The amendment to the defense authorization bill would forbid service members from contacting the Military Religious Freedom Foundation or its leadership. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has frequently fought with Christian groups about the role of religion in the ranks. These guidelines will likely inform how other Sikh recruits may be accommodated in the future. Catholic clergy from Holy Name College had been serving at Walter Reed for nearly two decades before being barred from entry late last month. The Navy asserts the assessment is optional and that such evaluations have been in place for nearly 30 years. Left unanswered in the announcement is whether unvaccinated Marines will still be considered undeployable. Jaskirat Singh and Milaap Singh Chahal plan to ship off to boot camp “as soon as their personal circumstances allow." The Corps has maintained that exceptions to its grooming standards for recruits would make it harder to instill in them a spirit of uniformity. The commandant said Wednesday that the Corps would “keep pushing” its Marines to get vaccinated even absent a mandate. Sikh plaintiffs maintain that rules forbidding them from wearing their articles of faith in boot camp violate their religious liberty. Load More