Sikh recruit graduates from elite US Marine Corps with turban, beard

Washington: For the first time, a 21-year-old Sikh Marine has graduated from the elite US Marine Corps recruit training without having to shave his head or beard or give up the “articles of faith” that are considered sacred in Sikhism.

Private First Class Jaskirat Singh on Friday made history on completing his training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego after a federal judge ordered the military service in April to accommodate the recruit’s religious practices, The Washington Times reported.

The order came nearly a year after three Sikhs and Jewish and Muslim recruits sued the Marines seeking religious accommodations.

The Army and Air Force accommodate Sikh recruits, attorney Giselle Klapper with the Sikh Coalition said, while the Navy offers more limited accommodations. The Marines were the most restrictive of the services.

He is likely the first enlisted Marine to graduate from recruit training while wearing articles of faith intrinsic to the Sikh tradition, specifically a beard and turban, Military.com quoted the Sikh Coalition which, along with other advocates, has helped him and more than 50 Sikh Americans secure military accommodations for religious wear.

Last year, a federal court of appeals granted a preliminary injunction allowing Singh to begin training without having to have his head and beard shaved, which is customary for recruits when they first arrive at boot camp.

The injunction also allowed Singh to wear religious articles such as turbans and patkas.

“Making it through Recruit Training is an achievement I am deeply proud to share with all of my brothers and sisters in my battalion," Singh was quoted as saying by the Messenger news website.

"The fact that I did it with my Sikh articles of faith, which posed no barrier to my achievement, is deeply meaningful to me personally," he said.

Singh said his fellow recruits supported him and his religious beliefs, and that he had chosen the Marine Corps because of the services’ values of honour, courage and commitment overlapping with Sikh values.

The court order covered only Singh, but Klapper said the group hopes the Marine Corps will extend the accommodation to all Sikh recruits.

Another attorney who worked on the case, Amandeep S. Sidhu, a partner at a law firm, said he also looks for change by the Marines, one of the nation’s oldest and elite military services.