Today, we focus on the third newsletter: US Defense Secretary Hegseth will visit South Korea early next month, during which bearded soldiers will be prohibited from attending official activities hosted by him.
After serving as Defense Minister, Hagerseth has always emphasized the restoration of traditional discipline in the military and the implementation of strict appearance standards. He has publicly stated that he would end such prominent personal expressions as beards and long hair to ensure the unity and professionalism of the army. image. During this visit to South Korea, the official events he hosted explicitly prohibited bearded soldiers from participating. Even soldiers with exemptions are no exception, and these exemptions usually apply to soldiers who cannot shave due to religious beliefs (such as Sikh or Muslim soldiers) or physical reasons (such as skin diseases).
Before Hertz took office, the U.S. military gradually eased shaving regulations to include multicultural and personal needs, such as allowing some soldiers to retain beards in 2021 to recruit more ethnic minorities. However, Hertz was strongly opposed to this as an advocate of Trump’s conservative policy. He said: “We want to shave, shave, and abide by standards. If you don’t like it, don’t come to the army.”
After the incident fermented, it quickly triggered a backlash inside and outside the military. Several Democratic lawmakers have publicly urged Hagerseth to revoke the "exclusionary" decision, arguing that it violated the military's inclusiveness principles and could affect morale. Some veterans groups and social media users also expressed anger, calling the move tantamount to "discrimination against minorities" and questioning whether Hegerseth truly understood the diversity of the modern military. At the same time, supporters believe that this reflects Hagerseth's efforts to reshape the military's image of iron law.
Let's talk about the evolution of the US military's beard policy. During the American Revolutionary War, the Army stipulated that soldiers must shave at least three times a week to maintain the unity and hygiene standards of the army, but mainly to avoid being distracted by personal image on the battlefield. attention. In the 19th century, with the change of social customs, beards gradually became a common sight in the army. Especially during the Civil War, many officers such as General Grant showed themselves as full beards.
However, after the outbreak of World War I, the threat of chemical warfare prompted the US military to completely ban beards, because facial hair would interfere with the sealing effect of gas masks. This rule quickly expanded to all services, and subsequently became the iron law during World War II and the Cold War. The Navy was briefly relaxed by the then Chief of Operations Zumwalter through the "Z-gram 57" directive, allowing soldiers to stay in order to boost morale and adapt to the trend of the times, but it was soon banned again on the grounds that collective obedience was greater than individual expression, and the compatibility of emergency respiratory equipment.
In the 21st century, more and more ethnic minorities have joined the U.S. military, and cracks have begun to appear in the ban policy. In 2017, the Army revised its regulations to allow Sikhs and Muslim soldiers to apply for beard exemptions based on their religious beliefs. In addition, there was also an exemption for pseudofolliculitis, a skin disease most common in African-American soldiers. (Note: Special operations forces such as SEALs and green berets are allowed to wear beards during deployments such as Afghanistan to better integrate into local culture, but this is limited to specific missions and is not extended to regular forces.)
As for the rigorous measures taken by Hergéth against the U.S. beard policy, which appear to be narrow in appearance, it is still a continuation of Trump’s “re-awakening” policy. Trump has long criticized the former Biden administration’s military policy for focusing too much on diversity and inclusion, leading to “re-awakening” eroding combat power and repeatedly criticizing the military’s “politically correct” reforms.
In addition to the “do-it-yourself” as an initiative to eliminate “awareness” and “diversity, fairness and inclusion” in the army, Trump quickly promoted a series of restrictive policies aimed at U.S. military neutral minorities, including the direct abolition of the rules that allow transgender people to serve in the Biden era, and the withdrawal of transgender soldiers, as of October, about 1,000 transgender soldiers “choose to voluntarily retire”.
Overall, these actions by the Trump administration are not only military reforms, but also part of its cultural war, aimed at reshaping national identity through grassroots discipline and consolidating its conservative fundamentals.