While Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced this Tuesday that there would be “no more beardos” in the military, Vice President JD Vance (a former Marine) said that he’ll be keeping his.
“When I was a young United States Marine, I did not have a beard. I am now the vice president, so I get to do what I want to do,” Vance said at the White House Wednesday.
He also praised Hegseth’s Tuesday speech at Quantico in Virginia. Hundreds of generals from around the world were summoned to the meeting, which covered new directives such as physical fitness standards and grooming protocols.
“I didn’t see that particular comment, I thought Pete gave a hell of a speech,” Vance, who served four years in the military with a tour in Iraq, said of the new beard policy. “And a speech that really is just oriented around returning the American military to the very high standards it has had for virtually its entire history until [former President] Joe Biden came along and decided to lower standards. I think it was bad for our military and it was bad for our troops.”
According to the U.S. Naval Institute nonprofit, revisions and controversies regarding grooming standards are nothing new for the military. From the voluminous facial hair of the Civil War era to shaving requirements put in place during World War I as gas masks became necessary gear, there have been many changes over the years.
For example, when Admiral Elmo Zumwalt became Chief of Naval Operations in 1970, he went in the opposite direction of Hegseth. In an attempt to boost recruitment and reverse the negative public perception of the military in the wake of the Vietnam War, he loosened grooming requirements.
“The conservative military appearance was… contrasting sharply with civilian fashion, making sailors feel like misfits in society,” USNI news explained.
However, it noted that Zumwalt eventually pulled back the reigns a bit on beard and hair grooming standards. In 1984, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James D. Watkins adopted the Hegseth approach and banned all beards, though USNI said “the decision was not well received.”
As for the new standards Hegseth announced this week, the beard policy is part of “a series of 10 new directives aimed at strengthening the War Department’s people,” and a memo went out on the topic in addition to his speech, according to an article from the U.S. Army.
“It all starts with physical fitness and appearance,” the secretary of war said. His department was recently re-named from “Department of Defense” and Hegseth has promoted what he calls a “warrior ethos”.
No beards are authorized under the new policy, said the Army. Stars and Stripes reported that this takes the department back to pre-2010 standards. That was the first year that the Army granted an exemption to a Sikh soldier to wear a beard in uniform, and service began granting permanent religious accommodations to Sikh soldiers in 2017, the outlet explained. Other troops have been granted religious beard waivers on a case-by-case basis since 2019, it added.
Some military members who suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae have also been granted medical exemptions for beards if they are on a 12-month treatment plan. This condition is characterized by bumps caused by hairs curling back into skin due to frequent shaving and it is more common among African Americans.
“Those with permanent conditions will be considered for administrative separation, Hegseth wrote,” said Stars and Stripes. This summer Army officials also said they “would help train soldiers suffering from the condition to shave properly,” the report added.
New recruits diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae should not expect to enter the military if they can’t meet the new grooming standards, Hegseth said. Members who refuse to comply with the standards or who can’t achieve a proper seal on a gas or firefighting mask will not be allowed to deploy.
“Simply put, if you do not meet the male-level, physical standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test or don’t want to shave and look professional, it’s time for a new position or a new profession,” Hegseth said.
Stars and Stripes said that Hegseth has been on the grooming warpath since at least March, when he ordered a military-wide review of standards. However, it noted that he said some Special Forces members will be able to keep their beards when they request modified grooming standards for “mission-essential requirements.”
Hegseth’s call for tighter grooming standards comes as another American institution – the New York Yankees baseball team – recently dropped its longstanding rule against beards, with managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner calling the former rule “outdated”. Marty Appel, former PR director for the Yankees, joined Audacy’s “Something Offbeat” podcast to discuss the change earlier this year.