U.S. Generals support turbans |
Twenty-seven retired U.S. generals were signatories to a letter delivered Nov. 11 to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, urging him to create a blanket policy that would allow Sikh Americans to serve in all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces with their religiously-mandated turbans and beards intact.Army Major Kamal Kalsi – one of the first Indian Americans who was allowed to serve in the U.S. military beginning in 2009 without having to remove his articles of faith –spearheaded the effort by the Sikh Coalition and the McDermott Will and Emery law firm. The U.S. military has had a ban on turbans and beards since 1981; Sikh American activists say the regulation amounts to a presumptive ban on Sikhs serving in the U.S. military. In 2009, various branches of the Armed Forces began admitting service members with turbans and beards, but only on a case by case basis. Currently, only three soldiers serve in the U.S. military with their turbans and beards: Kalsi, Captain Tejdeep Singh Rattan, and Corporal Simranpreet Singh Lamba.
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