Adding 3rd Culture to the Mix: The Army's

In his green Army uniform, he is just Mann, the officer, the soldier, and as he sat with his back to his parents dancing in the middle of the dining room Saturday night, he recalled the commencement address President Theodore Roosevelt delivered in 1902 at West Point:

Of all the institutions in this country, none is more absolutely American; none, in the proper sense of the word more absolutely democratic than this. Here we care nothing for the boy's birthplace, nor his creed, nor his social standing; here we care nothing save for his worth as he is able to show it.

Because he does not wear a turban, Mann did not have to choose between his religion and a career in the military. Since 1986, the U.S. military has required all soldiers to conform to uniform dress and grooming requirements. Before that, Sikh men were allowed to wear their turbans. In recent years, Sikh community leaders have lobbied the government to make an exception for Sikh men, whose 500-year-old faith, rooted primarily in northern India and Pakistan, requires them to grow their hair and wear a turban.

"We believe that religion and the love of country should not be exclusive to the other," said Rajwant Singh, president of the Montgomery County-based Sikh Council on Religion and Education.

Politics aside, Singh said he is proud of Mann. "May God bless you, and we will continue to pray for your success that one day you will be chief of staff," Singh told Mann during the party. "But I will be president," he added with a laugh.

"As a Sikh person, I am so proud of him," said Shahbeg Sandhu, a retired professor and family friend from North Carolina. "He took up what his ancestors did. He picked up his father's heritage."

Mann will spend the next six months at Fort Sill, Okla., training to be a field artillery officer. From there, he will move with his wife, Angela, and their three children to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska. He expects eventually to be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan for a tour of duty. "Everyone knows they will end up in the Middle East," he said. "From the beginning, they tell you that everyone will see some time there. You shouldn't have any illusion."

After a short night of sleep, Mann kissed his wife and children and began his journey just after noon yesterday. He had mapped the drive to Oklahoma -- 23 hours if he didn't stop. But, of course, he would stop, he said. He had to see Graceland.

As he pulled away, his father sat beside him.