Sailor Gets OK to Grow 4-Inch Beard, Pushes Navy to Grant Career-Length Waiver

I think that this is a great step towards diversity and inclusion in our Navy! I have spoken with some really great, and more importantly qualified people first-hand that wanted to join the military, but faced the same issue with having a religious requirement to possess facial hair. Being a sailor that served at sea in the same command as MC3 Katsareas, the USS George Washington (CVN-73), I don’t believe that the beard, as long as he doesn’t ‘go crazy’ with it would put him in any jeopardy while using naval firefighting equipment. As a qualified repair party electrician that was a damage control ‘junky,’ qualifying up to one level below DCTT (as high as an engineer could go) I am confident to say this.

I, like you all, totally ‘get it,’ we certainly do sign some of our rights away, but we also voluntarily and proudly take the oath. More people that are willing and qualified should have the honor and privilege of doing the same. I also believe that there are certain inalienable rights, such as religious freedoms, that should not be compromised by taking the oath. After all, we were founded as a nation to ensure that we could enjoy such freedoms. I don’t believe that the request should be this grueling either as a chaplain could easily verify the legitimacy of ones claim in a fairly quick interview, and make a streamlined recommendation that the commanding officer (CO) could approve.

As many of the ‘smaller’ ships in the Navy are commanded by a Commander (O-5), and not a Captain (O-6), perhaps any CO should be able to sign-off once the recommendation is made, maybe even the XO should be allowed to certify the request. The point is that taking up the time of the CO over this is ridiculous alone, but to forward all requests to the chief of naval personnel seems like a waste on many levels.

Another option to streamline this would be to grant a permanent exception at the time of enlistment, perhaps by MEPS evaluating a standard form that the clergy of the new members could sign-off on. There are many easier avenues. Being that the Navy was always a very facial hair friendly service until a little over a quarter century or so, it seems odd that they would consider an exception only for shore assignments. Those serving on shore duty are the most visible where professionalism is concerned, so I would think allowing for neatly groomed beards at sea would be a more common sense solution. Historically, there have been many pictures of high-ranking officers, admirals even, that had beards or mutton chops that appear like they are straight out of a Harry Potter story.

My $0.02 is that if the request is based out of a heartfelt religious basis than the sailors or officers putting in the request should have a streamlined process to do so. If it is someone trying to ‘take advantage,’ those cases could be easily weeded out, and a precedent sent to the fleet. Perhaps it’s time to come full circle?

Now that you know my thoughts, what are your $0.02 on the subject?

See: Sailor Gets OK to Grow 4-Inch Beard, Pushes Navy to Grant Career-Length Waiver