Posted on Apr 12, 2014
Shaved heads in basic training; is this mandatory? If it is, then why and why only for males?
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So I was in basic training land today to help with some medical stuff. I couldn't help but noticed all the shaved heads all over the place and then the females with 20 ft of hair. In an era where we are screaming equal treatment; is this equal?I am also wondering why does a new private have to get his head shaved in the first place? Why not just a haircut within Army Standards?
Have the lines between male and female been erased? Are they trying to be erased or are we picking and choosing which ones we want to erase? Why does a male soldier have no choice in keeping his hair but a female does? If you love Liberty you will vote below.
ADDED: Could this be considered a form of hazing with the crackdown on hazing since this is obviously not a requirement but more of a tradition? I'm not saying I think it is I'm just asking the question. If it's not required and it doesn't apply to everyone.
*****UPDATED******
Well, well, well what do we have here?
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/careers/2015/01/08/rtc-boot-camp-haircuts-navy/21439483/
Have the lines between male and female been erased? Are they trying to be erased or are we picking and choosing which ones we want to erase? Why does a male soldier have no choice in keeping his hair but a female does? If you love Liberty you will vote below.
ADDED: Could this be considered a form of hazing with the crackdown on hazing since this is obviously not a requirement but more of a tradition? I'm not saying I think it is I'm just asking the question. If it's not required and it doesn't apply to everyone.
*****UPDATED******
Well, well, well what do we have here?
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/careers/2015/01/08/rtc-boot-camp-haircuts-navy/21439483/
Edited >1 y ago
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 458
The reason for the head shaving of male recruits is to keep head lice out of the barracks. Women are exempt because experience has shown that they know much more about hair care than men.
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Shaving a recruits head is part of disease control which is why for the first week every trainee is put into quarters for climate acclamation because of different viruses and colds. All immune systems are different and this allows the body to build anti bodies. Its got nothing to do with slavery or anything else. Its all part of immune isolation.
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Equality means same for all. You can not pick and choose which part you want to be equal with.
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I have always felt that if women wanted to be 100% equal to men in the military, then they should BE 100% equal to men. They fought long and hard and are now able to volunteer for any job or role in the military that might have formerly only been available to men. However, they have also fought long and hard to keep their hair longer than men. If people are to be equal, then they must BE equal. This reminds me of that religious post about a man wanting to grow a beard because of his religion. This is just another example of how people want to be treated the same but have extra privileges at the same time. Everyone who joins the military knows before they join that they are required to adhere to a certain set of grooming standards, especially in boot camp where you are left with pretty much no hair at all at the start.
The fact that women are considered equals now in terms of all of their job/role opportunities and at the same time women are allowed to grow hair and men are not is simply women all wanting to have something to feel superior to men about. Just like someone being allowed to grow a beard. They do it so they can feel better than their peers. How about instead of trying to find ways where you can do something to feel better or superior to your peers, you do things so that you are all equal?
I hate to bring Hollyweird into this, but famous actresses have been known to shave their heads for roles. Sigourney Weaver shaves her head for Alien3. Demi Moore shaves her head for G.I. Jane (which has the extra added effect of the fact that she did it so she would be more equal to her peers in a military setting). Even for non-action movies, how many actresses have shaved their head to portray someone with cancer going through chemo? Sure, they get paid a lot more, but the bottom line is that if someone wants to play a role (Soldier/Sailor/Marine/Airman (Airperson?)), then they should be willing to commit to that role.
As a parting suggestion for a policy change, I think maybe they should treat it like they did when the Navy wanted to outlaw tattoos on Sailors (not sure what the other branches did, but I heard about the policy changes after I got out). The people who had tattoos were allowed to keep them and not get new ones before they got out. Anyone coming into the Navy after the policy change was not allowed to have a tattoo (visible tattoo? Not sure exactly what the policy was changed to, my memory is poor in my old age, and I'm afflicted with The Dumb quite often) or get one after joining. So maybe allow current female service members to continue their current grooming standards until they get out, but anyone joining after a certain date will be required to adhere to the same grooming standards as everyone else. Just a suggestion.
The fact that women are considered equals now in terms of all of their job/role opportunities and at the same time women are allowed to grow hair and men are not is simply women all wanting to have something to feel superior to men about. Just like someone being allowed to grow a beard. They do it so they can feel better than their peers. How about instead of trying to find ways where you can do something to feel better or superior to your peers, you do things so that you are all equal?
I hate to bring Hollyweird into this, but famous actresses have been known to shave their heads for roles. Sigourney Weaver shaves her head for Alien3. Demi Moore shaves her head for G.I. Jane (which has the extra added effect of the fact that she did it so she would be more equal to her peers in a military setting). Even for non-action movies, how many actresses have shaved their head to portray someone with cancer going through chemo? Sure, they get paid a lot more, but the bottom line is that if someone wants to play a role (Soldier/Sailor/Marine/Airman (Airperson?)), then they should be willing to commit to that role.
