An Indian-origin member of the United States Air Force is allowed to wear a Tilak while on duty. Airman Darshan Shah, assigned to FE Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, has been granted a religious waiver that allows him to wear a Tilak Chandlo while on duty.
Darshan, an aerospace medical technician assigned to the 90th Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, has been seeking a waiver since he joined the service two years ago. Shah received support from all around the world through online group conversations as word spread of his request for a religious waiver.
For the first time, he was allowed to wear a Tilak Chandlo while in uniform on February 22, 2022. ‘My friends from Texas, California, New Jersey, and New York are messaging me and my parents that they are very happy something like this happened in the Air Force. It’s something new. It’s something they’ve never heard of before or even thought was possible, but it happened’, said Shah.
Several members of Shah’s family follow the BAPS movement, which is known as the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottan Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS. An orange U-shaped tilak surrounds a red dot, or ‘Chandlo’, in this sect’s religious symbol. He has been seeking a waiver since beginning basic military training in June 2020 so that he can wear the Tilak Chandlo in uniform.
The Superintendent of Personal Programs of the Air Force Global Strike Command updated him on the status of his waiver on a monthly basis until it was accepted. Shah’s primary religious leader, Guruhari Mahant Swami Maharaj, was contacted by various Hindu saints about Shah’s perseverance and they spoke over the phone to discuss the waiver.
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