The Marine Corps has not relaxed its grooming standards in response to COVID-19 and — as his father once charged the beachy hills of Iwo Jima — Gen. Mark Milley seems to have decided he will die on this one.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, were asked during a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday about Marine Corps hair standards. While other branches have relaxed grooming standards to some degree and closed barber shops, the Marine Corps has not followed suit.
And it does not seem to plan to.
Specifically, Esper and Milley were asked about a viral video showing Marines at Camp Pendleton lined up waiting for haircuts. They are standing very close together without any face coverings — the exact opposite of what the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control has recommended.
Esper responded by saying the commandant would be contacted and asked to answer for the guidance violation.
"If you need to, suspend haircuts for whatever period of time," Esper said.
Milley was quick to interject.
"Don't take that as guidance yet," Milley said. "A lot of ways to do haircuts."
Milley, for one, cuts his own hair using a mirror.
Milley was asked more directly — does he advise maintaining grooming standards during a pandemic.
"Yes, I think Marines should get haircuts," Milley answered.
He went on to compare the discipline of grooming standards to the discipline that led to the flag-raising on Iwo Jima — a 20-day ordeal that took the lives of 7,000 Marines.
"As the son of a Navy corpsman who hit the beach at Iwo Jima with the 4th Marine Division — it took extraordinary discipline to conquer that island with 7,000 Marines killed in 19 or 20 days and put that flag on Suribachi. That Marine victory was the result of incredible discipline," Milley said.
"It may seem superficial to some but getting a haircut is part of that discipline," Milley added.
Responses to the maintained grooming standards seem to be a mixed bag, according to Twitter. Some agree with Milley's sentiment that the discipline involved in maintaining grooming standards are fundamental to maintaining the full gambit of standards Marines must adhere to.
Others argue that haircuts should not currently be one of the DoD's top priorities.
As of Wednesday morning, the Department of Defense had 4,766 reported cases of COVID-19 across the force including 2,486 cases among active duty personnel. Total, 17 DoD-affiliated individuals have died.
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