Navy medical officers should present a written suggestion for a waiver to the clean-shaven customary for these in search of an exemption.
The Pentagon on Sept. 15 unveiled grooming requirements for facial hair, ordering army personnel to be clean-shaven and requiring that these granted a medical exemption be on a therapy plan.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in an announcement that Secretary of Battle Pete Hegseth “lately directed the Companies to implement … grooming requirements for facial hair” following the fast force-wide assessment of army requirements.
The assertion linked to an Aug. 20 memorandum, made public on Sept. 15, by which Hegseth stated personnel ought to be “clear shaven and neat in presentation for a correct army look.”
The memorandum states that army medical officers should problem a written suggestion for a waiver to the clean-shaven rule, whereas last approval rests with the service member’s commander.
These with an accepted waiver should be placed on a medical therapy plan.
Hegseth wrote: “Unit commanders will provoke separation of Service members who require a shaving waiver after greater than 1 12 months of medical therapy. I’ve full confidence in our leaders in any respect ranges to offer an correct evaluation of whether or not retention is suitable.”
He stated that the power of the army is its shared function and unity, and that the Division of Battle “should stay vigilant in sustaining the grooming requirements which underpin the warrior ethos.”
The directive was put into motion efficient instantly.
The U.S. Military final week announced updates to requirements for grooming and uniform put on, together with “exact” definitions for hairstyles, with requirements on jewellery, cosmetics, and fingernails additionally being clarified.
The updates replicate “self-discipline, professionalism, and a shared dedication to the Military’s values,” the service stated.
In January, the Air Drive additionally introduced new insurance policies on grooming and uniform put on. This included restrictions on ladies’s nail polish to solely three choices—clear, or American or French manicure—in addition to directives on facial hair for male Airmen.
The Air Drive stated within the Jan. 29 memorandum, “Satisfaction in an Airman’s private look and uniform put on drastically enhances the self-discipline important to an efficient army power.”
It added that Airmen should keep a excessive customary of private look and gown to convey self-discipline and dedication to the Air Drive, which, in flip, instills confidence within the American public and elected representatives.
Navy Requirements Speedy Evaluate
In March, Hegseth ordered the Speedy Drive-Huge Evaluate of Navy Requirements, which included a assessment of bodily health, physique composition, and grooming requirements.
Hegseth stated within the March 12 memorandum that the assessment would reveal how the then-Division of Protection had maintained its requirements and what adjustments can be wanted going ahead.
“We should stay vigilant in sustaining the requirements that allow the women and men of our army to guard the American folks and our homeland because the world’s most deadly and efficient preventing power,” he said.
In April, Washington-based assume tank American Safety Mission (ASP) launched a report that discovered that just about 68 % of U.S. army reserve personnel had been chubby.
“The variety of younger adults concerned with army service stays ample to take care of present power power. Nonetheless, as chubby and weight problems disqualify 1000’s of candidates annually, providers are incentivized to violate physique composition enlistment requirements to fulfill recruitment targets,” the ASP report stated.
Hegseth called the findings “utterly unacceptable.”
He wrote on X on April 25: “That is what occurs when requirements are ignored—and that is what we’re altering. Actual health & weight requirements are right here.
“We will probably be FIT, not FAT.”
Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
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