Why can't we grow beards?

Of course, uniformity is involved and because another countries army marches off a bridge I guess you want to also! Sorry, could not resist. LOL, I think sanitation is part of it also the gas mask issues. Styles change and someday beards might come back. I have a beard now but I think being clean-shaven in uniform maybe boring to some but I think it shows respect to self and others that your cleaned and groomed. God am I just getting old??? Go Navy Devil Doc's!

Wait wtf does full sleeve tattoos gave to do with professionalism?

Ever tried getting a decent seal on a gas mask with a beard?

Everybody likes to present a professional appearance for the public; even Corporate America has grooming standards so that they can present the best image possible.

Well SPC Vove, the US ARMY isn't one of those other countries that allows beards. For one thing you pointed out, they don't interfer with gas masks. But they do. Try getting a proper seal with a beard. Now walk around on a summer day, with temps in the 80s or 90 plus in desert enviroments. You'll wish you hadn't. Again go around for a week or two without a shower and your beard will not only be sweatty, but ripe with stink. Once the US ARMY lets its troops wear beards, people will bitch about grooming standards. I remember when the US NAVY let its sailors grow beards. They were all happy about being allowed to do that. Then some sailors went hog wild with growing contests and letting standards faĺl. The CNO who gave them a chance to look like pirates retired and the new CNO had every beard shaved off completely. Now, the US ARMY has allowed one individual enlist and his religion (shik) forbades him from cutting his hair or shaving his beard off. He also gets to wear a turban, which is also part of his faith. It's ARMY OCP by now. Having a beard doesn't make you unprofessional, but it goes against grooming standards and will certainly lead to other concerns while you're in the US ARMY. Meanwhile, let other countries do what they do and remember, you're in the US ARMY.

For me it's genetics.

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?