeply unfair that the Army is now asking me to choose between my religion or my country. I know I can serve well without compromising my faith, just as thousands of Sikhs before me have done."
In 1981, the Army banned "conspicuous' religious articles of faith for its service members, and everything from a Cross for Christians or Star of David for Jews or a Crescent for Muslims or any other such article worn by US soldiers around their necks or anywhere else, had to be covered up so that they would not be seen. However, Sikhs and other soldiers belonging to other faiths who were part of the army before the 1981 rule change had their religious observances grandfathered. As a result, Colonel Arjinderpal Singh Sekhon, a physician, and Colonel G B Singh, a dentist -- who were both at the press conference to support the campaign of Kalsi and Rattan -- served in the Army with their turbans and unshorn hair and beards for over 25 years. Both men only retired within the last two years.
Amardeep Singh, executive director of the Sikh Coalition, said, "We chose to hold the news conference here in front of the Marine War Memorial because Sikhs were part of the US military during World War II. Sikh Americans, like all Americans, should have the right to serve their country."
He recalled that in 1948, President Truman integrated our military. Today, we are asking the Army to keep his promise of equal opportunities for all Americans."
Singh told rediff.com that "What we are doing here is pushing the US Army to reflect the diversity in the country and reflect the freedoms and liberties embedded in the Constitution. So, we want them to end this basically segregation in the US Army and make sure that people who are willing to serve, can serve, are capable of serving."
"Our argument is that there are Sikhs right now who are serving with US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the Coalition Forces and belonging to the British and Canadian armies who have their beards and turbans, and Sikhs from these countries have served for years as part of the US-led peacekeeping forces."
Thus, he asserted that "if Britain and Canada have allowed them to do that, why not the US? Especially a country, which has the expression of religious freedom as part of the Constitution and especially the country that everyone looks up to for upholding these freedoms. We are not talking about a country that's trying to catch up with the rest of the world on this issue, but unfortunately, when it comes to the Sikh, we are."
Singh reiterated that "so, we are trying to move the US government to move in the right direction and as part of the strategy, we filed a complaint today with the help of the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, one of the biggest law firms in DC against the Inspector General of the Department of Defense and the Inspector General of the US Army and the complaint calls for a change in policy to allow all Sikhs to serve in the Army without having to compromise their religious principles."
"We are also having a series of visits with members of Congress in the next few days and so we have embarked on this process now and this press conference was the kick-off of this process," he added.
Kalsi told rediff.com, "We only want to serve. We are not challenging the Army. We are not fighting the Army, we are already part of the Army. I have been in active duty in West Point and then in California and I've had no problem so far wearing my turban and observing my other religious principles. I am just finishing up the last of my training in emergency medicine and come July I would have gone to active duty overseas in military service and that's what I have been looking forward to for the past several years, and now my superiors, who are part of the medical corps, tell me I won't be able to with my turban and beard and that it will be a problem."
"This is what I want to do -- I come from three generations of military service. I am now the fourth generation. My dad was in the Indian Air Force, my grandfather was in the Indian Air Force and my great grandfather was in the Royal British Army and as you know Sikhs have served and died in every major world war."
Kalsi said, "So, it would be just a great shame for us not to be able to serve, when our blood, sweat and tears are in this soil (for America) too."
His sentiments were echoed by Rattan, who told rediff.com, "I am already a commissioned officer, and I would just like to serve -- that's all."
"We are not trying to make a big deal out of it, there's nothing political about it. It's just that I am a practising Sikh and so, just let me be a Sikh and observe my religion and also serve my country, just like we do everywhere else," he said. "This is not as if we are trying to fight or anything. We are just asking them, requesting them, to help us serve. That's all there is to it."
"And if Colonel Sekhon and Colonel Singh could do it for more than 25 years, why shouldn't we be able to do it too," he added.
Sekhon told rediff.com, "I served for 25 years in the US Army with my turban, with my beard, and there was absolutely no problem."
"I entered as a captain, I got promoted to the rank of a colonel, I was selected five times to be a commander, I was selected for the War College, I was selected for the National Service School and there was never a problem and my turban and beard was no hindrance and they kept on selecting me and they kept on giving me these great evaluations."
Sekhon asked, "Why then are they suddenly saying that Sikhs have to cut their beards and the turban is some kind of a hindrance and interference. It doesn't make sense. Somebody needs to question the Pentagon, why? And, they have to prove, why? And, we have to prove that they are wrong."
"I still cannot figure out who made this change in policy. Eisenhower lifted that and then somebody put that in and I can understand why. Eisenhower knew how good the Sikhs are. Eisenhower could not win in Tunisia and he was called back and then Montgomery went with a Sikh army and won in Tunisia(the liberation of France in World War II). So, he knew that Sikhs are a marshal race and we are great fighters, we have a tradition of being great fighters and saviors of nations."
Sekhon said if he had the opportunity to testify before the US Congress, "I'll have great fun there and I'll prove to them that right now at the present time, I am probably the most qualified and educated military officer and I'll put that record in front of them and then they would have to tell the Pentagon that if he can do it, why can't these young Sikh boys do it."
"This is such a misguided policy," he reiterated. "But I am glad our young generation is willing to fight it instead of keeping quiet like the older generation. They say we are taxpayers, and why don't then the Sikh Americans also enjoy the GI Bill too, when they are also paying for it. Why should they be discriminated."
Retired Colonel Singh also endorsed Sekhon's views and told rediff.com how "I joined the Army when I was only 23 years, and that was my entire life. I got a great training, which I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else, since I did not come from a family with a military tradition."
He said the way the two officers, Kalsi and Rattan were going about it with the help of the Sikh Coalition "is a good way to resolve this."
Meanwhile, the Sikh Coalition and more than a dozen Sikh organizations and associations, also jointly wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, calling for a review of this Army position and to make the changes necessary so that Sikh Americans could serve their country without having to give up their religious principles.
"We write today to urge you to life the effective ban on members of the Sikh faith from joining the United States Military. Each of our organizations believes that as Americans, those willing and able to serve in defense of their country, should be permitted to do so," the coalition said in its missive to Gates.
