United States Army Lifts Ban on Dreadlocked Hairstyles - Polidicks

What was the article about? Letting black women grow beards?

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;51809762]What was the article about? Letting black women grow beards?[/QUOTE] They were always allowed to do that, now they can put dreads in em.

[QUOTE=freaka;51809739]Having no beard on your face has two purposes. One is obvious and the other is well, a bit harder to justify. Generally a clean shaven soldier is seen more "disciplined" and have higher morale considering he has taken time to get rid of his facial hair to look proper. Small details like that makes the enemy know you are well supplied and not lazy. It's also just a cosmetic thing for soldiers to look better, not everyone can grow a proper beard and seeing a company of unshaven a la 15 year old look mustaches/beards is not very proper or nice anyway. You shave yourself before you go to a job interview if you cannot grow a beard right? It also has a combat aspect, just like females with long hair, [B]enemies can grab your beard in a close combat situation[/B] and use your beard to their advantage. Now I dont know how often this actually happens compared to situations with long hair but I suspect there must be a reason to it.[/QUOTE] Solution, grow you beard so damn thick you can hide razor blades in it.

[QUOTE=PrusseLusken;51808347]continually shaving your beard like the US military forces you to is stupid since you end up itchy and with irritated skin that much easilier gets infected when your face is riddled with small cuts. norwegian professional military units have no grooming standards and yet they are top notch, especially in winter warfare [editline]11th February 2017[/editline] [t]http://marinejeger.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/978x.jpg[/t] e.g. these guys from the MJK (navy spec ops) in afghanistan, no pressure on them to shave every day "just because"[/QUOTE] The enforcement to shave varies heavily from command to command, unit to unit. Most obviously, the reason to shave is to uphold uniformity and professionalism. It's the military after all. It should be expected. I'm pretty sure it's like an unwritten rule for special forces units (US included) to simply not shave or expected to shave when out in the field. I can't say I totally know exactly why not; it could be for tactical reasons like not carrying razors around or blending into the populace. It could be for practical reasons like not having the time nor resources to shave when in operation. In training and in peacetime, even out in the field, you really don't have an excuse NOT to shave since at the end of the day you're not overseas. So your unit has that expectation and they make it very clear. I always hated using cammie paint, for example, and being told you HAVE TO SHAVE YOU NASTY FUCK at the end of the day. Black guys, for example, also tend to have bad razor burn and get those bumps around their neck which grants them no shave chits anyway. (Anyone can have a no shave chit though). Also, you can buy cheap battery operated shavers everywhere and every base exchange will have a variety of electric razors that don't require being plugged into a wall (that's a civilian convenience and the military is anything but that). Personally, from experience, I see no reason to enforce shaving standards in the field even when it's just part of the training cycle with your unit. I understand before coming out of the field at the end of the evolution but during? Let the hair grow.

[QUOTE=thisguy123;51812517]Solution, grow you beard so damn thick you can hide razor blades in it.[/QUOTE] yh that will hold up when you get caught

[QUOTE=_Axel;51808098]What I don't understand is how he wears a helmet with a turban underneath.[/QUOTE] The Indian army actually developed special helmets for Sikh soldiers to wear over their turbans. It turned out that those helmets actually could stop an AK round at fairly close range so now they're used pretty widely by Indian commandos and police special operations units. [img]https://quintype-01.imgix.net/swarajya/2016-09/cef9e957-b9cd-44d8-bcd5-7308fa05ae0c/GettyImages-96789665.jpg?w=640&q=60&fmt=pjpeg&auto=format[/img]

[QUOTE=PrusseLusken;51808347]continually shaving your beard like the US military forces you to is stupid since you end up itchy and with irritated skin that much easilier gets infected when your face is riddled with small cuts. norwegian professional military units have no grooming standards and yet they are top notch, especially in winter warfare [editline]11th February 2017[/editline] [t]http://marinejeger.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/978x.jpg[/t] e.g. these guys from the MJK (navy spec ops) in afghanistan, no pressure on them to shave every day "just because"[/QUOTE] Nah bro, most people don't get all itchy and scratchy or cut their face up. If you know how to shave properly it's no problem, only a very small percentage of troops have pseudobarbaefolliculitis and those troops are allowed to maintain a beard within medical requirements.