"In a decision by the U.S. Army Thursday, Capt. Simratpal Singh, a decorated Sikh-American officer and combat veteran, has received a long-term religious accommodation to serve with long hair, a beard, and turban in accordance with his Sikh faith."
But the turban has to be digital camo, I see.
Interesting, in that given the Sikh tradition of military service and the U.S. Army's need for warm bodies I'd have thought this one would be pretty much a slam dunk a long time ago.
But, then again, peacetime armies tend to be kinda anal about uniform regulations. Frankly, I'd have loved to see AR 670-1 updated to include something like this as Sikh dress blue headgear:
Ain't gonna happen, sadly. My Army just doesn't have the passion for fashion. Sigh.
Anyway, consider this an open thread about the minutiae of military dress.
10 comments:
At my last posting, as a member of a USMC tenant lashup at the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) a 3500 member SCIF on the outskirts of Exceptionali City DC (District of Corruption). One day, when entering our other office, I was dumbstruck by what I beheld. In front of me was a white Army guy, resplendent in his green bus driver uniform and sporting a Sikh turban. This was obviously legally sat at the time. Probably trusted as well, since he had to have a Top Secret SCI/SSBI clearance to enter the building. Did the Army end this policy only to resurrect it?
At the end of the first sentence, I should have added, "I witnessed the following."
My guess is that DA might have granted exemptions on a case-by-case basis before this. A GI working at the ONI offices could well have qualified for such an exemption. The problem I can see (other than the usual "I'm SGM Lardass and I HATE anything not perfectly uniform..!" thing) is that the beard would present NBC problems (mask fit) and the long hair hygiene/helmet problems. But working in a DC office? No problems, exemption granted...
And since we're talking about uniforms...the one thing I was pleased to see was the final death of the Army Green Class A bus driver uniform. Always hated that thing, both for color, cut, and feel (the AG344 polyester leisure-suit one, anyway...).
The Army color was always blue, and when we dress up we should be in blue, and that uniform is much sharper looking than the old green sack.
Now we just need to dump the goddamn beret except for the special units. The regulars joes can go back to the bus driver hat, which was always a better looking and more practical piece of headgear, anyway...
The latter photo is apparently of a soldier from the Wagah border closing ceremony between Pakistan and India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC9NeJh1NhI
I'm thinking the Canada/US border needs something similar.
Yeah, I saw that this guy is essentially a Border Cop. Can you imagine our Border Patrol folks in something like this? It'd be awesome, and at least make the long wait at the border more scenic...
always safe to go with ancient tradition
http://i2.listal.com/image/4132737/936full-meet-the-spartans-screenshot.jpg
bb
Only if by "ancient tradition" you mean "Friday's special performance at the Meat Market Dance Club"...
The Canadian Armed Forces adopted dress regs for Sikhs and turbans a long, long time ago, at least 40 years. The RCMP followed suit only in the last 10 or 15. The world didn't end.
Regulations permit the headgear and beard, but the beard has to be trimmed so that you gas mask will seal properly and there are alternatives to a full turban (which is 6 or 7 yards of cloth) called keski or patka (depending on the sect) which are much smaller, and bundle the hair up so it can be worn under a helmet.
I think the Canadian forces kinda fall under the whole "British military traditions" that are much, much more accepting of unit/individual peculiarities in military dress. The Brits themselves seem to take it to extremes; I had a senior US NCO once remark that "The goddamn Brits have a different outfit for every goddamn squad." And, given the British affection for regimental quirks he was exaggerating only in degree rather than in approach.
But, yeah. There's no real reason that the US Army couldn't have worked out something. It's just our immense weight of peacetime inertia.
The CF is not a British-influenced as it was when I was in, at least in terms of doctrine and equipment. But regimental traditions do live on and on... and there are plenty of quirks and flouts in the US Army too, I'm sure (it's my impression the Cavalry units are the worst offenders, but I could be wrong).
Post a Comment