The Army & Beards. Shapps gives way. Beard Liberation Front Guardian analysis
The article below appeared in the Guardian in December 2023.
It was in response to the news that the Army was considering relaxing some entry requirements to address a recruitment crisis, in particular the long running ban on beards for most ranks.
The current Defence Secretary Grant Shapps made what is quite a typical Government response. While beards have not been directly mentioned he has attacked what he terms ‘wokery’ in the military and underlined that ‘standards’ should not be relaxed. By that he means, at least in part, beards.
However Shapps has now bowed to what some may think was the inevitable and on 29th March it was announced that soldiers will be allowed to wear beards, although not of the ZZ Top variety. Modest progress in history
News that the British Army is considering a change to its very long running ban on soldiers wearing beards for most ranks is to be welcomed. The Navy and more recently the RAF do allow beards, although no doubt with the proviso that they are neat and orderly. We are not talking ZZ Top here.
As the organiser of the Beard Liberation which since 1995 has advocated for the right of people to be able to dress and appear as they want I welcome this.
The change is reportedly due to the fact that the Army is having trouble recruiting people, and thinks allowing beards might help with the numbers of male soldiers. As its advertising used to emphasise, as well as the ‘poor bloody infantry’, professional soldiers themselves, the Army also has large numbers of people with specific skills in its ranks Take for example Signals, which equates to telecoms and tech. This is a highly hirsute occupation in civilian life, and it can be seen that an employer with a beard ban might not appeal.
Of course the British Army historically has not been entirely bereft of beards. The Crimean War in the 1850s comes to mind, where soldiers grew bushy beards to keep the cold and frost out. Various other nineteenth century British imperial adventures saw the involvement of hirsute soldiers. Even today a range of ‘special forces’ – for example those that were deployed in Afghanistan – are allowed to have beards.
Hopefully the change to allow all soldiers to wear beards will mean that it will no longer be just a ‘special case’ but something that is routinely accepted. Should the move go ahead we can expect controversy and most likely a full blown Culture War. Somewhere out there are people who have devoted a lifetime to studying and opining on how soldiers in the British Army should dress and appear. We can be sure they will be on talk shows on GB News telling us, while looking somewhat red faced.
Its not so long ago for example that there was a debate in the right-wing media about whether Prince Harry could or should turn up at various Royal occasions wearing his beard. Many column inches were taken up discussing whether it was in line with protocol or not. In the event Harry turned up with beard intact and the world moved on. Clearly the Royal Family is in a position to make its own rules.
Even so there will be objections. Whether a Tory Minister or even Rishi Sunak decides to launch a Culture War on the subject we’ll see. They seem to be highly random events. It is certain however that columnists will denounce the Army as Woke. Age old prejudices will certainly be on display. Beards are seen as dirty, and unkempt and, referencing The Twits, containing left over bits of lunch. They are also a sign that the beard wearer is hiding something and quite probably that they have dubious morals. None of this of course from the perspective of Culture Warriors is what the British Army should be about. While Army beards will no doubt be neat and tidy they will still have variations in style, suggesting that soldiers may be thinking for themselves about their appearance and image rather than conforming to an imperial stereotype where they all look the same.
Yet beyond the archaeic dislike and even hatred of beards the world has changed. As a trade union officer in the City of London I still have a desk – which I visit in the era of flexible working less often than I did. However while 25 years ago I would have been surrounded by clean shaven men in suits, now beards are everywhere. Not just the rank and file but senior managers too.
In 2023 there is an understanding at least amongst those emplyers that are living in the twnty-first century that its not how someone’s appears that matters. Rather it is their skills and how effectively they perform them that is key. I’d like to think the beard helps here but that is probably fanciful to be honest.
Of course, there may also be a downside. The British Army gets deployed in all manner of military and imperial activities which may at least to some appear to be highly controversial. British soldiers with beards being pictured in the media where a hotly disputed encounter has taken place could risk bringing the hirsute into disrepute. It is a consideration, but one that can be countered by the reality that the order for the Army to engage will have come ultimately from some almost inevitably clean shaven politician.
Let’s hope then that the Army proceeds with a very long overdue policy change on appearance and beards, and that it is ready for the opposition from beard haters and clean shaven arm chair Generals that it will almost certainly face.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/05/british-army-allow-beards-culture-war-woke
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