Female hairstyle regs are “racist”
The above slide is from “leader guidance” on implementation of the new “Wear and Appearance” regulation AR 670-1 for the Army. Now, i have no idea what is going on in those pictures, but then, I don’t have any female soldiers, so I’m not really motivated to figure out what the Army wants or what kind of thought went into the regs. But, i do know y’all want to talk about it, judging from the emails I get about it. I also know that somehow the new regs are “racist” because Fox News tells me that female soldiers say it is.
Apparently, some folks started a White House petition to influence Big Army into changing the regs.
More than 11,000 people have signed a White House petition asking President Barack Obama, the commander in chief, to have the military review the regulations to allow for “neat and maintained natural hairstyles.”
Some black military women, who make up about a third of the women in the armed forces, feel they have been singled out with these new regulations.
“I think that it primarily targets black women, and I’m not in agreement with it,” said Patricia Jackson-Kelley of the National Association of Black Military Women. “I don’t see how a woman wearing three braids in her hair, how that affects her ability to perform her duty in the military.”
First of all, I don’t think all of this petition bullshit that has erupted in recent years is worth my time or yours. I haven’t, and I won’t post petition links on this blog, because to me it’s just populist, slacktivist pablum. Secondly, I think that if black women have a problem with this, there must be a better way to oppose it than some demonstration of mental masturbation on the White House website. Thirdly, I think it’s just delicious that the PC-enamored Pentagon is now faced with being branded as racists themselves.
However it turns out, I don’t give a rat’s tiny, furry ass. I don’t think the outcome of the next war will turn on how many braids female soldiers have in their hair. Maybe they should all be required to conform with male standards and that would end it all.
Category: Big Army
But, Jonn – one size fits all (male/female) just isn’t fair, either. That’s why we have different standards in the first place.
I agree. It’s great to see this Administration’s Pentagon Purveyors of PC being hoisted on their own petard – even if the argument is total BS.
However, this kind of crap is also nothing new. People were complaining that making male soldiers shave was “racist” back in the 1970s. Remember the Cain raised over shaving profiles?
Nothing new here, “respect for culture” is a nice term for “I don’t intend to abide by your rules and I will litigate if you try and make me conform”…
The local youth soccer league in Western Massachusetts is being sued for racism under the concept that beads braided into the hair are a religious symbol for a young female african american player. The fact the FIFA and the United States Soccer Federation issued a memo 6 years ago specifically identifying braided beads as an inherent danger to the players is irrelevant to the lawyers pursuing the case even though their clients agreed to abide by FIFA and USSF rules when they signed up to participate in the league. The only racists in the case are the people assuming the girl was not allowed to play because she was black instead of because she was wearing hair devices considered a danger to herself and other players.
The real tragedy is the young lady will never play in the league because the case won’t be heard or resolved until she’s out of high school.
This deal in the Army is the natural extension of that line of thinking, that the individual being compelled to conform is in and of itself somehow a racist thing. It lacks consideration of the organization and the task at hand.
Perhaps the president will actually consider telling these women to suck it up and get in the fucking program, I won’t hold my breath to see if it goes that way. But I can certainly hope.
He certainly won’t tell them to suck his dick.
Team Bathhouse Barry would rather suck that himself.
I don’t understand how this is “racist” but having a ‘National Association of Black Military Women’ is not? Is there a National Association of White Military Women? Nope!
I’m still waiting to see the announcement of the “Rich, middle aged white guy caucus” in the house…..
What about the National Association of White Military Men? Wait, that’s be R-a-a-a-a-c-i-s-t.
‘I don’t give a rat’s tiny, furry ass.’
I second that. The rule was (is now?) off your collar. I never saw one single female of the African persuasion who had braids, headbands, twists, or beads. We weren’t even allowed to wear earrings until 1973. And if anyone besides me remembers what a ‘Fro was, that wasn’t allowed, either.
If I may say so, I am fed up with my tax money going into the paychecks of these spoiled, self-involved, whiny little brats. They don’t have a clue to waht real racism is. Maybe a trip in the Wayback machine would do them some good.
Gagghh!
