quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
Not much of a beard.

The laughter you hear from all across the Atlantic is from actual Norwegian servicemen.





In fairness, the guys in the last picture are Homeguard, a reserve organization.

^^^Norwegian Home Guard without Krags? (seriously, I was on a NATO exercise in Norway in '91 and a few Home Guard still had their Krag Jorgensons).

Seriously, this thread reminded me of a thread several months ago of a group that performed a number of the old Norse songs...can't recall it or find it on Search). Anyone recall it?

Found it: Heilung.

The link has a photo.

https://www.armytimes.com/off-...-earns-beard-waiver/

A ‘defining feature of masculine men’ — soldier’s Norse pagan faith earns beard waiver

By: J.D. Simkins   18 hours ago

A soldier serving in Afghanistan with the Nevada Army Guard has been granted a religious accommodation to grow a beard in accordance with a Norse pagan faith that traces its origins to Scandinavia.

Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Hopper, a 34-year-old Alabama native and member of the Nevada Army Guard’s 3665th Ordnance Company, was granted the waiver following a lengthy review process that concluded with the Army’s acknowledgement of his sincerity as a heathen.

Hopper’s exemption is the latest example of the military’s effort — most notably the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force — to acknowledge the diverse religious practices represented in its ranks.

The first such accommodation came in 2017 following years of beard-exemption requests and legal pressure from Sikh soldiers seeking to preserve religious traditions while wearing a U.S. uniform. Then, in November 2018, Staff Sgt. Abdul Rahman Gaitan became the first Muslim airman to be granted the exemption in observance of the tenets of his faith.

Because the 2017 directive is technically applicable to all religions, final judgement is often left to individual leadership to discern authentic exemption request from insincere.

Further blurring the beard waiver criteria is that while Norse paganism encourages the growth of a beard, or “skegg,” the religion doesn’t require it.

The Open Halls Project, an advocacy group for heathens serving in the military, sought to clarify any existing confusion in a 2017 post about beard exemptions.

“There is no religious requirement for beards in Heathenry,” the post read. “Sikhs are allowed to wear beards and turbans because it actually is a religious requirement of their faith that they do so. Kesh, or ‘uncut hair’ is one of the five religious requirements of baptized Sikhs. We, as Heathens, have no such religious requirement with regards to hair.”

No matter the religious requirements, the Army interpreted Hopper’s request as genuine.

“My personal faith is deeply tied to the modern warrior lifestyle that I have been able to live during my military career,” said Hopper, adding that the beard has never hindered his ability to put mission first.

“In short, it is honoring the pillars of heathenism, our ancestors and ancient gods and way of life.”

Hopper, like service members who have sought exemptions before, was advised to meet with a chaplain to present his case. Chaplains cannot officially approve or deny requests, but recommendations based on perceived sincerity can be made on the service member’s behalf.

“The chaplain corps will work with any military member to aid them in a genuine pursuit of an accommodation,” Joint Force State Chaplain Maj. Donald Crandell said. “However, we are not actively promoting a trend in this direction or seeking to normalize it.”

But a trend, as minimal as it may be, has certainly been stirring among the rank-and-file.

The already-growing list of religious exemption requests inflated earlier this year when Spc. John Hoskins applied for a beard exemption as part of his proclaimed devotion to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster — a faith also known as “Pastafarianism.”

“This request is based on my deeply and sincerely held belief in the Pastafarian faith,” Hoskins wrote in his request to the Army. “It is my personally held belief that growing a beard will bring me closer to my God and bring me into his favor.”

This time the Army declined, but only after Hoskins’ request made it all the way to the desk of a deputy chief of staff.

“The Army takes pride in sustaining a culture where all personnel are treated with dignity and respect and not discriminated against based on race, color, religion, gender and national origin,” Cathy Brown Vandermaarel, an Army spokeswoman, told Army Times when asked about the decision to deny Hoskins’ request.

“While we cannot speak to the specifics of any particular case, religious accommodation can be disapproved if it is determined that the request is not based on a sincerely held religious belief or if the accommodation would create a specific hazard that cannot be reasonably mitigated.”

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, Hopper keeps his waiver on him at all times in case any superiors question the facial feature he refers to as a “sacred and defining feature of masculine men.” Regulations specify a beard can be no longer than 2 inches in length.

“Once I present my memorandum for record and cite all of the applicable regulations and directives, the focus on the beard tends to go away, for the most part,” he said in the release. “I see it as a phase very similar to when the Army authorized the wear of black socks during the fitness test. It is something new and authorized, and you will always encounter people who do not like change.

“That is just life.”

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Don't like the requirements? Don't join, or get the fuck out.

The military is there to serve.

A few months ago I visited Iceland and spent some time with a police officer there. I learned that the country has an official (re: state sponsored) religion, and mandated donations from citizens unless they are practitioners of other faiths. Not long ago, an offender fled from the police into one of the local (state supported) churches and demanded "sanctuary."

