An observant Jewish soldier in the United States Army was hospitalized for a concussion suffered in a fight with another trainee several days after two drill sergeants forced him to take off his kippa [skullcap] and prohibited him from praying. One of the sergeants also called the soldier "Juden," but the Army denied the incidents were related to anti-Semitism.

 

The case of the soldier, 20-year-old Private Michael Handman, reached a Congressman after he complained of religious discrimination. The army said that an altercation with another trainee several days later that sent Handman to the hospital was unrelated to the treatment by the sergeants at the United States Army training base at Fort Benning, Georgia.

 

Base officers have launched a criminal investigation against the trainee who beat up Handman, and the drill sergeants were reprimanded.

 

The Army ruled the sergeants, including one who had served in Germany, were not guilty of anti-Semitism and simply did not know "what is allowed for religious accommodation within basic training."

 

The sergeants will receive instruction on religious accommodation. 

 

Monica Manganaro, spokeswoman for the base, said that the fight with the other trainee had no religious basis. She explained that the drill sergeants "would have put a stop to it immediately" if the dispute between the trainees had been based on religious prejudice.

 

Army policy allows Jewish soldiers to wear a kippa in the dining hall but does not allow them to pray while on guard duty.

 

Concerning the term Juden, Manganaro explained that the "drill sergeant has lived in Germany and did not know that it is derogatory."

 

Retired Navy captain Neil Block told reporters, "These drill sergeants had not set out to be anti-Semitic or discriminatory. They just screwed up, and the Army has dealt with it appropriately."