Pentagon Relaxing Rules On Military Attire

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...xing-rules-on-religious-clothing-facial-hair/

For years both the Navy and Coast Guard were able to wear beards, until someone figured out they interfered with a gas masks ability to seal properly. Not sure how the wearing of beards was approved. And possibly turbans instead of hats will be approved? Call me an old school but this new policy seems a bit overboard to me. Any thoughts?

 

Interestingly enough, Sikhs used to be able to wear beards and turbans in uniform. I remember seeing a Sikh warrant officer back in the 90's. They stopped that and now that they are allowing it again it seems like they are just opening a can of worms. I'm sure commanders don't want to have deal with this sort of nonsense. First, the Sikh guy wants his beard and turban, than the Muslim wants her headcovering and veil, then of course, the joker Satanists will want to wear devil horns...

 

the new policy will allow service members to sport different kinds of religious garb and hairstyles so long as they don't have an "adverse effect on military readiness, mission accomplishment, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline."

snip

The Pentagon stressed that religious apparel that "impairs" the safe operation of weapons, poses a safety hazard to others, or interferes with special equipment like helmets and flak jackets will not be permitted.
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I'd imagine that boldened portions should clear up any questions regarding beards impeding the proper application of gas masks. Currently, Commanders are able to bypass shaving waivers if the service member is unable to pass a mechanized gas-mask fit test. As long as the wording is correct, this shouldn't be an issue.

 

Should the ACLU step in with concerns about the blending of Church and State when it comes to openly wearing religious attire with the uniform?

 

Wait hold on...even the turban was digital camo?

 

Really? What happens with your MOPP Gear and beards?

 

Honestly, this trend towards digital camo...to me unless you're actually deployed to a hazardous duty area, your basic everyday "fatigues" as I would call them...should be solid colors...these digital camo patterns make everyone look like they're wearing pajamas. No offense to the gentleman's religion, but the turban looks ridiculous in ACU.

 

In the case of a gas mask, facial hair could potentially prevent a proper seal...the whole point is to keep the bad stuff out...and allow the good stuff in after the bad stuff has been filtered.

A beard can prevent an air-tight seal against the face/neck/head.

 

Isn't it amazing how our chief policy makers are doing everything they can to demoralize and destroy the US military while at the same time creating advertising campaigns to encourage as many young people as possible to willingly sacrifice life and limb for Israel, "The New World Order" and to help usher in the coming "Mashianic Age?

And they do this right in our faces; For example, the way they are trying to work as many women and the lesbians who chase them right into the front lines with combat units knowing full well what the results will be.

It was so funny yesterday how Yomamma went on about sexual molestation of women in the military and how we should protect them from this by prosecuting as many of the Goy cannon fodder as possible.

Then turn right around and pretend that they can't see that if a woman can't even resist unwanted sexual advances from a man, that it's going to be much more of a problem when she faces an enemy that is trying to kill her!

 

Yeah the tried and true "woodland" pattern is better than the digital.

 

Well I have to admit that the spec ops guys in Afghanistan with the viking beards look more intimidating than someone with a baby butt smooth face. Personally I think our navy should have Jolly Rogers flying from their ships and the ships should be painted black and our ground forces should wearing armor that looks like viking armor with long beards and instead of those combat knife they should have battle axes.

 

Out of curiosity does fixed wing pilots train in MOPP or Rotor heads for that matter?

 

Absolutely, there is familiarization training in MOPP gear for operating in an NBC environment; right up to level 4.
I was deployed for 60 days in support of Desert Shield/Storm and trained on donning an mcu-2/p gas mask, and how to fit it properly. In fact, there were frequent "Scud" alerts at Riyadh AB in Saudi Arabia and everyone who was issued one, carried them...didn't matter what job you did. The base was MOPP ready.

 

I was thinking more inline with low level flight if such a thing?

 

I was trained in emergency procedures to fly in partial MOPP gear...I can't speak for other units. However, the MOPP drill in preparation for deploying is usually done on the ground. Flying a helicopter, I don' t see how it's practical to do wearing that sort of gear which definitely hinders movement and vision. Most of the training is focused on the ground I would think.

 

T-37B, T-39D, C-21A, C-130H2

Are you an aviator?

 

The Army has wasted billions changing uniforms. Before they switched over to ACU's when you were deployed you got the desert version of the BDU's as organizational issue and then returned them when you came home. That was a system that made more sense then switching to to a uniform that didn't blend in anywhere. Although I do admit some of the improvements to the ACU's were worthwhile and acommidated wearing battle rattle I'm not sure that should have been the priority at the time.