Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn last week honored Captains Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi and Tejdeep Singh Rattan, the first turbaned officers in two decades to complete the US Army's basic training, at the City Hall.
A group of prominent United States lawmakers have urged the Pentagon to end the presumptive ban on Sikh Americans serving in the United States military.
But it will be a giant leap for America when all can serve freely in the US Armed Forces, Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi tells Suman Guha Mozumder about the Pentagon's relaxing of rules on religious wear
"It is wonderful. I had been living a double life, wearing a turban only at home," Simratpal Singh said, adding, "My two worlds have finally come back together."
US Congressman Joe Crowley, who spearheaded the campaign for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to create a new separate hate crimes category in the agency's uniform crime reporting programme to track bigoted attacks against Sikh Americans, has now set his sights on fully integrating Sikh Americans in the US Armed Forces
Members of the United States Congress break bread to celebrate the contributions of Sikh Americans. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports