Washington: An Indian-origin member of the United States Air Force has been granted permission to wear a tilak while on duty, thereby taking the Hindu pride to the next level.
Darshan Shah, who is an airman of the US Air force and currently stationed at FE Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, has been granted a religious waiver that would allow him to wear a Tilak Chandlo while on duty.
Darshan, an aerospace medical technician assigned to the 90th Operational Medicinal Readiness Squadron, joined the service two years ago and had been pursuing a waiver ever since.
In order to strengthen his case, Shah hadair force news gathered support from all across the world as word of his request for a religious waiver spread through online group chats.
Finally, he was allowed to wear a Tilak Chandlo while in uniform for the first time on February 22, 2022.
He said that his friends from Texas, California, New Jersey and New York are messaging him and his parents that they are very happy something like this happened in the Air Force.
"Its something new. It's something they've never heard of before or even thought was possible, but it happened," he added.
Shah was born and bought up in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, in a Gujarati family that adheres to the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS.
The religious symbol of this sect happens to be a red dot, or "Chandlo", encircled by an orange U-shaped tilak.
The Indian-origin man has been seeking a waiver to allow him to wear the Tilak Chandlo in uniform ever since he started his basic military training in June 2020.
He checked in with the Air Force Global Strike Command's Superintendent of Personal Programs on a monthly basis for updates on the status of his weaver until it was accepted.
The primary leader of Shah's sect, Guruhari Mahant Swami Maharaj, shared a phone call to discuss the waiver with India after various Hindu saints contacted him about Shah's perseverance,
Earlier, the US Army issued a new regulation under which servicemen who wear turbans, hijabs or beards can be enrolled in the military, making the force more inclusive of minority religions and cultures.
The new set of rules, issued by Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning, allowed religious accommodations to be approved at the brigade level. Previously it was at the level of Secretary.
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