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Let Sikhs youth serve Army with religious identity: Lawmakers
Three influential Congressmen have asked the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to let the Sikh American youths serve the US Army with their religious identity.
Three influential Congressmen have asked the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to let the Sikh American youths serve the US Army with their religious identity.
Three lawmakers, Carolyn Maloney, Rodney Frelinghuysen and Joseph Crowley, in a letter to Gates have strongly supported the two Sikh American youths who have challenged the Pentagon regulation which prevent them in serving the US Army with their religious identity.
The lawmakers have asked the Defense Secretary to give full consideration to the soldiers' requests.
They, in their letter, cited other Sikhs' service in the US Armed Forces and in its allies' militaries to support their argument that these men should be permitted to serve.
"Throughout our history, our nation's military has succeeded in training individuals from diverse backgrounds and communities to achieve one unifying goal: to protect and defend our nation.
"Providing Lieutenant (Tajdeep S Rattan) Rattan with a reasonable accommodation would simply be an additional chapter in this long history of military success," wrote Congresswoman Maloney, and Congressman Crowley in a joint letter dated June 17 to Gates.
