From: wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Patrick Chester)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.correct
Subject: Re: women marines/in military
Date: 19 Dec 92 01:49:09 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <merlyn.724385740@digibd> merlyn@digibd.digibd.com (Merlyn LeRoy) writes:
]wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Patrick Chester) writes:
]>In article <merlyn.724047346@digibd> merlyn@digibd.digibd.com (Merlyn LeRoy) writes:
]>]hillyard@msc.cornell.edu writes:
]>][hair length]
]>]>> Still haven't heard any *reasons* as such.
]
]>]>General cleanliness.  You don't want people mucking around in the trenches
]>]>with long hair.  (May help with lice and such also.)
]
]>]Possibly, but I don't see the military shaving off pubic hair.
]
]>Cheap. But I'll try to answer it. Maybe because pubic hair isn't exposed
]>quite as much as other concentrations of hair?
]
]EEewww, that makes it worse.  Aren't cooties still a problem?

Cooties? That's a term I haven't heard since grade school. Are you talking
about lice?
 
]>]>Is generally more functional.  While repairing the tank/helicopter/etc you
]>]>don't have to worry about hair getting caught in the gearing and dragging
]>]>you with it.
]
]>]Why can women (who also work on machinery) wear their hair longer?
]
]>Women can have longer hair. However, they must pin it up while in uniform.
]
]Then so could men with longer hair.  Or use some other method if longer
]hair were a danger.  If this is used as an argument, you have to explain
]why women can wear a more "dangerous" length.

No, the provision for allowing women to have longer hair is a loosening of
regs in women's favor. IMHO, this is wrong. Women in the military should 
have short hair along with the rest of the grunts. I have mentioned *my*
ideas to why military haircuts are so short but it seems that no one has
decided to comment on them so I will mention them again. Dragging the data
from memory, I think I originally said the reasons were:
    
      1)Packing a whole bunch of hair under a helmet is uncomfortable.
         (At least I've had this problem w/hats when my hair was longer)

      2)Hair getting in your eyes can be fatal in the middle of a battle
        (esp. if you are not in a position to push it out of the way e.g.
          strapped into a fighter or worse, while pulling your CW mask
          over your face it drags your hair over your eyes. Then the
          area is hit by chemical agents; making you blind and unable to
          clear your vision w/o taking off the mask.)

      3)Conformity. No Big Deal. The military is not a democracy. 
         This does not mean that soldiers can't think, just that 
          they always act as part of a team.
 
]>]Also, are higher-ranking personnel allowed to wear their hair longer?
]>]Seems like the skinhead look is mostly among the grunts.
]
]>Which services are you specifically refering to? The Marines seem to be all
]>shaven regardless of rank. At least all the ones I've seen have and these 
]>were officers.
]
]This is just a general impression I have; Marines *do* seem to be the most
]shaven.   Another poster said sailors could have beards.  Don't you get
]shaved when entering the Army, but you can grow it longer after that?

Well, soldiers are a bit more disciplined than skinheads but I do think they
look a bit similar. About sailors with beards, the only reference I've found
of that is WWII-era submarine crews. I don't know about modern sub crews
exception, but in WWII beards were allowed while on sub patrols (they had
to shave after they got back though.)

Also, in any service branch's basic training, recruits have their heads
shaven as a part of training to remove some individuality before they are
made into soldiers. Just a mind game. Also, you can't grow it THAT much
longer. When I was in AFROTC, the hair requirements were 1.5 inch bulk on 
top, short on the sides and tapered in the back. Sideburns were also shortened.
 
]Many official "reasons" for things military just seem to be rationalizations.

You have a list? 
The military usually does things because it's always been done before and
there is no pressing reason to change it. They are called traditions.

Oh heck with it. Just post a list and let the rest of us dissect it. Though
you might want to email me one since I'm leaving for the holidays tommorow
and won't be back to the lab for at least 2 weeks. I'd appreciate it.

]---
]Merlyn LeRoy


-- 
Patrick Chester            |----------------------------------------------------
wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu |"The earth is too fragile a basket in which to keep
Politically Incorrect      |  all your eggs." Robert A. Heinlein
Future Lunar Colonist      |"The meek can *have* the Earth. The rest of us are 
#^%$!! Militarist          |  going to the stars." Robert A. Heinlein
(Of the Sun Tzu mentality) |----------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.politics.correct