When I was in Iraq, I had to shave every morning with a dull razor and cold water. Even the mustaches the guys in my company grew drew the ire of our commanders, who made us trim the sides to the point that some of us started looking like a certain German from the 1940s.
The reasons were to maintain good order and discipline while in country, and also in case we had to use our gas masks. Those masks needed a tight seal that a beard would not allow.
Marines may be dumb, but we are not stupid. We all noticed that the Navy SEALs on our base were rocking beards.
Why were they allowed to grow beards? Because they wanted to “blend in.” Because it was really a pain to shave every day when you were in a war zone, and because gas mask technology had advanced since World War I to the point that it can work with a beard.
Personally, I thought it was funny that a brown-skinned guy like myself couldn’t “blend in” with the locals where the white guys in the SEAL teams were allowed to. But that is military life for you. And military life isn’t supposed to be easy or even make sense. But it also shouldn’t be unnecessarily outdated. And it definitely shouldn’t be racist. But in this age of MAGA sycophants running the show, that is where we are.
One thing that everyone notices starting in boot camp is that many Black service members have issues with shaving every day. Those disposable razors cause nasty ingrown hairs, and Black men will suffer more than the rest of us from shaving every day. Pseudofolliculitis barbae is the medical term, but we know it as razor bumps. If you have ever had them, they are unpleasant. When you have a bad case of razor bumps, it is absolutely terrible.
And yet Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth has insisted that, instead of letting the military evolve like it usually does, to reimpose old policies that will adversely affect Black service members more than any other group.
Yes, Hegseth wants to kick people out because they get razor bumps.
Lethality is the buzzword that Hegseth has used to mask his severe lack of qualifications as Defense secretary. He found a way to rename bases back to Confederate generals by using non-Confederate heroes’ names, and to rename ships and scrub Jackie Robinson from Department of Defense sites, and removing programs for women service members that Trump had enacted, and disrespect the Navajo code talkers. And in each case, Hegseth would default to his “lethality” excuse as the reason.
Perhaps that works on people who have never served. The disconnect between those who served and those who didn’t keeps getting wider and this is equally true for MAGA voters as everyone else. The notion that the U.S. military has become less “lethal” because of shaving standards should be as laughable as a low-ranking officer becoming the secretary of Defense.
But unfortunately, it really isn’t funny, because Hegseth is now insisting that those who continue to suffer from razor burns need to be kicked out of the military.
I cannot stress enough how idiotic it is that Hegseth and the Trump administration continue to find a way to blame the kids who sign up and serve in the military for non-existent problems, just to placate those who never put on a uniform.
If you make it through boot camp and military training school and are doing your job with no issues, then you clearly can hack it in the military. Yes, there should be conformity, rules and discipline but those have always adapted to the times. The reason we went from soldiers having glorious beards in the Civil War to clean shaven faces in World War I was an adaptation to chemical warfare.
The reason why we let Special Forces operators not shave was that the battlefield and technology had evolved. The common sense that arose was that beards and hairstyles didn’t have to be as rigid and you could still do your job. And that is part of the issue. The military has to find people to do those jobs. Military recruitment is up, but it seems that Hegseth doesn’t want quality — he just wants a certain quantity.
Already there is reporting that Hegseth is trying to capitalize on the assassination of Charlie Kirk to refocus recruiting efforts on young Kirk supporters. I am going to laugh at that notion. If they want to join, let them. But like most veterans, I scoff at the notion that people who didn’t want to volunteer before will now pour into the ranks. You might get a few, sure but let’s be honest. A lot of “patriotic” people lose their patriotism when it comes time to sign your life away.
And that is the problem that Hegseth continues to ignore. You should want to keep the kids that want to serve, not force them out and beg kids who had already refused the call. But that is what he seems hell-bent on doing. From targeting programs for women service members, trying to discharge transgender service members, and now instituting facial hair policies that will force out Black service members, Hegseth is trying to ruin the careers of true patriots whose only crime is that they don’t match his ideal of a soldier from World War I.
Our young men and women in the service have proven time and time again that they are as lethal as ever. Those that think otherwise are angry vets who insist the military has to be just like when they were in (yes, I am calling you out), and those who refuse to serve but seem to blame military service members for our government’s missteps overseas.
Beards are not going to hurt “lethality,” nor will hairstyles, nor will tattoos. You can adapt to the times and continue to produce lethal warriors.
Just look at the beards, hairstyles and tattoos on Special Forces guys.
What will hurt is bringing back policies with the intent of kicking out certain demographics — namely Black service members — while hoping against hope that those who have refused to serve previously will join.
Jos Joseph is a published writer and is a graduate of the Harvard Extension School and Ohio State University. He is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq. He currently lives in Anaheim, Calif.
