4 thoughts on “War On Mustaches”

  1. This reminds me of a play I saw with my wife two months ago–“Peter and the Starcatcher” (a Peter Pan prequel coauthored by Dave Barry). The proto-Cpt. Hook was “The Black Stache”, and he had a pretty crazy handlebar. Lots of witty lines too, such as “The Black Stache–he’s on everyone’s lips!”

    🙂

    ~Jon

  2. I wish he had delved into (or at least thought to ask for) the reason why there are bans on facial hair (outside the small allowed mustache) in the military branches,. because his post showed, indirectly, exactly why those regs were put in place.

    The United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps have policies that prohibit beards on the basis of hygiene, the necessity of a good seal for gas masks, and the official position that uniform personal appearance and grooming contribute to discipline and a sense of “esprit”.

    Which is a load of bunk. The mustache would interfere with a gas mask seal as well and Civil War soldiers frequently had magnificent facial hair and weren’t dying from it (on the contrary constant shaving in dirty environments puts you at higher risk of infection).

    No the real reason can be induced from the when these policies came into play – i.e. during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. It was his administration and its political philosophy that drove the change, namely, to neuter the virile culture and spirit of individuality in our military to that of a clone army of smooth-faced thoroughly-collared unthreatening eunuchs. It was a philosophical change to our military, not simply a change to ideas about grooming.

    How does a man fight for liberty and individual rights, when he isn’t even allowed to grow a beard or his hair the way he likes?

  3. Oh, btw, Spec Ops units had been allowed (gah, the foul flavor of that word) to grow beards since the start of the GWoT, ending in *surprise!* 2010 under you know who… the 2nd coming of Woodrow Wilson.

Comments are closed.