Like any practicing male Sikh, Tejdeep Singh Rattan wears a turban to cover his long hair and sports a full beard.
These are typically no-nos for soldiers in the US Army, but the powers-that-be made an extremely rare exemption for the Indian immigrant and allowed him to serve without sacrificing the articles of his religious faith.
The result? On Monday, Rattan became the first Sikh in a generation to graduate from US Army officer basic training.
“I’m feeling very humbled. I’m a soldier,” a grinning Capt. Rattan told The Associated Press after the ceremony at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, as other members of the Sikh community milled about nearby. “This has been my dream.”
Rattan immigrated to the US from India as a teenager and said he decided to serve as a way to give back to the country that had given him so much. Rattan, along with Dr. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, who will attend basic training this summer, are the first Sikhs to receive exemptions in more than 25 years. They reportedly received them because of their health care skills, particularly needed in a military stretched thin by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To accommodate his religion, Rattan worked with an Army tailor to create a flash, the insignia patch worn on soldiers’ berets, that could be affixed to his black turban. He wore a helmet over his turban during training and made sure his gas mask made the necessary seal over his beard.
The Army also worked with Rattan’s fellow officers-in-training to make sure they understood he was not a foreign national and had received official permission to keep his turban and beard.
“It went pretty well,” 1st Sgt. Jeffrey DeGarmo told the AP. “I think he did an outstanding job adjusting.”
Photo courtesy of the New Zealand Herald.