Against the wishes of the pastor, the pursuing officers took the suspect into custody and a big brouhaha ensued. The church leader made such a stink and displayed such animosity towards the police generally, that the officer and a number of his contemporaries left the church to become "Heathens"!

Heathenism is in fact the ancient religion of Icelandic peoples and until relatively recently was the prevailing system of belief. Those that rejected the official religion of Christianity, now are free not only to worship as they wish, but can withhold contributions to a church that they feel doesn't support their best interests.

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
I don’t care. Dude found a way to skirt around a dumb rule. Well played.

As for Chem/Bio.... when it becomes a threat with an actual chance of happening, I’ll worry about it. Till then I’m not lugging an extra 50lbs of shit around theater on every deployment, and I’m tired of going to the refresher classes when I have more relevant stuff to stay current on.

People who equate uniform rules to actual combat effectiveness have a narrow view of things. Most nations allows beards in the military and the Taliban seems to be doing just fine against us without any regulations on beard length...

This......dress right dress

And to the CMD SGT Maj who dropped me for cuffing my bdu sleeves when it was 90 degrees :-p

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
if I was king, the uniform regs would apply to everyone. Clean shaven, hair w/i regs, no burkas, no turbans, no extra or I’m special stuff, no flowers on your hair, no neck tattoos, no marrying strippers when on liberty, no fat dollops of shitbags trying to not be fit enough to pick up a rifle and fight for your country. Just like in bootcamp...everyone follows the rules. No exceptions.

Don’t like it, sign here, your have been discharged,. “ soldier , escort this civilian to the perimeter.”

End of story.

I'll vote for you for King -- I'm embarrassed about my Air Force being laughed at. I gave 24+ years and by God it wasn't like this shit then.

Tinyman

Everybody so far has missed out two very important elements of this guy's conversion to the Norse system of beliefs.

In order to 'become as Odin' in his beliefs, he will have to adopt two ravens to accompany him 24/7.

Oh, and have one eye plucked out.

Either one will do.

Curtis LeMay is rolling over in his grave

just more 'look at me I'm different' BS

what a tool

---------------------------------

Such outrage over something that has absolutely no bearing on the kids performance in the military.

I guess he won’t have to carry an M4 , just the hammer of Thor !!!

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
Not much of a beard.

The British Army has the Assault Pioneers. One soldier, normally the biggest, gets to grow a beard, wear a leather apron and carry a big axe. His original duty was to clear the way through woods for the rest to follow.
However, if he doesn’t produce an acceptable beard, he loses his job.

If all the ninja dudes get to wear beards, why not the rest?

quote:

Originally posted by Stlhead:
If all the ninja dudes get to wear beards, why not the rest?

In the part of the world they are operating in, they have to interact with people - both "friendly" and enemy - who don't respect a man without a beard. ("Friendly" is used very loosely.)

Personally, I don't see what all the beard fuss is about, other than excessive length being a "handle" for the enemy to grab onto in hand to hand combat. The same also applies to long head hair.

There's always the issue of proper seal for NBC masks. AFAIK, Orthodox Jews serving in the Israeli Army are issued a set of scissors to cut off their beards in case of NBC threats (if you have to do it when when already under attack, you're probably dead).

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
The British Army has the Assault Pioneers. One soldier, normally the biggest, gets to grow a beard, wear a leather apron and carry a big axe. His original duty was to clear the way through woods for the rest to follow.
However, if he doesn’t produce an acceptable beard, he loses his job.

Same for the pioneers of the French Foreign Legion.

[FLASH_VIDEO]


Link to original video: https://youtu.be/i_LqoElctAU [/FLASH_VIDEO]

Shaving? Go to the 2:15 mark.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
Not much of a beard.

The British Army has the Assault Pioneers. One soldier, normally the biggest, gets to grow a beard, wear a leather apron and carry a big axe. His original duty was to clear the way through woods for the rest to follow.
However, if he doesn’t produce an acceptable beard, he loses his job.

Not quite 'assault pioneers' The British Army infantry has a tradition of a pioneer sergeant who, ON CEREMONIAL PARADES carries an axe and wears a beard and apron. At other times he carries a rifle just like every other soldier in the infantry. The earlier role of the pioneer sergeant was also to act as a blacksmith, hence the leather apron, and beard to protect the face. In the British Army, pioneer tasks are carried out by the Corps of Royal Engineers, a body of men and a few women whose history included more Victoria Crosses than any other part of the Armed Forces. Lieutenant Chard, of the battle of Rourke's Drift fame movie 'Zulu'] was a Royal Engineer.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by Sigolicious:


Do you want to hang out in a combat zone with the guy/gal who demands to wear a beard based on religion and has been "properly" trained in the use and care of NBC equipment?

But you're not in the service. My question is why does everyone here take it so personally and get so worked up into a dudgeon?

They might benefit from reading Mark Mansons book,”The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck” . Six million copies and still got strong.