Altered Grooming standards while deployed

We had some hippie looking guys come alongside for an hour in the Persian Gulf in '88. Showered, got in line at the ships "store" for skivvies, smokes, and Snickers. Ensign Goldstein told them to shave and get haircuts and report back to him before shopping. They started laughing after a proper yes sir! Then the XO showed up and stopped the nonsense.

In 65 I was attached to the 1st Mountain Div of the Bundeswehr. Transferred to a Garrison in Italy on reporting in a brand new buck Sgt got on me about a haircut. I explained that in Germany short hair was the sign of a convict. The CO gave me a hard look and next day I was assigned to an Italian Unit. Never did get a haircut.

Depending upon condions, mission, time, and place; let the lowest level of Command and Control set the parameters of cleanliness and grooming. If water is a critical asset at a combat outpost, it should be reserved for essential functions. Sadly, Rear Eschelon Types ( ie: fobbits) may not comprehend what happens outside the wire and on remote locations. While personal hygiene is critical, limited water supply, and questionable water safety and quality may dictate water is conserved for drinking and food prep primarily. Shaving looses priority when placed into that context. In a theater where the enemy combatants wear beards and would endanger themselves with chemical warfare, perhaps several days beard growth is not a bad thing. However, in other locations where chemical weapons use is a known probability, ie: Syria, then yes shaving becomes more critical. Ultimately, the lowest level of Command should be allowed to assess the risk and set minimum grooming requirements and standards when forward deployed,

Haircuts and such are imo bullshit, back in the day it was the style, Brit NCOs were required to have a stash. The only reason I could give would be a gas mask, other than that there’s no impact on ones fighting abilities. Gurkhas are famous for their bravery in battle.

I always did my best when in the field as a bath and fresh shave sure felt good after 3 days of sleeping in the mud. I used my steel pot on many occasions to clean back in the day before the modern storm trooper helmets

I know when I was on active duty it was the mission took top priority but they also hygiene was part of the mission.

I was on mission that was supposed to be 2-3 days and ended up being 12. Around day 5-6 the Top came up to my team and said we had to shave because CSM was around. Our response was we didn’t have any razors (we really didn’t)...sure enough they had some dropped in on supply and we were shaving that afternoon lmao

Grew a beard in the Navy. I worked the nightcheck fixing planes. In after 9 pm leave before 7am. No one gave a crap as long as the work got done.

I feel it depends on mission tempo. If your in the rear with the gear and have access to what's needed to keep grooming standards within regs do it. If your down range shootin and scootin then get to it when you can get to it.