{"id":5392,"date":"2026-07-10T09:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T09:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5392"},"modified":"2026-07-10T09:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T09:34:14","slug":"hegseth-pushes-for-action-after-sailors-appear-to-flout-his-beard-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5392","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth pushes for action after sailors appear to flout his beard policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n As the US-Iran war risked reigniting in recent weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded a Navy ship for what was supposed to be a routine visit with sailors.\n <\/p>

Read more McConnell was loaded into ambulance on a stretcher, according to eyewitness and new video<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The trip was marred by facial hair: Hegseth noticed multiple sailors sporting beards, apparently violating a stricter policy restricting beards in most instances that he issued last year, according to a defense official and emails seen by CNN referencing the defense secretary\u2019s requests for action to be taken.\n <\/p>\n

\n Hegseth left the ship wondering if the Pentagon rank-and-file paid attention to his beard policy and other policy changes he has made to the workforce.\n <\/p>\n

\n Shortly after the visit in June, Pentagon officials held a series of meetings in which they told subordinates that Hegseth was closely monitoring agencies\u2019 progress on the beard policy and other workplace changes, and that there was pressure from political appointees to move faster on the directives.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWant to bring to your attention that the SecWar is paying close attention to the progress of the EEO [Equal Employment Opportunity] reforms,\u201d a Pentagon official focused on civilian personnel policy emailed colleagues in June. \u201cIn fact, the push is to move faster \u2026 there is a need to revamp some of our timelines.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The episode shows how Hegseth intensely focuses on personnel policies, including those with culture war undertones, even as the US military conducts operations from Iran to the Caribbean. The 46-year-old Iraq war veteran has also brought Christian prayer services to the Pentagon and threatened to cut ties with Scouting America over its \u201cwoke\u201d policies.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN could not determine which ship visit prompted Hegseth\u2019s crackdown. He visited the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego in June and the USS Boxer in Singapore in May, according to the Pentagon.\n <\/p>\n

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\"Secretary<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nSecretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, aboard theUSS Boxer, in Singapore, on May 29, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Sailor O\u2019Rear\/US Navy<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement: Hegseth \u201cmaintains the highest expectations for our service members to uphold the professional standards of appearance, fitness, and discipline that define our warfighting force, and he continues to emphasize consistent enforcement of hair, weight, and grooming standards across all ranks.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Commanders \u201cwill be held accountable for delivering results as the Department works to restore a culture of excellence and readiness,\u201d Parnell said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The changes that Hegseth made to Pentagon EEO policies include requirements that workplace complaints be dealt with in a timely manner and that the subject of a complaint be presumed innocent unless evidence showed otherwise. A questionnaire sent recently to Pentagon employees asks them about the number of dismissed workplace complaints.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those EEO reforms are a welcome effort to improve a process that has long been plagued by delays, according to Katherine Kuzminski, a scholar at the Center for a New American Security think tank.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump fires Election Assistance Commission leaders<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor those filing a substantiated complaint, long timelines delay appropriate intervention; those who have an unsubstantiated claim filed against them have a cloud of suspicion hanging over them until the process is complete,\u201d Kuzminski told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u2018No more beardos\u2019\n<\/h2>\n

\n Facial hair has been a more visible measure of how Hegseth is reshaping the military.\n <\/p>\n

\n In September, he issued a memo that tightened restrictions on beards and the granting of medical-based exemptions to grow them, reversing years of policy. \u201cNo more beardos,\u201d Hegseth said in a speech to hundreds of top military officers. \u201cThe era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The military had in recent years gradually become more accommodating of beards, granting thousands of medical and religious exemptions. But Hegseth\u2019s memo argued that beards were a national security issue because they could prevent service members from safely donning protective equipment in response to chemical or biological threats. (The Army has done extensive studies of the effects of beards on gas masks and approved exemptions in the past.)\n <\/p>\n

\n Critics of the policy say it fails to adequately account for a painfulmedical condition that disproportionately affects Black men. Pseudofolliculitis barbae, or PFB, occurs when shaved hair curls back into the skin. Under the new policy, commanders can kick out military personnel who require a shaving waiver after a year of medical treatment for PFB.\n <\/p>\n

\n That policy \u201callows for an environment of hostility to our Black troops in uniform in part because it opens them up to greater harassment from their senior enlisted,\u201d said Richard Brookshire, co-founder of the nonprofit Black Veterans Project. \u201cIt opens them up for \u2026 disciplinary action for a treatable condition that the military had been adequately treating for well over a decade.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou\u2019re talking about getting rid of well-qualified, patriotic, lethal soldiers at a time our country is propagating new and complex wars, after spending quite literally millions of dollars to train these men and women,\u201d Brookshire told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Hegseth\u2019s changes to grooming and personnel standards coincided with a speech he gave in September before hundreds of the nation\u2019s senior officers and enlisted leaders that he summoned to a military installation in Quantico, Virginia. Hegseth hammered home the need for change on things like physical fitness and stricter grooming standards \u2014 issues that typically fall to more junior leaders to enforce. The issue of threats to the homeland and deterring China, he said at the time, was \u201canother speech for another day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The day before the US and Israel began their war with Iran in February, Hegseth released a video on social media about the Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts of America) and his \u201cdeep concerns\u201d about diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the organization. The same day, he signed a memorandum discontinuing participation by military officers in select fellowships and at elite universities like Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, accusing the schools of propagating \u201cleftist ideology.\u201d\n <\/p>

Read more Fossils of an ancient sea creature are the oldest evidence of right-handedness<\/a><\/p>\n

\nCNN\u2019s Haley Britzky contributed reporting.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the US-Iran war risked reigniting in recent weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded a Navy ship for what was supposed to be a routine visit with sailors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nHegseth pushes for action after sailors appear to flout his beard policy - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5392\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hegseth pushes for action after sailors appear to flout his beard policy - 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