I am absolutely certain that allowing beards is going to make all the difference, when it comes to meeting recruiting targets. Not.

Beards aren’t the problem. Capita are. And I am stunned the top brass don’t think that maybe young people aren’t signing up because of the low salaries and all the bad publicity regarding the accommodation and being prosecuted for doing your job because some smart arsed lawyers think they can make money.

I feel that's very much the company paid to improve recruitment having failed, they have blamed beards as being a reason they can't get lads in. Not the pay, food, accommodation or deployments....

Beards won't fix the fact Capita has been derailing the recruitment process for over a decade. Units used to be able to run their own recruitment administration, then it was centralised (first mistake), and handled by Capita (second mistake). If the army want to fix their recruitment crisis, they need to let individual units handle their own recruitment administration, privatisation has not worked.

How about actually sorting out the pay? Single accommodation if you are in recruit training or extremely lucky is good, majority is disgusting. Too many married quarters are disgusting. Contracting out the support means that all accommodation issues can not be sorted out meaning often falling below legal requirements. Stop shafting personnel on pensions. There's loads more support needed on injury recovery, it's changed massively, still not there yet. But no the civil service Einstein's come up with beards, give me a break!

When I was in beards weren't permitted because the respirator wouldn't have a good seal when under chemical attack. I don't know how much truth there is in that.

The rush to join up will be unbelievable

Many moons ago I trained a platoon of National Service Mech-Infantry. Being National Service, these men tried to see how far they could stretch the rules as applied to them and exercised their individual right to cultivate facial adornment in the form of beard growth. This lasted eggsackly until their first NBC training session that included a visit to the gas chamber. Baboon Platoon overnight became Baby's-Moon platoon with one section united in the Snaggle Snoot Troop.

Until they drop the ban, Army Reserve numbers will dwindle more, especially with all the cutbacks. No one's going to shave off a beard for a couple of hours once a week, some are fortnightly and a weekend away once a month. Having a beard doesn't make you a super soldier, but it can boost confidence and you can't be confidence

After looking at photos of Victorian Soldiers with beards. It certainly makes young soldiers look as they're going to do the job and terrifies the enemy. The photos of the Paras & Royal Marines with their taches after capturing Stanley says it all, facial hair has always been part of the British Military certainly up and till I left.

Beards yes bum fluff no 😂

I've seen so many squaddies with beards, inthinknyou should only be allowed to grow them on operations. In barracks it just looks rough.

Beards are a sign of masculinity, surely the woke recruiters won't like that?

My father was in the army and shaved twice a day (light shave) rather than once a day (close shave) and no shave on Sunday. Skin infections were countered with Old Spice aftershave, (the one for real men) ouch ! Is there a regulation aftershave smell in the MOD ?

Beard or not, We need soldiers and effective ones at that, Long as its maintained and kept clean they should be no issue i

Pay people proper salaries, if you have a recruitment problem that will definitely help. Also look after them, don't force them and their families to live in a hell hole of an apartment. And look after people once they have left. As for the beards, telling people it's because of respirators is silly when the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force also have respirators. If respirators function completely fine in other services with beards then the Army are simply stating something that isn't truthful.

The Canadian Armed Forces has allowed full (well trimmed of course) beards for a number of years now and it's been fantastic. No issues around respirators (you know, gas masks), and it also looks very cool (you know, bad ass LOL). Well worth the changes.

I've tried my CBRN suit on and the only issue is the respirator wouldn't create a suitable seal against the skin.

if you cant grow dont show!

They finally did it!🎉

Beards won't magically solve recruitment and retention. We know this. We're all adults (perhaps some a little adultier than others) but never the less. That said I think people would be surprised the difference it would make, would it be small? Yeah it'd be small but more significant than most people imagine. People like having autonomy and feeling more comfortable.

The reason why the RN has long permitted beards is because in the days of sail it was very difficult to shave safely. In polar waters facial hair also protected against frostbite when working aloft.

Why would you want to fight for such a spineless government

Well allowing beards may not magically fix the recruitment issue, bet might affect it positively by a fraction. Having a beard is an authonomy to be an individual. If you have your looks in civilian life, now you are forced to shave every few days ofc it would upset some of the boys including myself :)

I signed up over 10 years ago, did the Barb, got a high score but was told there were only spaces in infantry. I got told how much I would be paid and that I’d have to shave my beard off. If I’m going to get shot at for lower pay than a supermarket worker - I’m not doing it bare faced…

I kinda think it might make a difference to reservist recruitment actually. The reservist training is fairly uninspiring and takes ages. The requirement to shave every Tuesday night just to sit in 2 hours of pretty dull classroom lessons does put people off. Loads of reserves have moustache’s anyway which makes them look ridiculous. Understand it when in camp etc but relaxed rules would help.

The US military permits beards amoungst special forces units (all branches) during combat deployments in the middle east with the idea that the soldiers will blend in better. Don't think wholesale change will happen else where though.