I went in 1974 and remember when braids were not allowed. You would here complaining when they were trying to grow a “fro”. They were told to cut it or go up for office hours.
Female Marines have much more rigorous standards and I don’t hear them bitching. Who the hell wants to wear a headband in uniform anyways? How do you wear a cover or helmet over a headband?
It also comes down to functionality. Some of those styles make your head bigger. This makes helmets and covers not fit like they should.
If the same rules apply to the white girls, then I’m sorry but there is nothing racist about it!
“How do you wear a cover or helmet over a headband?”
That is not a consideration in today’s Army.
For the majority of female soldiers, especially those that want to wear a headband in uniform, have no desire to actually soldier.
For them, being in the Army is a stepping stone for pop-culture socializing, inappropriate relationships for personal gain and advancement; soldiering plays no part in that equation.
Unfortunately, and without question, far too many enlisted and commissoned disgraces to military leadership are more than happy to give them a LEG-UP, at the expense of countless numbers of worthwhile soldiers.
Maybe but whether it’s enforced or not is a completely different story altogether.
Saw this one Wook on the range while I was coaching with such a large bun she couldn’t get her kevlar on her grape. When she finally got it on she couldn’t see because it was slanted over her eyes.
Shitbag double standard Marine Corps just let her fire on the line like it too. I about lost my mind watching that nonsense.
Looking at those pics, how do you figure out what is OK and what is not?
Served with a bunch of folks of all descriptions over the years, some of whom were both black and female. They always looked just fine to me – well put together and such. One 1st Sgt especially did her job extremely well and looked like she could pose for an article on proper wear of the uniform published in a high fashion mag.
Oh, well. Whiners will always find something to whine about.
BREAKING NEWS FROM THE COMPLETELY OBVIOUS NEWS DESK:
In response the National Association of Skinheads of America (NASA) protests and states, “all us hillbilly types reject the Armed Forces male grooming standards … we have cornered the market on short hair”.
How in the world would a female get a good seal on her gas mask with hairstyles like that? Maybe THAT’S why they are unauthorized.
The left doesn’t care if the young women die due to gas mask seal leaks, in fact that would help their cause to continue dismantling the military.
Dead women are the ultimate goal of the left and dead minority females are the trifecta of moral indignation for the left, thus reduced or relaxed standards will get them to their goal.
VOV it is a sad commentary you made but i fear, a truthful one. The left would love to see dead females and that is an out and out shame.
Dontcha know? Gas is obsolete! Just like tanks, air-to-air combat, A-10s, artillery, warships that can actually fight, bayonets, rifle engagements at ranges longer than 25 yards, and actually declaring a state of war when we are, you know, at war! The “experts” have spoken, and they have decreed that these things don’t matter anymore! It doesn’t matter that every country on Earth except Costa Rica and The Vatican have some kind of chemical weapons in their arsenal. Or that the Russians and Chinese are not only building more tanks and jets that are just as good as ours, they’re selling lots of them too. Or that the A-10 kills more shit faster and more efficiently than anything else, laughing maniacally at anything that shoots back before turning around and bestowing the Darwin Award on the idiot dumb enough to try–while the F-35 can barely get off the ground. Or that sometimes you might need to flatten the whole neighborhood without risking that fancy, expensive F-35 to do it. Or that the “obsolete” Iowa-class battleships had to be recommissioned three or four times after they were supposedly rendered into 57,000-ton paperweights by new technology, and that Iraqis were surrendering to the Wisconsin’s UAV rather than face any more 16-inch wrath of God. Or that American and British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have won several close-quarters fights with fixed bayonets. Or that firefights in Afghanistan take place at 300+ yard distances often enough that M-4 carbines can’t get the job done as well as the users would like. These things don’t matter! The “experts” know better! Just ask them! The military should be more concerned about the feelings and desires of these protected-class females, not keeping them alive in war! It’s like what the Glorious Leader said about NASA a few years back. Remember when he said that NASA must focus on promoting diversity and greater outreach to the Third World? Never mind that NASA has been lighting shit on fire to see how high it’ll go since 1958, and has been giving space shuttle rides to people from countries that… Read more »
There are three (3) ways to do your hair:
1 – The civilian way
2 – The government way
3 – The (Choose one) Army/Navy/USMC/USAF way
This is rich. As soon as I read the new 670 regs I knew, I knew without a doubt someone was going to cry racism when they saw the female hair standards. Look, you’re in the military. Some things don’t make sense. Any idiot that’s been in more than a day knows that. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me how my wearing of a PT belt everywhere is vital to the success of the global war on terrorism, but I wear it anyway and drive on. Alas, as John said, I don’t give a shit. I hate petitions and I hate these whiners.
