â€˜I can’t imagine taking the hijab off for any reason.’ A Muslim cadet writes about why her uniform is different.

For some military colleges, a hijab is not an issue.

A request from a Muslim student that she be allowed an exception to the required uniform at a historic military college in the spring touched off an intense debate over fundamental values: allegiance to one's faith and allegiance to the corps, to unity, shared goals and selfless sacrifice. A student who had been accepted to The Citadel asked for a religious accommodation to the uniform that has been required for nearly 175 years, outraging many cadets and alumni who had hidden away their own crosses, yarmulkes and other things important to them in pursuit of a corps in which people judged one another on leadership and character rather than individual preferences.

[The Citadel considers an exception to the required uniform: Allowing a Muslim hijab ^[1]]

The timing was particularly fraught because of strongly opposing views about Islam in the United States brought to the surface by national leaders: President Obama has emphasized that the fight against extremist terrorism is not directed at one of the world's largest religions, while Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has said there should be strict limits on Muslims entering the United States because the faith is one of violence.

[The Citadel will not allow an exception to the uniform to let a Muslim student wear hijab ^[2]]

The Citadel denied the student's request. So the same young woman asked Norwich University, a nearly 200-year-old private military college in Vermont, to let her wear the hijab in keeping with her Muslim faith.

They will allow her to do so if she attends.

[The Citadel rejected her hijab, but another military school embraces Muslim student's request ^[3]]

Meanwhile, for the past two years, a cadet in Virginia has been wearing a hijab with her uniform.

Terry Djuric, commandant for cadets at the 20-year-old Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., said, "When she arrived on day one, I saw her. I saw she was wearing her hijab. I had no concerns at all." A senior said, "'Gen. Djuric, I just want you be aware.' I said, 'I'm tracking. It's not an issue. I'm not in the least concerned.'

"I absolutely wanted to ensure that Fathia felt that her rights as a cadet were being observed and that she was no different from any other cadet. … I wanted all my cadets to recognize that not only my Corps of Cadets but the university have a diverse student body. It reflects society. We should be inclusive" and be sure everyone feels welcome.

Cadet Cpl. Fathia Mohammed is an academic peer adviser for the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership. She graduated from Columbia Heights High School in Washington in 2014 with a 3.7 GPA. She is a college junior triple-majoring in biology, health sciences and health-care administration with a 3.5 GPA. She hopes to become a physician's assistant.

Here, she writes about her own experience wearing a hijab with her uniform:

Wearing the hijab is not a sign of fashion to me.

It's not something I choose to wear one day and take off another day. It's a symbol of my faith and my way of connecting and obeying God.

As a young Muslim who started wearing the hijab consistently since my early teens, I have grown out of the phase where I feel conscious about what is sitting on top of my head.

I no longer feel like I am wearing something, it is part of who I am, and I can't imagine taking it off for any reason.

When I decided to join the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership Corps of Cadets at Mary Baldwin College, I didn't think me wearing the hijab would be an issue. And it wasn't.

The staff and my peers seemed to be nice about it.

I wanted to join the Corps to challenge myself and do something that was bigger than just myself.

When I saw the photos on the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership home page, I knew joining the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) would be the right choice for me. I was already familiar with what it meant to serve because back in high school I was part of JROTC.

I enjoyed the JROTC experience in high school. It was challenging at first. But I loved ROTC for what it stood for: Truth, duty and honor.

And I still do. Since wearing the hijab wasn't an issue for me in the Corps or at school in general I was amazed when I heard it has been an issue elsewhere.

It's the 21st century.

By 2016, the importance of allowing women to wear the hijab or allowing individuals from various religious backgrounds to be practicing their faiths without restrictions in the civilian and military sector should be apparent.

Freedom of religion, right?

Making someone choose between what they are passionate about doing in life and wearing the hijab — or for anyone else, from executing what their religion requires of them — shouldn't be an option.

It's not just Islam. People from other faiths are required to practice their religion a certain way, too.

It's a matter of whether you want to practice it or not.

And my prayers are with those who are facing this.