As a parting suggestion for a policy change, I think maybe they should treat it like they did when the Navy wanted to outlaw tattoos on Sailors (not sure what the other branches did, but I heard about the policy changes after I got out). The people who had tattoos were allowed to keep them and not get new ones before they got out. Anyone coming into the Navy after the policy change was not allowed to have a tattoo (visible tattoo? Not sure exactly what the policy was changed to, my memory is poor in my old age, and I'm afflicted with The Dumb quite often) or get one after joining. So maybe allow current female service members to continue their current grooming standards until they get out, but anyone joining after a certain date will be required to adhere to the same grooming standards as everyone else. Just a suggestion.
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It was originally done to prevent lice in the barracks at the beginning of training.
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Maybe it started as delousing process and lost it’s meaning over time. Probably found it quicker to shave everyone’s hair than a customize haircut.
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From what I was told the reason why they do it is fo prevent lise spread.
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Well when I was in the Drill Sergeants told us one simple thing and we accepted it that was we all as of enlisting were going to be the best soldiers the United states would ever turn out so that ment every Male was to be uniformed and United that is why when summer you see every single soldier with the bdus folded up I'm the sleeves and trousers bloused in your boots and have you just ever really took notice that every soldier that har to have glasses all wear those same black rim glasses and the last thing the D.I said was how in the holy hell would you like to wake up with somebody else lice don't know about you but some of us don't get lice in our hair we get it down below the belt area so no thank you and to this day I am still bald and once more the girls seem to like my bald head
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I'll shave my head if I can have pockets to align my ribbons to. Seriously, they say there are no stupid questions but this makes one wonder. By the by, I saw a few females back in the day have to get the shittiest short cut ever because they couldn't keep their bun in regs. I'd rather shave my head than deal with keeping my hair up in a bun that makes you start balding after awhile. Do you want to wear a skirt too bro? It's a new Army after all.
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Suspended Profile
Sigh.
If one of my soldiers ever initiated this conversation I would make the leadership decision that idle time has led to an idle mind and find them something to do.
If one of my soldiers ever initiated this conversation I would make the leadership decision that idle time has led to an idle mind and find them something to do.
Dam I hate it when this phone changes my words and thinks it is smarter than I sm! In the post below "silver" should be "sulphur" , "NIW" should be "Now" and a bunch of other craps this phone put in!#
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The shaved heads are done to ensure no headlicecor other critters came with you to Basic Training. It was started before females were allowed in the Army and has just never been looked at since. NIW you can make all recruits wash their hair with silver or some other critter killer to have the same effect. I would say if males were forced to shave heads so should females. You cannot pick and choose what parts of "equal treatment" you want - it must be all or nothing.
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Ok so first off, the shaved heads for males are a means of taking away individuality which most ppl express thru clothes and hairstyle both of which are removed and made uniform. The purpose at least for the Corps when I went thru was to break down entirely your sense of self as an individual. For the females, they are required to have hair that, if left down doe not touch the shoulder or must be able to be put up in a bun of some type and not interfere with the wearing of a cover. The reasons why females do not have shaved heads i believe goes back to the simple fact that women don't keep their hair close cropped as men do. Its an empathetic consideration in my opinion to female specific needs and preferences while not impacting ideas of equality. Females also tend to find more time for hygiene like at Marine recruit training, each evening we wwre given 1 hour of "SDI time" to write home, organize our stuff and socialize with other platoon members. Males do not put as much attention into hygiene as females and i believe studies or polls were taken that showed females used this time much more often for additional personal hygeine. This fights against stuff like lice from a sanitary standpoint while males its easier to shave heads to combat this possible issue.
Other respects are considered as well. At the end of recruit training we were allowed to get a high and tight, which makes having a LITTLE bit of that individuality back as a reward while still remaining part of the team.
Other respects are considered as well. At the end of recruit training we were allowed to get a high and tight, which makes having a LITTLE bit of that individuality back as a reward while still remaining part of the team.
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First, it is not "shaving" off of hair. Your hair is cut down to peach fuzz length. Fine stubble that still indicates you have hair. Its entertaining is to create "equality but to also help identify any medical issues like lice. Females in the military want equality, so let them get the same hair cut in basic training. Then follow the standards as men.
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Hair grows back young troop and if you want to look at it this way. Females have a heck of a harder time than male troops, they have standards as well. There hair has to be up all the time. All you have to do is roll out of the rack. If your crying about this now what else are you going to cry about? Then go ahead and get out, real troops don’t need someone who cry’s about everything under the sun, you won’t be trusted by your peers. That’s a fact.
US Army 1st Sgt. Retired
US Army 1st Sgt. Retired
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It is for transition from civilian to Soldier. Also hygiene requirements. As for the female thing yes I believe all genders should have to shave their heads minus religious exception. Not religious myself but we have agreed as a country to have a separation between government and religion.
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When I enlisted in 1962, we were told that ir was to make sure we were not smuggling in head lice.
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