Do they still have the two-week rule in the RN, where you have to request to stop shaving then have a fortnight to grow a decent set or shave it off again?

We’re allowed beards in the Irish army since last year, and tbh I haven’t heard one recruit they that’s why they joined. I think it was our medical corps who finally recognised that shaving causes injuries and infections.. Personally I’m clean shaven

Changing standards, in preparation for conscription. There's a hotel, full of men with facial topiary, in a town near me.

its not beards that is needed, its better after care ,like homes and job training for when you get out

The army has to operate outside vehicles with a respirator which doesn't work properly with a beard unless they have changed the design since I tested one with tear gas when I served in the Royal Navy where the ships provide a gas free environment. Most men can't grow a beard quickly enough to look "decent" in the time between exercises. As to the recruitment problem - topic for another day

if they lived in Canada any bit of facial hair takes the bite out of the cold. Never ever had a beard in the Brit Army anywhere, and my face was frozen in top cover sentry in Belfast and Bosnia...Would loved to have had a beard the whole time....

Beards should be ok as long as they are well groomed, they help in colder weather (as long as they're dry, that is) and also for camouflaging. They also need to get rid of that silly ruling of no tattoos, i heard a mother of a teenage boy say her son was rejected from the application process due to him having a visable tattoo... thats ludicrous in todays world, im afraid. You want soldiers who want to be there, and that lad wanted to be there.

Having served in the military I can tell you the reason not to have a beard. Your gas mask will not seal correctly against your skin, thus allowing nerve gas (or other nastiness like antrax spores)to leak in. So it's important in the field but not so much in peace time barracks. Except of course when you go into the tear gas chamber to check the fit of your mask (a tip, cover all skin carefully, the gas really stings. Ask me how I know.)

I doubt the type of recruits they want these days will be able to grow beards anyway .

The Beard/Respirator issue is a bit of an excuse. Queen Victoria banned the beard and restricted it to certain ranks and the Royal Navy only. Ask the armed forces of Pakistan and India if there are issues of having a beard and wearing a respirator. Ask most of the armed forces of the Dutch, German and Nordic countries. As long as the beard is trimmed and neat and not looking like a crow's nest, it is not a problem.

50% less in recruitment well treat your personnel better especially when being retired

Think better paid would help

I guarantee more people would join the resevres if beards where allowed

In '73 Israeli soldiers came back from the front with ragged half grown beards of all descriptions. About a month after the cease fire they all returned clean shaven. There had been reliable intelligence that the Syria and Egypt had chemical weapons. Should we assume that the issues of air tight seals for gas masks has been resolved? I certainly hope so of poor pity all those senior sergeants. Aside from tactical concerns, why not allow beards but I doubt it will resolve the recruitment problems.

Apparently your also be allowed to wear track suit bottoms and a hoody. The army estimates millions will be saved in uniform costs. Plus the yoof of today are more likely to be enticed, innit. The army that is.

I think short beards should be acceptable and only if you are capable of growing what should deemed as a 'beard' not a patchy set of pubes.

Once a mighty Army, is slowly crumbling. Time for the politicians to join up. 😅

It’s bizarre how people can think beards are the key to recruitment and retention and not fixing accommodation, improving pay, career opportunities, equipment, decent treatment by chains of command…….

Weren't moustaches a requirement in British Army the 19th century?

They have finally solved the crisis of lack of recruitment

I thought they was going to say that having a beard effects camouflage of some kind, which tbh if ur ginger like me that’s fair enough

I’m sorry but I got triggered just watching you shaving whilst wearing a shirt

Recruitment will be a problem until the UK is a nation worth fighting for, a nation with pride in itself and an attitude of "we are good and the best" rather than "sorry we were bad in the past, we're terrible".

As soon as they do...being clean shaven will come back into fashion lol

Chuck norris had a beard. Wouldnt mess with him.

The navy have had beards for years and they too are struggling on the recruitment front, so I cant see how letting someone grow a beard will entice them to join the forces!! I would say nobody wants to join due to the way we have let the younger generation in society get so pathetic.

Adds to the camo

It's for religious grounds nothing more. A guy in my former regiment changed religion to Rastafarian in order to grow dreadlocks wrapped into a bun. Angered the whole regiment but he felt he won his desire to have a chilled time. There was soon 10 of them and all speaking Rastafarian.

James do write your own script or is one handed to you? In any case with an opening like that one of you has to go. Shaving with a shirt on😂

Sensible idea. The rules are inconsistent at the moment. Why allow those from particular religions to wear a beard, but prohibit others? On parade, uniform ranks of shaven-faced soldiers is already a thing of the past. As for the fit of respirators, if and when there's a CRBN threat, shaving can return to being a requirement.

You cannot get a gas tight fit with a beard, a trimmed goatee you can get a seal so where you expect the use of Gas, etc you would need to lose your beard.

