According to the messenger “ A Sikh man graduated from basic training Friday to join the ranks of the U.S. Marine Corps — the culmination of a two-year court battle to let him uphold the sacred tenets of his faith while also serving his country.
Jaskirat Singh, 21, graduated from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in California on Friday at the rank of private first class.
But the road to his becoming one of "the few, the proud," was a bumpy one.
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.
With an expert rifle badge on his chest and a gold Eagle, Globe and Anchor insignia on his turban signifying his attaining the title of U.S. Marine, Singh spoke to reporters on Friday.
“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 said.
"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."
Singh said his fellow recruits were supportive of him and his religious beliefs, and that he had chosen the Marine Corps because of the services’ values of honor, courage and commitment overlapping with Sikh values. Singh is contracted to be an infantry rifleman and will undergo training at the Marine Corps’ School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton in California.
For Sikhs, beards and unshorn hair stand as profound emblems of their religious beliefs that they were created in God’s perfect image and that their hair should therefore not be altered.
Milaap Chahal, who also sued the Marine Corps, said in his administrative appeal that cutting one’s hair is “as reprehensible as adultery,” and that throughout history, Sikhs have chosen death over cutting their hair.
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals noted the testimony from the Sikh Coalition, a non-profit advocacy group that defends Sikh civil rights, and which said that “denying a Sikh the right to wear a turban and maintain unshorn hair…is perceived by followers as the most humiliating and hurtful physical injury that can be inflicted upon a Sikh.”
“I am grateful that my fellow Marines were supportive of me and my faith, and I hope that the respect they showed me sends a strong signal to young Sikhs who are thinking about military service,” said Singh.
Long Fight to Join the Corps
Singh began his push to join the Marine Corps in 2021, along with two other Sikhs, Milaap Chahal and Aekash Singh. He passed the standard entrance exam known as the Armed Services Vocational Battery Test, or ASVAB, and was “found to be mentally, morally, and physically qualified for accession into the Marine Corps,” per a court filing.
In November 2021, Singh and his legal counsel submitted a request to the Marine Corps to serve with his articles of faith, meaning he would attend recruit training without shaving his hair and wearing his turban.
The Marine Corps said it would allow Singh to wear “unshorn hair, neatly tied beards, turbans or patkas, and a steel bracelet after basic training,” except when receiving hostile fire or imminent danger pay in a combat zone, or when Marine commanders determined that a beard or turban might hinder his duties in some way.
But it initially refused to grant his religious exemption for the Corp’s 13-week basic training program due to a “compelling interest” in “instilling in each Marine an identity as part of a team.”
Singh filed an appeal, and a lawsuit was filed on his and the other Sikhs' behalf in April 2022 against the Commandant of the Marine Corps and other Defense Department officials. The suit alleged that the Marine Corps denial had violated the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Singh’s lawyers filed a motion for a preliminary injunction which would have allowed him to attend recruit training with his articles of faith, but in August 2022, a U.S. District Court judge denied the motion on the grounds that granting the injunction would “pose a serious threat to national security” by disrupting Marine Corps training procedures, per a court filing.
In December the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling and granted the preliminary injunction to allow Singh to attend recruit training with his articles of faith.
Singh arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in May.
On Friday, Lt. Col. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, a founder of the Sikh American Veterans Alliance who serves in the Army reserve, issued a statement cheering Jaskirat Singh's graduation.
“As a Sikh man who fought for a first-in-a-generation religious accommodation in the U.S. Army, I have immense admiration for PFC Singh’s achievement today. As our Armed Forces continue to rise to the challenges of the 21st century, it is essential that we recruit and retrain talent from all walks of life—including communities like our own.”
An ongoing legal battle
Another lawsuit against the U.S. government is ongoing and seeks to change the limited accommodations granted to Sikhs serving in the U.S. military while on deployment.
Marine Capt. Sukhbir Singh Toor, an artillery officer, won several legal victories against the Marine Corps which allowed him to keep his beard, long hair and his turban but that freedom has not extended to deployments. The New York Times reported last year that these restrictions prevent Toor and other Sikhs from wearing beards in 39 countries considered hostile.
Marine leaders have pushed back on making accommodations to Sikhs, citing uniform appearances and an argument that beards prohibit the safe use of gas masks. These deployment restrictions will apply to Jaskirat Singh, if he deploys overseas to a hostile area.
Singh told The Messenger that his beard would not prevent him from wearing and using gas masks safely.
“Over the past several years, more and more Sikhs have shown that you can have a turban and a beard while serving your country in uniform, whether that’s in the Marine Corps or other branches of the Armed Forces,” Singh said.
"My advice is to follow whatever career path you are called to—if you are motivated enough, and you have the support you need, you can achieve your goals.”
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