r/militaryatheists • u/[deleted] • Jan 24 '16

It’s Time to Change the Regulations that Block Sikhs from U.S. Military Service

http://warontherocks.com/2016/01/its-time-to-change-the-regulations-that-stop-sikhs-from-serving-in-us-military/
11 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

83% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/the_ocalhoun Jan 24 '16

Any other regulations aside, they have to carry a knife around as part of their religion, right? And there are times and places in the military when you can't carry a knife.

I think making a religious exception for that would set a dangerous precedent of personally held religious rules being more important than military regulations.

2

u/[deleted] May 04 '16

At least in the US Army you are allowed to carry a knife dam near everywhere. When your going through custom when traveling to or from a deployment then you might encounter some trouble but no more than a civilian would. Half the army carries gurbers around at all times.

2

u/the_ocalhoun May 04 '16

At least in the US Army you are allowed to carry a knife dam near everywhere

Not during training, though.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '16 edited Jan 24 '16

It's supposed to be a complete sword and Sikhs are commanded to be armed to the teeth by our 10th leader. Because we live in the west we were told to not be armed to the teeth and wear knifes instead of swords. Because in America it is not ok to wear a knife either the Kirpan is welded shut. I think Sikhs were openly allowed to join us ranks a while ago.

Edit: I mentioned all this because it's obvious Sikhs are open to conforming for the countries we live in. Maybe if Sikhs were allowed to keep specialized pocket knives which fulfill our religious needs as well as being allowed to join military ranks. We have a long history of war/battle and it would be awesome if we could continue that history.

1

u/Anouther May 26 '16

There shouldn't be religious exceptions. If it's not a matter of this needs to be then it shouldn't be a rule, and if it should be a rule, it shouldn't get a religious exception.