The branch of the military I was in frowned upon beards. A tech school instructor (who moonlighted as a jazz musician, wouldn't you know) made an astute observation. He told us, "You know, the military is strange. On the one hand they make you guys cut your hair short so as to not be identified with women, then they make you scrape all the hair off your face to resemble a woman's. If they wanted you to be recognized as men, they should let you grow full beards." Pretty radical stuff coming from a military instructor. What was he trying to do, foment insurrection amongst the troops? Maybe he'd been passed over for promotion. It was one of many ironies that had me agreeing with him before long that, yes, the military was indeed strange.

Regards, Neil