Muslims experienced an increase in verbal and physical attacks in the days following 9/11, despite efforts made by the White House. George W. Bush met with leaders of the Sikh community to discuss the violence and prejudice that was being directed towards them as well after 9/11. South Asians and Arabs were targeted under discriminatory acts and hate crimes even though they may or may not have followed the Islamic belief. After &lt;a href="September%2011%20attacks"&gt;9/11&lt;/a&gt;, 6,024 served in the military in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with at least 15 or more being killed overseas. As of December 2015, only 5,896 of the 1.3 million active members of the US military self-identify as Muslim, or roughly 0.45%. Rather than extremism, Islam itself is seen as the source of terrorist attacks after 15 years of war in the Arab states. Practicing Muslims experience lack of culture representation, in which they have to shave their beards and routinely eat meals made with pork, a food source banned by Islamic customs. Despite these setbacks, Muslim soldiers generally experience encouragement and camaraderie from their peers in which several have expressed openly their level of comfort while serving the military. Muslim American involvement in the US military has come under increased attention after events such as the September 11 attacks terrorist attacks, 2009 Fort Hood shooting, and Khizr Khan 2016 Democratic National Convention speech. A 2013 YouGov poll found that 51 percent of American citizens considers Muslims just as patriotic as other Americans while 44 percent considered them to be less patriotic.