Shaving while Off Duty??

Don't really have any of our MA's stopping us at the gates because they know once a chief sees' us it's over.

we have SNCOs at the gate SOMETIMES (rarely ever), that may have been the case. Sounds like a staff thing to do.

Who decides that a servicemember, in his off time, presents an "unprofessional" appearance if he hasn't shaved? If you present an otherwise clean, relatively neat appearance, unshaven may not be the sole determinant of "unprofessional"...except for small-minded people without (or declining to use) the professional judgement needed to separate "unprofessional" from "acceptable for the circumstances and conditions". I'm of the opinion that behavior is a far more important indicator of acceptable off-duty conduct than the time-and-distance from a razor/shaver. We have much bigger off-duty problems than stubble to attend to.

Sir, to answer your first question, Leaders are the judges of whether their subordinates present a professional appearance or not. A key characteristic of a Profession is: policing of own ranks. Secondly, clearly being unshaven is not the sole determinant of whether someone presents an unprofessional appearance or not, however if your leadership tells you that you will shave while off duty, they are well with-in their right to do so. Tertiary, Leaders are not one in the same, and some will place emphasis on different things.
Individuals come on to blogs like this in order to find barracks lawyers and counsel, and they forget what a legal direct order is.
I'm of the opinion that if your leader tells you to do something that is not illegal, immoral, or unethical than you should obey the order. If you still disagree with an order, Leaders have open door policies for just that reason.
Finally how do we decide what is a big issue and what is not a big issue in off-duty misconduct. This topic was brought up with a statement/question similar to: "I have heard many Senior NCOs say that I need to shave off duty, what are your thoughts on that?”
My thoughts on that are if your Leaders are telling you to do something and its not illegal, unethical, or immoral you should do it.
My issue is we have people questioning Leadership's orders, and that is a big issue with off-duty conduct. Soldiers doing whatever they want instead of listening to what their Leaders tell them to do.
So, while I agree, and never said that not shaving while off duty is unprofessional, being defiant towards your Leaders and their orders, and publicly questioning your Leaders and their decisions is not necessarily professional.

LT, I agree with pretty much everything you are saying. That said, I've always believed that giving an order that is unlikely to be followed and unlikely to be inspected, is a waste of a leader's authority, his credibility, and a disservice to the junior soldier/sailor/Marine. In fact, I lived by the credo that protecting my soldiers from pointless or unreasonable requirements was my job as a leader. To me, this whole shaving thing...among a number of other things...is more of a leadership issue than it is a follower one. So my focus in this discussion is on the issuer of the order, rather than the poor schlub who has to shave on his day off or while he is on leave (and yes, I know that soldiers have been ordered to do that.)

If you're rolling in there to use any of the Army Services provided and the rule is "shave while off duty", one would think that by your rank you would understand, set the example and observe the installation commander's policy and shave before you left home. Again, that would be a personal call, a little test of your professionalism, leadership, and character to either chose to do it or not. Decision would be yours to make, be it you're in the Reserves or on Active Duty. I was fortunate to have retired before the Army's senior leadership determined it also needed to manage my daily personal off duty actions. If I were the garrsion CSM or CSM to the Installation Cdr, I would advise againt implementing this policy. Reason being, 1- it's un-enforcable across the board 2- What's the purpose and intent, is it mission related; will it improve mission readiness; 3 - If I'm to enforce it, I need to know all of number 2 so I can inform all Sr. NCO leaders so their response to their Soldiers who ask "Why First Sergeant?", will not be "because I said so, because thats the policy or because it's the Commander's Policy!" If the commander can't do that...he better go back and sit down and come up with whats the purpose, especially after DA decided to NOT include it into the updated AR. Also it would not be the 1st policy that I didn't agree with (and let the commander know the reasons), but enforced the hell out it when it came to be! Like it or not! Oh back to your question ...what happens...when you show your ID at the gate, the Security Guards my be instructed to adivse you of the policy and let you continue on. If it's MPs on the gate, may warn you or if over zealous give you a citation...or...you may run into any number of leaders who would stop you and inform you of the policy (why, because they've complied and wonder why you are special and not complying). Just thinking is it worth the possible headache and inconveinence. Agree or not, I'd go ahead and shave if it were me! Just saying!

And that's exactly my point, 1SG McPherson. How do you enforce a policy against Compo 2 and 3 soldiers, when they are not on orders, not on ADT or AT, and not on IDT?

While you may not get an officer or a senior NCO, you know some jr. enlisted is going to push the envelope.