FWIW, the US Armed Forces are in the same quandary as far as low recruiting numbers go esp. since 2019. It's a real mess right now and the US is mostly looking at relaxing the tattoo prohibitions even more to encourage enlistment. However, they are still sticking by the CBRNE exception for still not allowing beards though, though that usually does not apply to SOF and other Operator ODA units-----ever see a 6ft plus 28 year old thin build Caucasian redhead with a beard walking around Afghanistan in tac-pants and a denim shirt and try to guess what he does for a living?? But like you said, it's not working. A lot of police departments here in the States have walked away from their old beard restriction and still recruiting continues to be a problem.

Ive got a solution to this ridiculousness: DO NOT JOIN AND PERPETUATE WARS, simples

Ask the Royal Navy, see if that’s made any difference …..

How will we differentiate between our special forces if everyone has a beard!!!

To much old school. If a soldier wants a beard go ahead. Having a beard doesn't stop soldiers being professional and ready for war. Sailors have beard's Piper's in Highland pipers have beard's doesn't stop them from engaging the enemy

Those lazy at shaving will be sloppy In the field and sloppy maintaining weapons. It's about mental refinement. Lazy habits lazy life. Life is about mind.

You made a video for this????

Apart from the "morale effect", hard luck when you want to use a respirator. I'll what you writhing in agony as you can't get a seal. If you want one, become an Assault Pioneer SGT. Seriously though, if you can't cope with having to shave, what next - forget about cleaning your weapon, PT becomes optional??

The issue is actually the fact that Sikhs Muslims and certain Christian and Jewish denominations are allowed them for religious purposes while everyone else is forced to shave. You can also get a waver to not have one if you develop a skin condition. Given these numerous exceptions to the rule and this ridiculous double standard it makes no sense to ban beards in the army anymore. If a respirator doesn’t work on a Muslim or a Sikh it may as well not work on anyone.

I don't think the Army can say no to beards tbh. Women and men can have sex changes and boob jobs part financed by the military. Saying a "man" can't have a beard is just ridiculous tbh. Sorting out increased pay, food, kit, accommodation and a better annual leave policy should be a the biggest priority tho.

Allowed only for veterans

You've got to get Abdul to join somehow.

T(he undefended southern border is a bigger concern)

I think it could be a good retention tool. Soldiers who can grow a good beard never really get a chance to wear their face to its full potential. It’s not a massive thing but it’s a gripe you hear from all ranks! It is also 2024! Let us be in control of our faces! (Within reason)

So rubbish pay, rubbish accommodation, rubbish pension , being treated like a child and no incentive to stay anymore aren’t the reason for low retention ?? No no of course not. It’s because people aren’t allowed to grow a beard that’s it.

We know why.

I think that’s the least of their worries right now. If modern women can have beards, so should the men😂

'Beards wont fix the-' Doesn't matter, its worth doing anyway because many the troops want beards, why not just give them something that costs nothing, to make them happy?

Your respirator won’t fit. That was the rule in the 70/80’s. Is there no longer a chemical weapons threat?????

How will a respirator seal on the soldiers face if they have a beard?

That’s just like no public unshaven females in New Mexico and goatee licenses in Massachusetts.

Didn't make any difference in the RAF some just look scruffy now.

Seams the Army will drop all standards to try and recruit, better if you want to boost recruitment din all the Woke nonsense up the levels required to be a soldier to the original standards and start looking after your personnel and not leave them to rot on the streets to rot once you have finished with them

I thought they had beards during the Crimean War

Recruit more Gurkhas

Does this mean moustaches in the Navy maybe... 👀👀👀

Now we know why GB.PLC has shipped in the men with beards. Off to the Ukraine maybe.. Nw model Army.

The humble beard is a battleground for bacteria. Not only is a beard unsanitary, but not washing it can also lead to itchy, dry skin and ingrown hair. Between improper maintenance and thick, curly hair, it’s easy to wind up with a petri dish on your face.

Beards? Why not. It completes the Fraggle Rock effect of the British Army nowadays.

We've let all dress regulations go in Canada, hasn't fixed our recruiting. But i do love my beard.

Should be allowed long hair too, because in the intrest of equality women have been allowed it for decades and do the same job more or or less

Beards keeps you cozy and makes you feel like a big dog

The shortfall is more capitas fault for medically failing oeople for such small Issues

Beards in and of themselves are not the problem nor the solution but are one the myriad of reasons that do not help recruitment. In my day we had to have zero hair below the top of he ear and you looked like a c***. Mightily glad we were when that boss left. This generation love individuality more than ever before so damping down on beards for zero reason is just stupid. The more little victories we have in improving terms and conditions, the better.

I've never heard air force pronounced so strangely. James Wharton must be a bot.

Half the country has beards these days

Let the pay grow not the facial hair.

So you can’t grab it and a beard is unhygienic

Time to move on from the 1800’s, allow blokes to grow beards

Consider wearing respirator during CBRN SCENARIOS. You can choose your life.

Ukraine managing to hold off the 'second best Army in the world' just fine. Turns out there's more important things than shaving and structured phys after all!

Well it's been okay for a lot of the women in their ranks over the years, so why not the men.