How do you apply camouflage face paint to a beard?

Military grooming regulations should have taken that into their decision to permit beards. My opinion is that they leaned towards political correctness. Call me wrong? Ask the guy in the photo how he will secure his gas mask. Nuff said.

CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD Agree.

SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA typically you would have a way to tuck, tape, or tie it back. I’ve seen guys stow it under their headgear. What I have not seen has been a single circumstance on a modern battlefield where face paint would have made a positive impact, granted, I never deployed to a jungle environment, but between mountains, fields, groves, and urban areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, In an e&e situation when you would want to blend into an indigenous population and seconds mattered, the minute it took to remove said paint turned e&e into personnel recovery.

SFC James Cameron - good thoughts. On the other hand, few Soldiers (even SOF) could pass for indigenous without taking at least several minutes to shed and conceal their 100+ lbs of gear and clothing, and that's assuming they have someone to help them with acquiring local garb.

SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA
I agree with you and will venture even further in saying that only an extreme minority of SOF personnel will be able to pass as indigenous under scrutiny in any given area due to local dialect, accent, and mannerisms. The physical size differences and even dental health of Americans are a dead giveaway during close interactions.

The concept behind operational grooming standards is to allow personnel with facial hair the benefit of a second glance from a distance among a culture where males typically wear beards. Face paint would completely negate that benefit.

One can also doff kit, zeroize commo equipment, and render a M4 inoperable on the move and in less time than it takes to remove face paint.

Doffing kit with GEN 2 and newer IOTV and Soldier Plate Carrier systems is easy and expedient; as yanking the emergency release cable out allows the individual pieces to freely fall away once the cable is removed. I imagine that is a required standard for body armor items bought with government funds, as the Eagle Industries plate carrier I was issued while working with 1SFG had the same feature.

The most common individual radios have an integrated zeroize feature. AN/PRC 152 and RT 1523 radios have it integrated into the power switch. AN/PRC 142 radios only require enough time with loss of power to lose comsec but are a little more involved to clear frequencies.

Rendering an M4 inop only requires removal, disassembly, and scattering of the bolt carrier group components. One can go further with removal of the fire control ground using the firing pin to press out the roll pins from the lower receiver.

Those pieces all become expendable once you begin E&E, as are any moral reservations about theft of food, clothing, or transportation. Reliance on local assistance isn’t necessary.

I personally don’t see any benefit to the use of face paint based on my experiences and observations. Others may have contrary feelings based on their experiences in other theaters.

You often field outstanding questions. May I ask about the origin of the beard concealment query?

I'm in a men's community called "The Strenuous Life." It has badges to earn for various accomplishments, and the community has been discussing adding some. I had an idea for one inspired by SOF, including camouflaging using face paint. Since I have a beard, I wondered how that might work.