Second Lieutenant Anmol Narang will create history by becoming the first observant Sikh to graduate from the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at the 2020 US Military Academy at West Point graduation ceremony. “I am excited and honoured to be fulfilling my dream of graduating from West Point on Saturday,” 2LT Narang said in a statement on the eve of the historic occasion.
“The confidence and support of my community back home in Georgia has been deeply meaningful to me, and I am humbled that in reaching this goal, I am showing other Sikh Americans that any career path is possible for anyone willing to rise to the challenge,” she said.The 23-year-old becomes the first Sikh woman to have successfully completed a four-year degree at the 218-year-old military academy, NY Times reported. Lieutenant Narang said that she always wanted to be in the field of military service. “My grandfather was in the Indian Army,” she said in an interview. “It was always a big part of my life and something I was always interested in.” Narang will complete her Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, and then head to her first posting in Okinawa, Japan, in January of 2021, according to the Coalition, which works to protect the constitutional rights of Sikh community. Congress passed a law in 1987 that prohibited Sikhs and other religious communities from maintaining their articles of faith while in the military. A Sikh’s visible articles of faith, including turbans and unshorn facial hair, were banned.
Lt. Narang required no accommodation for her articles of faith, but the coalition said “her exemplary service to date underscores how diversity and pluralism remain core strengths of the U.S. military and the country as a whole.”
U.S. Army Capt. Simratpal Singh, a family friend, said he is proud of Lt. Narang who is “breaking a barrier for any Sikh American who wishes to serve.”
Surjitt sahani
