Currently only the Army and the Air Force have given across the board exemptions to Sikhs, while other services have not. Several women of Indian descent have graduated from West Point, with at least one passing in the past three years and becoming Army officers. Smran Patil, who was born in Bengaluru, graduated last year, Neha Valluri in 2018 and Sneha Singh in 2017. The academy began admitting women in 1976. Narang’s maternal grandfather’s career in the Indian Army gave her an interest in military service and she began her application process for West Point after her family visited Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii, the coalition said. Admissions to the military academy are extremely tough. Besides fulfilling educational and physical requirements, a candidate will have to be nominated by a member of Congress, the vice president or the president to be admitted to West Point.

Delivering his commencement address—the formal speech at the graduation ceremony—Trump reiterated his vision for the US military that moves away from involvement in internal issues of other countries to prioritising Washington’s interests. “We are ending the era of endless wars. In its place is a renewed, clear-eyed focus on defending America’s vital interests. It is not the duty of US troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of. We are not the policemen of the world. “We are restoring the fundamental principles that the job of the American soldier is not to rebuild foreign nations, but defend - and defend strongly - our nation from foreign enemies,” he added.