Angus are you uniformed Staff? I’ve grown a beard for Decembeard to raise money for charity but I’ve noticed that, as I work outdoors all day, I’m more comfortable at work and I’m not feeling the effects of the elements as much when climbing telegraph poles or sitting in the freezing cold. I’ve requested special dispensation to continue wearing my beard during the winter months but OC Wing has refused this.
Nah, I’m only a CI, like you though I work outdoors all day (I’m a sheep and beef farmer in Wales), and the beard is a kind of scarf. It also makes me look like a particularly disheveled tramp…
Somewhat related to the ‘look good in your uniform or turn up in civvies’ edict, why don’t you just parade in civvies till April, then the ‘no beards’ thing doesn’t apply to you…?
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The lack of support from above has actually made me realise that I’d be better off being a CI tbh. I’ve had time away from family events, late nights, school assemblies, loads of time off work etc etc, as we all do, that if I can’t be supported by my senior leaders for something like this then I’m happy to lose the uniform. I can still teach the kids just the same way as I do now. I’m not in the RAF anymore and quite frankly I’m becoming demoralised by attitudes from above. And to think I sat through a climatic injury presentation the other day…you’d think they’d understand!
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You are officially talking out of your hoop.
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Unfortunately there is a cadre of individuals who are only interested in the uniform and the “kudos” that they think it brings them. In my experience they generally tend to be self-aggrandising individuals who tend to act like large Cadets - more so when they do not get their way. Most seem to like shouting at kids and applying rules to suit themselves.
These are the sort of people who helped secure the death of the VR(T).
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Don’t feed the troll.
And if you want to question moderating decisions, please follow the AUP.
Why don’t you get a chit from your GP? Complain that shaving in the cold weather has aggravated your skin and it’s medically better for you to not shave. I know an Armourer in the regulars who got such a chit.
Please, please do this, and Please, please get someone to take a picture of you showing it to a WO.
As an aside, I went to a neighbouring unit recently and saw a cadet who had clearly not shaven for several weeks. I naturally assumed, that he must have some sort of chit for this, as a) I know he’s not a malingerer, and b) I know if he didn’t have a good excuse his staff would jump on the issue. So I asked, and was told he was signed off by his GP.
Apparently I was the only staff member to see him and not just shout at him first. (Everyone else assuming that he was just lazy and clearly staffed by incompetent fools.)
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Here’s the thing: while a biff-chit for shaving in the regulars makes some sort of sense, the logical way forward in this youth organisation would be to simply not wear the uniform for the period of biffness.
Or become a muslim.
What if it is a permanent condition. I know of two staff with a beard all year round and assume they have chits (or are good blaggers). Should they just not parade? It’s always annoyed me that you can have a beard if you’re female (had an inspecting officer with a chin full of dark hair) or for religious reasons but suddenly it stops being smart if you’re not religious. They should allow them but only neatly trimmed full beards…
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As much as I hate beards and distrust anybody who wears them, I do think it is about time we followed the RN’s lead and permitted neat facial fuzz for all personnel unless there is a specific H&S case to require the lack of whiskers.
I’m sure the senior service are laughing it up at the recruitment centres, cashing in on the current hipster trend for a hairy face.
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Only if we have proper rules like the RN does e.g. they have to actually be able to grow a proper beard and it has to be a certain length within a set time frame. What we don’t want is people rolling out of bed and deciding that they don’t want to shave today and won’t because “beards are allowed”.
You have to shave during your initial training and when you get your posting you still have to request to stop shaving
I think it comes down to walting with confidence. If you have a beautiful, neat and full beard in uniform, people just assume it’s legit. If you have a patchy, scruffy mess of a beard (a la me, every time I go on holiday or over Christmas,) people just assume you’re taking the Michael.
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What, like 3-4 months?
While not my thing and I don’t understand the craze for beards, what is the problem with beards?
As for cadet bum fluff has been around for as long as we have existed as a species, so shouldn’t make any real problem. It’s a parental or even cadet thing to sort out. Our son started shaving as soon as he got the first wisp of lip hair, with no comments from either of us.
We were told years ago the beef around beards was about not getting a proper seal with respirators, but I thought then, it would only make real sense a couple of hours after you’ve shaved, after that daily growth would compromise the seal. Plus all the crap people would have on their face wouldn’t work properly. Then there were the RN who could have beards like one of my mates did.
I recall a big fuss being made about hair length and tattoos and IIRC there was a relaxation to avoid people in the services looking like people in the services and attracting the unwanted attention of certain groups.
Again in an organisation with so many problems … this is not that big a deal. Most people know if they can grow a reasonable beard if it floats their boat.
I had an enormous bright ginger beard in Afghanistan - it’s normally brown with winter highlights, but the sun bleached it fearsomely.
I really enjoyed walking past shouty people with clean uniforms in Bastion, I could watch a kind of apoplexy build up as they went purple, but then doubt would cloud their faces - should they have a go? Would they get filled in? Is this hairy, scruffy bloke the world’s ugliest member of them?
Beards are the path to the light in the ACO - wear one, give a tedious waste of skin with a stick a heart attack.
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Come on, angus… we all know the reason you had to grow a beard is that army officers aren’t trusted with sharp objects except under one-to-one supervision by the RSM, following a request for permission to handle sharp objects endorsed by the adjutant, which can only be obtained on presentation of a letter of introduction from the Earl of Rothshire (on White’s letterhead).
You might have been alright but, when you went to ask for the signature, it was 18:01 and you still had your brown brogues on.
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This was Bastion mate - never wear brown in town…
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You mean center parcs?