Sikh soldiers mix history and tradition when wearing a turban in the British Army
The turban has been a tradition for Sikh soldiers serving in the British Armed Forces for many years, and is now part of their uniform.
The headdress is worn by the three major faiths of India, and the Sikhs have worn the turban for more than 500 years.
It was originally a sign of noble birth, but today it marks equality and community within the religion.
Major Daljinder Singh Virdee of the Defence Sikh Network said: "The turban itself was a sign of royalty and it was restricted to a certain class of individual.
"The idea of giving the turban to everyone, anyone, was this idea of creating equality in society.
"So it's a sign of honour and a sign of respect."
The Armed Forces' official guide states that turbans must be the same colour as the type of headdress worn by other members of the unit.
So a Sikh member of the Royal Corps of Signals would wear a dark blue turban in the same way non-Sikhs would wear a dark blue beret.
The unit cap badge is worn on both types of headdress.
According to the official guidelines, a turban may be worn by Sikh personnel with all orders of dress.
However, a less bulky version of the turban is worn underneath the standard-issue helmet for safety purposes such as when the soldiers are on the range or during an exercise where live ammunition is used.
Major Virdee explained: "The principles are really simple – we wear a turban equivalent to our colleague's headdress.
"If they are wearing a green beret, we wear the same colour green turban.
"If on their peak cap it has a coloured regimental band we would wear that coloured regimental band on our turbans."
The five-century-old tradition not only represents the individual, but also their country, their unit and their faith.
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