A Marine commander tried to kill off mustaches with a mass-shave order. It didn’t last long.

• The commander of a Marine unit in California tried to enforce a mass mustache-shave for “good order and discipline.”
• Mustaches are allowed but must be neatly trimmed.
• The move comes amid a military-wide crackdown on appearance and fitness standards.

A Marine unit in California is walking back a short-lived mustache ban meant to boost “good order and discipline.”

Though the order, which was posted online this week, was swiftly withdrawn, the initial effort speaks to just how closely Marines police appearances and the weight that something as simple and insignificant as a mustache can have in the Corps.

A Marine Corps spokesman confirmed the memo’s authenticity and said the order was quickly rescinded because it conflicted with service-wide grooming rules.

The initial mass-shave order came “following repeated violations of male grooming standards regarding the authorized wear of mustaches,” for personnel assigned to 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, an infantry unit in Twentynine Palms, California, according to the order.

“While the original intent of the order was to address repeated violations of Marine Corps grooming standards that negatively impact unit cohesion, professional appearance, and good order and discipline, the order exceeded the scope of the commander’s authority,” said the spokesman, adding that high standards of appearance remain a priority for the unit.

Mustaches are allowed in the Marine Corps, though Marines sometimes avoid them if the unit commanders are known to tacitly disapprove of them. The general rules governing mustaches, though, say they must “be neatly trimmed” and cannot extend beyond the corners of the mouth or be over half an inch in length.

Military mustache oversight still resides within the purview of the individual services. Beards, on the other hand, have been almost entirely prohibited by the Pentagon for years. The facial hair has recently drawn the attention of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has banned long-term medical waivers for troops with skin conditions, a move that critics argue unfairly targets Black troops prone to chronic razor burn.

The California unit’s attempted mustache ban was unrelated to recent Pentagon-level updates to grooming standards, the Marine spokesman said.

Much of the military seems to be cracking down on physical and grooming standards — the Air Force is adding a 2-mile run to its now-twice-yearly fitness test, and the Army recently released stricter grooming guidance for soldiers.

Military men’s facial hair has been a polarizing issue for some who feel it contributes to an “unprofessional” appearance, though it is prized in some special operations units that may receive exemptions for beards on deployment. Today’s veterans are well-known for post-service facial hair.

For the Corps, attention to such minute details within a Marine unit is not exactly strange.

The Corps has long been known as the service most restrictive on its members’ appearances — it is the only service that does not allow women to wear a braid or ponytail in daily uniforms, and it carefully governs the haircuts for male Marines, known as fades. Such aesthetic oversight is a cultural idiosyncrasy deeply ingrained within Marines from the time they arrive at boot camp.

It is not unusual for one Marine to call out another for infractions that would be minor anywhere else, like hair length or uniform creases, though such policing is often grating.

Marines’ mustaches, and the sharp opinions of some leaders on them, were famously spotlighted during a scene in HBO’s hit 2008 miniseries on the Iraq invasion, Generation Kill, in which a senior enlisted Marine berates a junior for having an unkempt mustache during the war.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The post A Marine commander tried to kill off mustaches with a mass-shave order. It didn’t last long. appeared first on Business Insider.