From this thread we learn that military code prohibits all facial hair save moustaches. But witness these two pictures of Special Ops troops, the first currently on the CNN mainpage and the second from this article:
Picture 2
These soldiers (one of whom seems to be in both pictures) have beards. What gives?
Maybe standards are relaxed in the thick of the action, or perhaps Special Ops have a slightly different standard. However, I fancy the thought that it helps them blend better into the local landscape, giving them “camouflage” when pursuing Al Qaeda and Taliban personnel – from a distance, it may be harder to discern if they are Northern Alliance or U.S. forces.
As with most things in the military, appearance regulations can be waived. The use of “modified grooming standards” is used for, among other things, blending in. Many of the set standards are for safety reasons, and should be there. However, some of the standards are just the products of pencil-pushing fast-trackers trying to set themselves apart in a (formerly) peacetime military. Eh-hmm, (looks over shoulder)… but I’m sure they mean well.
The “Official” policy is as you mentioned, no beards. However, in SpecOps, it is not uncommon to deviate quite a bit from the standard regulations. The reason is part of the concept of camoflauge. Long hair, different or no uniforms, different weaponry. Sometimes it may seem that whatever works to help achieve the mission is usually deemed acceptable. It is not too dissimilar from undercover Law Enforcement Agents.
I can assure you, this practice has existed a very long time.
Most likely, the photos shown were of non-American troops. I saw those earlier myself, and they actually came after some shots of US Marines on the deck of a naval vessel, and they were - rightly - clean-shaven.
AR670-5 is the Army code for uniforms, etc., and I can only assume the jarheads have a similar code.
Also, don’t overlook the idea of a news agency slapping a photo of any troops in there when they need a shot. Thay aren’t all that scrupulous when they need to get stuff done.
Well, the uniforms and equipment look fairly American, but there are a couple of possibilities…
They could be Special Forces troops who aren’t shaving so they’ll blend in better, as has been suggested above.
They may not have considered razors to be “essential” equipment to take along with their survival gear, weapons, etc, and they’ll shave as soon as they get a chance to.
They might be members of the CIA combat teams that have been recently disclosed and are in combat over there along with the “regular” Special Forces troops. The CIA might not have the same grooming regs as the military.
Maybe those aren’t beards. Maybe these guys are being attacked by muskrats.
Considering the generally good reputation for marksmanship attributed to the people of Afghanistan, sporting at least a five-o’clock shadow might be a good idea. Inside a couple of hundred yards, a clean-shaven soldier might be considered a liberator, a partner, perhaps even a friend.
Outside of that range, he might look more like an interesting target. We probably want our guys to get into the feel-good range without incident.
I think that Richard Marcinko’s autobiographical Rogue Warrior is considered to be a reasonably accurate description of the Navy SEALs (other books by Marcinko and Weisman, such as Feng Shui Secrets of the Rogue Warrior, or whatever they wrote this season, are probably best taken with a greater degree of skepticism).
Anyway, in that book Marcinko mentions that he encouraged his team to wear beards and long hair, in order to give them a starting point from which any appearance could be naturally created before a mission. His picture in that link is more-or-less what he looked like in his last years as a SEAL.
Those guys in the links above, they don’t look like they had much of a starting point to work from. Nevertheless, they might have had the same idea, too late.
It’s also worth noting that many soldiers, from the French poilu of WWI to the aforementioned Willie and Joe, used their growth of beard as a rough measure of how long they had been in the field.
I just saw some footage of the fighting in the revolt in the prison in Kunduz and there was chaos and shooting everywhere. Guys running around. A couple of them wearing Afghan style clothing but with the crew cuts and clean shaven and bare heads they stuck out like a sore thumb. You could pick them out from miles away. I guess with a turban they could conceal themselves better. Maybe in the mess they lost their turbans. They seemed to be trying to blend in.
In '89, I was in a school at Naval Station, Dam Neck VA; it’s the home of SPECWAR Development Group (something or other) and frequently saw what I could only assume to be members of that merry band wearing beards, quite long hair (compared to mil-spec haricuts) and rather strange attire. Winter didn’t mean much to them; jogging in from the main road in the morning with a backpack and shorts (no shirt) wasn’t uncommon.
I suppose that annual inspections in dress uniform were waived…
There’s always a big difference between troops in garrison and those in the field, or front line. When Special Forces are involved, then things are even more idiosyncratic (and, as previous posters have suggested, sometimes it’s better to blend in to be less of a target: some WWI Canadian infantry officers carried rifles instead of sidearm revolvers in the trenches, in order to be less obvious to snipers).
In the British Commonwealth armies, the only troops allowed to have beards in garrison (i.e., at home, every day) are Pioneers. In days of yore, these were the literal hewers of wood and drawers of water (some unfairly suggest that they were recruited from the less-intellectually inclined). Wearing of the beard is a closely-guarded right by these battalions (or platoons, these days) as a long-standing tradition. See: http://www.1rcr.org/pnr.htm
To pick a small nit, the reg is actually AR 670-1 which can be found here.
Yes, everything you ever wanted to know about Army uniforms and appearance. (You need Adobe Acrobat to read that page.)
No, you can’t put your hands in your pockets (except momentarily to retrieve objects).:rolleyes:
No, you can’t wear a cell phone, pager, PDA, etc. on your pants, except in the performance of official duties.:mad:
Yes, you may wear sunglasses, so long as they don’t have a logo or brand name on them.
Yes, you may wear rings in uniform. No more that two rings, one per hand, wedding set counts as one.
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
As regards to the OP, The Commander can direct changes as necessary. I’ve served in SF units and frankly, once you go to the field, shaving every day is not really a priority. Depending on the equipment carried, a razor may actually be on the list of things not to take, because your already carrying way too much gear.
Besides as many have already stated, blending in can be very important when peoply may want to shoot at anyone different.
I started this post 5 hours ago–hope it’s not superfluous now…
Appearance regulations are often waived in the field and at sea, and especially in combat and/or intensive ops.
For example, highly polished boots and shiny insignia are not desireable in the field. Daily bathing and shaving go right out the window.
This is true in the Navy as well. Even on ships, there may be fresh water shortages. (Water for bathing is routinely rationed when distillers/desalinating units go down, which happens fairly frequently.)
In a related note, even in peacetime, U.S. submarine crews are routinely allowed to grow beards. (This is an unofficial exception to U.S. Navy Regulations, which do not permit beards.) Submariners who grow beards are required to demonstrate on a weekly basis that they can achieve a seal with an EAB (Emergency Air, Breathing) apparatus. This may require shaving the neck for the particularly hirsute.
The navy permitted beards through the early eighties when it was phased out in '83/'84. It was eliminated for officiers, chief petty officers and junior enlisted men first so that only regular petty officers (grades E-4 to E-6) had beards until new year’s day '85 when everyone had to shave.
Required grooming of facial hair may be waived for some medical conditions. A fairly common instance is found in pseudofolliculitis barbae, a condition usually seen in African American men in which shaving induces multiple in-grown hairs (ouch!)
It’s a pretty safe assumption that the guys in the picture don’t have any medical condition that precludes shaving. If you look closely, and use a little imagination, you can see that about 4 or 5 weeks ago they were probably clean-shaven with perfect military crewcuts.
