Turban High

Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, a 31-year-old dentist, has become the first turbaned officer in a generation to graduate from the U.S. Army’s officer basic training program.

Rattan graduated from Fort Sam Houston after securing an exception from the Army’s uniform policy, which since 1981 has barred conspicuous religious articles of faith, such as headgears and beards.

In a statement issued through the Sikh Coalition, which advocated on his behalf,, Rattan said, “I am overjoyed to serve my country, work with my fellow soldiers and to have completed basic training.”

Another soldier, Dr. Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi, who completes his emergency medicine fellowship this summer, has also secured a waiver.

Turbaned Sikhs have served in the U.S. Army since World War I, but new rules barred beards and turbans in 1984. Those recruited before the new policy went into effect were allowed to retain their beards.