Any improvement of the ridiculous cold-weather(Blue Book)reg’s at Drum?
I haven’t heard anything about it, but I’m not gonna hold my breath.
Whatever happened to the K.I.S.S. principle?
K.I.S.S. Was killed by wannabe perfumed princes looking for OER bullets to make themselves look good.
KISS was done in by PC, Pinto Nag. Hell, they even had a song called “Lick it Up”! (smile)
First, I never knew until reading this that there was a “National Association of Black Military Women”. We need one of those? Really? Second if black women in the military don’t like their natural nappies and would rather “corn row braid”, then the answer is simple. Cut it off, don’t enlist, get out as soon as possible or…comply with regulations. There is a safety factor being considered in this decision. The White House ,being run my Michelle, will certainly answer the call and be on the horn with the Pentagon in short order. The Pentagon, now having an uh-oh moment, having been branded as racists are in committee meetings as we speak regarding, “ass covering 101”. Screw these troops up, down and sideways! Get with the program or get the hell out. I went through “shaving waivers” in the 70s with primarily blacks and it was a fiasco then. It is only going to get worse. Can’t wait for one of these black female troops to pull out the Kwanzaa card equivalent for hair styles, with the, “it’s a black thang, you white folk, don’t get it”.
Then the proper response woulde be “You right, I don’t get it, nor do I want to. Now, you either fall in line with the regulations or you will be very shortly looking for employment elsewhere.”
Of course we know that will never happem.
Scores of jobs require grooming standards due to hygiene, headhear and breathing apparatus.
I worked in a Shipyard. A bulletin came out that if your trade required you to be able to wear a respirator( which every trade did) you could not have any facial hair other than a well groomed mushtache.
Lots of the old timers tried to ignore it, but within a week they all had been written up by saftey or sent home to shave.
Turns out that once they looked at it, a 15 year job and 23 bucks an hour were more important than sporting those goatees or soul patches.
All this bullshit about hair styles needs to stop. When people argued about regs, I’d ask them if they ever read the back of their DD Form 4 before signing it. It reads, in part:
Section C, 9: I understand that many laws, regulations, and military customs will govern my conduct and require me to do things under this agreement that a civilian does not have to do; and Section C9a. (3) Subject to the military justice system, which means, among
other things, that I may be tried by military courts-martial and (4) Required upon order to serve in combat or other hazardous situations.
I could go on, but I think you folks get the jist of it.
Easy fix – from now on, minimum standards for both males and females is a high & tight.
Years ago I saw a B/F US Army captain leaving a restaurant in ACUs walking to her car. I was walking by her in the opposite direction. I asked her if headgear was authorized. She said she didn’t want to mess up her hair. I was with an Air Force vet at the time. We both cracked up.
The first time I ever even worked alongside the combination of black and female was at PLDC/WLC. I had no interest in what her hair looked like or whether it was in accordance with AR 670-1. Curiously, it was always black female finance NCOs that had to ask me about my yarmulke, though. I can’t wait for turnabout to be fair play, because now that I’m back in the Guard, I can’t wait to visit AR 670-1 comeuppance on all black female soldiers.
See, now that’s both sexist and racist, because I’m going to single them out. AR 670-1 itself, notsomuch.
We have enough trouble enforcing rules like “show up on time” for some lower enlisted black females without enduring a category-5 EO shitstorm. No one will enforce these hairstyles for fear of being labeled “waaacist” – though some real hooah hooah NCOs might get their peckers smacked for trying.