Posted on 04/28/2009 5:48:38 AM PDT by PurpleMan
Kalsi, a doctor trained in emergency medicine, and 2nd Lt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a dentist, were first recruited for the Army’s Health Professions Scholarship Program. Kalsi said the recruiters with the Army Medical Corps gave assurances that wearing a beard and turban — mandatory articles of the Sikh faith — would not be a problem. And during several years of graduate school and medical training, Kalsi and Rattan both said their beards and turbans drew no concerns.
Now facing active duty in July, Kalsi and Rattan said their superiors are no longer accepting of their religious accommodations.
(Excerpt) Read more at sikhsindia.blogspot.com ...
What's the joke?
How can you tell when a recruiter is lying? Whe he moves his lips.
The beard question is easy. The Army quit allowing beards when chemical warfare made it necessary to wear a mask. You just can’t seal the mask to your face, if you have a big ole beard. Shave ‘em off.
The turban? I think I remember seeing a priest wearing his headgear, during mass....but, normally, he wore a hat or a kevlar.
I really think these two should conform...but I can’t completely lay the fault on them. How on earth did it get to this point? Nobody along the way thought it was important to mention until the Army has finished paying for their education?
Unless they have the assurance in writing TS.
Having had a beard myself for over 40 years, I can't see what the big deal is about wasting 15 minutes of time, scraping your face with a razor every morning.
Will they be required to cut that long hair they wear under the turban?
Hell, I just want to know what the truth is about what the recruiters said.
Nuclear/chemical/biological masks will not seal, and you'll die.
True, so make 'em shave it on deployment, when they're actually issued a mask. These guys are doctors, not trigger pullers. There's every chance that they will NEVER be deployed outside CONUS, where, last I checked, the risk of a NBC attack was pretty low.
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