US army eases rules on beards, turbans for Muslim, Sikh troops

The US Army has taken new steps to make it easier for Sikhs, Muslims and other religious minorities to obtain approval to dress and groom themselves according to their religious customs while serving in the military, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Army Secretary Eric Fanning, in a memorandum signed this week, revised the uniform policy to set appearance standards for people seeking religious accommodations to wear beards, turbans and head scarfs.

The new rules also enable brigade-level commanders to approve the religious accommodations, an authority that previously rested with the Army secretary. Denial of a religious accommodation may be appealed as high as the Army secretary.

An approved religious accommodation will continue throughout the soldier’s career and may not be revoked or modified without approval of the Army secretary, the memo says. The accommodation will not affect job specialties or duty locations, except in a few limited cases, the memo says.

“Our goal is to balance soldier readiness and safety with the accommodation of our soldiers’ faith practises, and this latest directive allows us to do that,” Lieutenant Colonel Randy Taylor said in a statement.

The new rules were welcomed by the Sikh Coalition.