Although there had been Sikhs who had enlisted in the U.S. Military previously, Singh was the first to go the officer route with his turban and beard intact.
A periodontist, Singh served in the U.S. Army as a colonel, one of a small number of Sikhs allowed to retain articles of faith, grandfathered in after a change in policy in 1984 forbidding soldiers from exhibiting their religion with "conspicuous" clothing or style of hair or beard.
Although Singh retired from the U.S. Army in 2007, he is still actively involved in supporting rights for future Sikhs to keep their articles of faith in the military.
[4] In an interview Singh said that he became interested in studying Hinduism while a student of political science at the University of Oklahoma.
One of his daughters, Serene Singh, is a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, the founder of the National Sikh Youth Program, and former Miss Teen Colorado.