Is it time for the Military to allow such things as haircuts, hands in pockets, and beards?

NO! But, what is done in a Combat environment is NOT the same as in Garrison! IF that is the question being asked in Garrison, then we are in a more serious downward trend as first believed.

I don't think it's right for people to attack you for asking this question. Isn't that what Rally Point is for? For brothers and sisters in arms to come together and comment on different ideas. It's crazy, some are calling your professionalism into question for asking a question.

Yes it is necessary. These are not things the military does to instill discipline. Discipline is the by-product of enforcement. These things create and image. An image of tradition and correctness. This is necessary to preserve what the image of a Soldier should be. SF maintains relaxed grooming standards to achieve cultural immersion.

You're in the military, if you want to walk around looking unkept and with your hands in your pocket go be a civilian. This ranks up there with those two individuals who want to be in the US military and maintain a beard and wear turban. Just find another profession and leave this profession to the professionals.

Impossible to compare individuals from times past to now. So if a guy shows up with a powdered wig and saber because George Washington did it, do we say aye? I can't speak on SF because it's an operational thing (although a guy with flowing golden tresses and the beard of Thor doesn't blend in well with the locals), SF does what SF does, a haircut and no hands in the pockets are minor disciplines that lead to larger things. Not sure why you can't do something as simple as keeping your hair in regs or keeping your hands out of your pockets or how it drives morale down... The beards are already here. Seems like everyone has a shaving waiver and I mean everybody now or dudes just refuse to shave and no one questions. I see 6-7 inches of hair greased back and over, afros, goatees (I assure you shaving chits don't say shave your mug smooth except for a blocked of patch on your chin). I watched a guy cut across the grass to the barracks with one hand in and the other helping him gulp down a drink. I see this across the board thanks to working on a joint service installation. There's nothing demoralizing about being the conservative and disciplined portion of society. If guys want hair, beards and built in hand warmers, become a civilian. You can have all of that then.

In my day, the hair length and facial hair (or lack thereof), had more to do with the gas mask fitting and sealing properly than anything else. And having your hands in your pockets had to do, I think, with being able to grab a weapon that much faster. And, again, in my opinion, a person in uniform, with hands in pockets, just looks lazy. That being said, history tells us that some of the rules are enforced, or not, differently in a combat environment.

Sure, why not. Regs are not enforced anyway. Let's do what we want.

Beards and a longer length of hair should be allowed as long as it remains somewhat conservative and well groomed. I never felt that hands in pockets was a big deal.

I think the NCO community "owns" this topic...but here's my take, for what its worth.

These heroes were a different breed. Puller's resume reads like a John Wayne flick-A guy like that is once in a century, maybe twice if we're lucky. The motivation and loyalty they transmit far outweighs their apparent lack of "bearing", and everyone knows you don't "impersonate" that kind of gravitas.

Then there's the SF folks. I recall once that we had a bunch of Group Three people show up, dirty, bearded, and looking like a heavily armed ZZ Top tribute band. An hour later, they came out of the hooches in PRISTINE and perfect ACUs, with reg cuts.

For the rest of we "mere mortals", a couple weeks out in the bush, and a lot of things naturally go by the board...but on a FOB, in garrison, or stateside, there's just no good reason to do away with good order and discipline.

Haircuts no. Back to beards and hands in pockets, Yes.

Check out the Task and Purpose article on the Marines stance on no hands on the pockets. In summary, lack of understanding grammar aka they can't read.