A military support network for Hindu soldiers in the US Armed Forces

SAMFSN is committed to serve South Asians in the Forces.

By Deepak Chitnis

WASHINGTON, DC: For the roughly 1,000 active duty Hindu soldiers in the US Armed Forces, and a further 4,000 or so more working for various branches of the military as civilians, on overseas duty, there is now a support organization they can fall back on to connect with each other, stave off the feeling of home sickness while deployed overseas.

The South Asian Military Families Support Network (SAMFSN) (http://www.samfsn.org/), co-founded by Raj Rajendran – who works for the Department of Homeland Security, and previously for the Navy as well – and his wife, Capt. Pratima Dharm, who has the distinction of being the first ever Hindu chaplain in the history of the US Military, gives succor to these men and women in uniform, who are mostly from India.

Rajendran — who earned his Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bangalore’s BMS College of Engineering, and his Master’s degree at the University of Texas at El Paso, in Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, and is currently employed as a software engineer at the Department of Homeland Security – said in an interview to The American Bazaar, that the numbers of the 1,000 soldiers, identified as ‘Hindu’, are from the US Census Bureau, that is the way they are categorized ethnically.

“We’re still in the process of completing all the requirements to make [SAMFSN] a non-profit organization,” said Rajendran. “We’re submitting the paperwork to the IRS to register SAMFSN as a 501 3(c) non-profit.”

Chaplain Dharm — who has two Masters degrees, in psychology and theology — first earned her commission into the Army in 2006, joining the Clinical Pastoral Education Program two years later. She became a Hindu chaplain to serve on active duty in May of 2011.

“The groundwork [for SAMFSN] has been happening for about three years now,” said Dharm, in an interview to the Bazaar. “First by establishing the [Hindu] chaplaincy in the military, and then by celebrating various festivals, educating the military about the South Asian culture, not just religion, because [there are] so many religions that co-exist in South Asia. So the last two years have really been about educating the military [and] to open their eyes to a better understanding of [South Asian] culture, traditions, and religion.

Rajendran says that Hindu soldiers in the US Army face problems of isolation when they’re stationed abroad in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

“SAMFSN is now there to help them [and their families],” he said. He adds that much more needs to be done, including having more Hindu chaplains in the US services.

“For 1,000 active [Hindu] service members and 4,000 [Hindu] civilians, there is only one chaplain, so there is still a large misrepresentation and a lack of support for those who are practicing Hinduism [working in the Dept. of Defense],” said Rajendran.

“Our {SAMFSN’s] main focus has been on celebrating the Indian festivals,” said Dharm. “Typically we try to celebrate around five every year – we can’t do them all because there’s just too many, every fifteen days there’s some kind of festival – but the big ones like Diwali and Holi, we do try to celebrate and spread awareness [of Hinduism],” she said.

Another primary mode of not just awareness, but actual support of South Asian-American troops, is through care packages.

“We do at least one or two a month, and these get sent to [soldiers] in places like Korea, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan, wherever they may be,” said Dharm. “The Hindu community, Sikh community, Jain community, [and] all of the [other] South Asian communities contribute to these care packages. They usually consist of things that would really be of interest to a soldier while they’re away from home, so typically things like [ready-made] food items, magazines, music CDs, religious books, things of that nature.”

In terms of their goals for the future, SAMFSN’s list includes projects such as: ‘Build South Asian List,’ which would create a comprehensive list of all US military members who are of South Asian descent, an ‘Adopt-A-Soldier campaign,’ a ‘Religious Lay Leader Support’ chain that would provide online support for military personnel abroad, a meditation workshop, as well as the fundamental goal of building an ‘integrated team of SAMFSN advisers, committee [members], [and] volunteers.’

“There are a lot of South Asians joining the army now,” said Rajendran. “We’re looking for support from the south Asian-American community.”

[This article was updated on 10/27/13.]

To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com