Why can't we grow beards?

Give it a few years. Before long you'll be able to guard the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in a pink ballerina costume, with a beard like zz-top. I have a great idea. Let's get a bunch of gender confused, middle aged women and put them in charge. Then when a candyass starts to cry about "fairness" and other irrelevant gibberish we'll be able to direct them to the Master Chief mommy/Sgt Maj mommy as needed.i hate to say it, but if we're not already doomed, we are very close.

I take it you will never operate in a CBR environment. Gas Mask will not seal correctly if you have a beard.

As far as I am aware all services have the same standards for entry and none of what you said except for the tattoos are actually waivers that are allowed by any service today. That being said there are still groups of assholes that allow race, religion, and political asshats to be promoted and even receive special rewards like: Command Advancement as well as recommendations for military award or ribbon. This is not the fault of the service but rather the Commisioned Officers(spoken CO’s) that stand blind to do their job and actually review evaluations and their crew/soldiers/airmen/marines.

Beards were banned in the mid 80’s if I remember the time frame for my father bitching about losing his beard as a Corpsman in a hospital. So the beard ban was enacted to prevent the problem of having men getting facial hair stuck in machinery and equipment that at the time was unsafe almost always regardless of who operated it.
To answer your question yes, I believe this to be an outdated policy. Equipment is safer than ever, not allowing for some of the bottom feeders that slip through MEPS and Basic Raining. However, this will never change so long as each service is so top heavy with O-5 and above sitting in offices for 15-20 years collecting checks for admin work an E-1 could do with no staff and likely less errors.

Bureaucracy is the poison of today’s military.

Lack of testosterone?

I think if you are a General you should HAVE to grow a beard.

I kept calling a female officer sir one time....She yelled at me that she was not a sir, she was a ma'am. I said, I'm sorry.....The mustache confused me.

I will admit I have not read ALL of the comments and responses, but I have read a WHOLE lot of horse puckey, starting with OP.

SPC Voye, your very premise is horribly flawed. There is a huge difference between who the Army intentionally tales in and who slips through the cracks, I.e. fraudulently enlists. And there is also a difference between entry and retention standards. I recently retired, but I could have served for a few years more if I had wanted to. But there is no way in hell I would be allowed to join in my current physical (and mental) condition.

Next, for all of the "shut up and obey" / "if you don't like it, get out" folks, your input here is less than worthless. SPC Voye asked what your opinion on the subject is, he didn't say that he was planning on flouting the rules. I kept my face clean shaven for 20+ years, but I had some heartburn over it, especially considering the constant skin irritation / razor bumps despite spending exorbitant amount of money on top shelf razors, shaving gel, and aftershave skin conditioner. (No shaving profile for me - I'm white. And before anyone wants to call me racist for that I was literally told by two separate medical commands that white guys don't get shaving profiles.)

Now for the "reasons" Soldiers can't have a beard:

1) Can't seal a promask. FALSE. Sikhs are allowed beards, and one of the requirements is that they demonstrate their ability to properly seal their mask.

2) Unprofessional. Abraham Lincoln, GEN Ambrose Burnsides, GEN Ulysses S. Grant, and GEN Robert E. Lee all beg to differ.

2a) But those guys are all civil war era. Fine. Steve Jobs and Paul Ryan disagree.

2b) Even then, a well groomed beard looks far more professional (in my opinion) than the basic training cueball haircut. And really when we are talking about professional APPEARANCE, all we are talking about is opinion. What the powerful THINK looks professional / unprofessional.

3) Uniformity. Really? How many female hairstyles are authorized? Hell, how many MALE hairstyles are authorized? How many different tattoos in how many different locations? Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

4) Grooming (cleanliness, lice, etc.). Commanders at all levels have authority to place restrictions based on mission requirements. If in an environment where this would be a serious consideration, Commanders could and should make that call for their mission and their Soldiers.

So now that those myths have been dispensed, why is it Soldiers can't have beards? All I see left is "because I (the Army) said so." Which, admittedly is a legally sound reason, and the only reason that HAS to be given. But it is neither logically sound nor satisfying.

I don’t know why they don’t just allow it. I have had one for years during my career and never had any issues getting a seal on my Promask or on my O2 mask doing MFF jumps. The reason it is not allowed dates back to WW1 and WW2 where soldiers had infestations of lice but we don’t live in those conditions any longer. Then as times have changed you have the die hard SGM’s who can’t allow change and have to come up with unchallenged excuses as to why you can’t have a beard. Your mask won’t seal! You won’t look professional! You won’t be able to shoot as good! Your PT will suffer if you grow a beard! Hahaha. Guys just scared to adapt. Those guys should never be allowed to stay in the army. That’s the problem with the army the guys who have the power are the ones who should never have been allowed to make it to that position. The great guys move on to other things and most will retire right at 20 years as an E7 or E8 because of the dumb stuff. Sorry for the rant but I tell it like it is! Hahaha

Unlike the navy submariners, army and marine corps personnel are not allowed to grow beards which is stupid and dangerous in the Middle East where going without a beard is like wearing a bulls eye. The Union army wore beards during the Civil War and won their fight but the army and marines weren't allowed to grow beards in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and were not allowed to win any of these fights. Why is that?

Putting issues like NBC and a proper fitting "pro-mask" aside, it just looks like crap.