Military hairstyle of choice and the men who wear them

When I was in Korea I grew my hair to near shoulder length. To hid it I would wake up every morning gel, hair spray, and blow dry my hair then fold it over its self and slightly spike it to make it look short. During the week I looked army with typical grunt hair. Once the weekends looked around I looked like a hippie college kid.

High and tight on and off since 1979. Pretty steady now since 95. Except only get it cut every other week instead of every week now that I'm retired. Also gets rid of the gray. And in this picture is as long as it gets. Nice getting out of the shower and one wipe with the towel pesto dryo.

Actually your hair is well within regs. Nowhere does it say that you have to have a Ranger flattop. And you could probably argue that a Ranger flattop is a "faddish" cut.

Had a sailor that was similar to you - his ego was just too big to "fit in". The COC rode his ass for 2 years - mostly becuase he was always just "that close" to being out of regs. I can't tell you how many counseling chits he had written up on him - it was in the hundreds after the first year. Finally, his luck ran out.....the barber onboard got sick and had to be flown out to a hospital. We're still deployed..... His hair finally reached the point the COC nailed him to the wall for failure to obey...and busted him down two pay grades based on "a repeating pattern of refusal to comply" due to the hundreds of counseling chits in his file.

Personally, I don't care if you decide you're going to challenge the system and play the game that way if your hairstyle is worth that much to you. If your ego is that large then you need to just accept the hits from the COC and not complain or brag.

However, with all that said - what example are you setting for those beneath you? Are you educating those individuals on how to slide to the edge but not cross over? Are you teaching those beneath you that it's ok to "game the system"? Maintaining discipline is a fine thread woven in between those things we do and those things we do not do. Trust me, those junior SM's are watching you; they see you "game the system"/dare the lion. You lead by example. The junior personnel don't listen to one word in one hundred and forty you spout out - but they hear every movement, every action, everything you don't do that you should and they emulate that to the nth degree.

Is your ego that important that you're teaching the soliders below you how to "game the system"?

You all just making fun of me again! They shaved my head in Boot Camp and it never did grow back right. Had a Caesar Wreath ever since.

I like to max out the length (3 inches) and go for a medium regulation (fade from a zero).  If you didn't know, we have to get a haircut once a week, fresh for mondays, and it's always a zero fade.

I wore as much hair as looked good until I became a CPL and got ready for PLDC, from that point on until I retired back in October, I wore a high and tight flattop. Now I am growing my hair as long as I can, just to see how it looks...I was a late '70s-early '80s hippie before I enlisted and wanna see how I look 26 years later.

I'm rocking the fattest pompadour ever right now, but I keeps that mother looking neat and the sideburns trimmed up and whatnot, as much in regs as I can you know... but then again I'm in the navy and we seem to get away with crazy big hair more than other services.

I have gone back and forth on hair length for the last 15 years. I finally wised up and made it easy. Now its wash and wear with no one saying, your getting a little close. I was always within regs but that is down to who is interpreting "what is within and what is not" in the regs. I keep it shaved twice a week for now. The Boss said when I retire, it will be a pony tail and a beer belly so I can rebell for her.

I like to have a full head of hair. With aspirations of being a ODA commander one day I must be prepared to look the part. Plus it would be a shame to cut such a glorious head of black silky hair.