In two memos signed on Nov. 8, Army Secretary Mark Esper laid out new processes for allowing religious soldiers to wear distinguishing symbols, as well as refined guidelines for completing mandatory Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, Equal Opportunity, suicide prevention, substance abuse prevention and resilience training.
Since April, Esper has released 16 memos to reduce administrative burdens on leaders. In that same vein, these new policies are designed to flatten processes.
Soldiers seeking to wear a hijab in uniform or grow a beard for religious reasons have, in the past, submitted a request for an exception to uniform policy to their brigade commanders, who then consulted with Army headquarters on whether to grant it.
Now, that approval authority has been bumped to the general court-martial convening authority level, otherwise known as the lowest-ranking general officer responsible for the soldier's command.
At that level, that particular officer will have in-house access to experienced chaplains and Army attorneys to consult on the decision.
"When evaluating the sincerity of a soldier's articulated belief, the GCMCA will consider the credibility of the application and the circumstances of the request," Esper wrote.
"A religious practice may be an action, behavior, or course of conduct constituting an individual expression of religious beliefs, regardless of whether the practice is compelled by, or central to, the religion concerned."
Army Directive 2018-19 (Approval, Disapproval, and Elevation of Requests for Religious Accommodation)
Related Article - A soldier just got authorization to wear a beard because of his Norse pagan faith.
Since April, Esper has released 16 memos to reduce administrative burdens on leaders. In that same vein, these new policies are designed to flatten processes.
Soldiers seeking to wear a hijab in uniform or grow a beard for religious reasons have, in the past, submitted a request for an exception to uniform policy to their brigade commanders, who then consulted with Army headquarters on whether to grant it.
Now, that approval authority has been bumped to the general court-martial convening authority level, otherwise known as the lowest-ranking general officer responsible for the soldier's command.
At that level, that particular officer will have in-house access to experienced chaplains and Army attorneys to consult on the decision.
"When evaluating the sincerity of a soldier's articulated belief, the GCMCA will consider the credibility of the application and the circumstances of the request," Esper wrote.
"A religious practice may be an action, behavior, or course of conduct constituting an individual expression of religious beliefs, regardless of whether the practice is compelled by, or central to, the religion concerned."
Army Directive 2018-19 (Approval, Disapproval, and Elevation of Requests for Religious Accommodation)
Related Article - A soldier just got authorization to wear a beard because of his Norse pagan faith.