Colonel (Ret.) G.B.Singh and Lieutenant Naureen Singh -
father and daughter in their respective formal blues uniforms
in Colorado Springs, CO.
Naureen Singh -- a Coloradan, has
graduated from the United States Air Force Officer Training School. This
accomplishment makes Singh a second-generation Sikh American to serve in the
armed forces as an officer, following her father, Colonel (Ret.) G.B. Singh,
the U.S. Army’s highest-ranking Sikh American to keep his turban while serving
active duty.
Lieutenant Naureen Singh
Naureen Singh, 26, a student and
community organizer from Colorado Springs, has just been appointed a Second
Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
Lieutenant Singh
first started the process to become a U.S. Air Force Officer in 2016. She was
inspired by her father, Colonel (Ret.) G.B Singh’s commitment and courage to
serve while keeping his Sikh articles of faith intact.
Lieutenant Singh is now a second- generation
Sikh American to serve as an officer in the Armed Forces. Her father, Colonel
(Ret.) G.B Singh joined the U.S. Army in 1979, one of a small number of Sikhs
allowed to retain articles of faith, grandfathered in after a change in policy
in the early 1980s forbidding soldiers from exhibiting their religion with
"conspicuous" clothing or style of hair or beard. While the Pentagon
does not track religious affiliations within families serving, Singh believes
they are among the very first to have two generations of Sikh Americans,
serving as officers in the United States Armed Forces.
Lieutenant Naureen Singh
Colonel (Ret.) G.B. Singh furthers, “I am
proud of Naureen and am certain she will be a positive asset to the U.S. Air
Force as she embarks on this journey.”
Lieutenant Singh was a part of
the first class to go through the entirety of the training during the COVID-19 pandemic.Trainees in the program had to go through numerous challenges and
obstacles including assault courses, rigorous academics, drill and ceremony,
and physical training.
“Even though I had
a completely different set of struggles than my dad, I recognize that because
of him and his sacrifices, I was able to move and push forwards. I hope that as
a leader, I can continue to do the same for others about the opportunities that
exist in public service, even if they never considered it in their realm of
possibility,” she explains.
Lieutenant Singh is joining the Air Force
Reserve and plans to continue to pursue her Master’s degree in Criminal Justice
at the University of Colorado at Denver. She hopes to continue a career in
public service and continue to educate communities of their rights and empower
them to organize around issues they care about.
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