If you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave.We don't have a military full of Nordic pagans.
Not full of them, no, but it is a recognized religion in the service. The VA offers Thor's Hammer headstones, number 55 on this list, and to my knowledge at least two servicemembers are buried under them.
Naturally I support accommodation for genuine religious traditions in the service, which in the case of beards also means the Sikh. (They also have an approved headstone: number 36). In general the desire to restrict religious expression is baleful, and if it were to be invoked for any reason one might think of another religion -- sometimes but not always associated with beards -- that would be the most obvious candidate. It wouldn't be because of the beards.
The usual reason military (and fire) services discriminate against beards is because of an alleged difficulty getting a proper seal with protective breathing equipment. This is a misconception; I've used the stuff and it works fine. Hair is dead skin like skin, and with adequate pressure protective masks mate down just as well over hair as over flesh. Bearded men also uses equipment like CPAPs without difficulty.
Patel, meanwhile, looked rather foolish invoking what is usually a military phrase -- The Hill cites the Navy and Marine Corps, but I've also heard it used for the same Green Berets Hegseth is willing to grant beards -- as Kash is a Hindu-raised man who was praising a devout Protestant Evangelical Christian. Not, however, as foolish as the idiots who decided to treat "See you in Valhalla" as neo-Nazi code. Those people are desperately trying to wish into existence an opponent they would rather have instead of the ones that they do.
I don’t know about military beards, but some of the Skih beards and others in graduate school were not all that clean or tidy. Others were very well kept and maintained. If service men are using religious facial hair as an excuse for poor cleanliness, then I understand the SecWar’s point a little better.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t aware that protective gear now worked over facial hair. When I was flying, our O2 masks worked best on skin, not beards. Those were civilian emergency gear, not military or fire/rescue.
LittleRed1
When I served back in the late 70's, the only accommodation for beards, as I recall, was for personal who had a skin condition where their facial hair would become ingrown and cause considerable itching and pain after shaving.
ReplyDeletePatel saying that in that context is kinda cringe. Honestly, a lot of the Trump administration spouts cringy stuff from time to time. As long as they do their jobs, I don't worry too much about it.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I am at a loss for why the author included this:
Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, fanned the flames of polarization further. “They have no idea what they ignited in this woman,” she wrote on social media, vowing to continue her late husband’s mission.
It comes out of nowhere and, frankly, I don't see how she is fanning the flames of polarization.
On second thought, assimilating two other religions into Hinduism is possibly one of the most Hindu things one can do. There are Hindu sects that claim the world's other religions were started by incarnations of various Hindu deities and so those religions are really Hinduism. From Patel's perspective, this may just be normal: Maybe Odin was one incarnation of Shiva, for example.
ReplyDeleteThe Hindus themselves argue over this stuff, so Hindus criticizing Patel for doing this is also very Hindu.
I don't know that he's a practicing Hindu; he doesn't talk about his religion, as is his right.
DeleteI do know that a guy who picked this challenge coin probably doesn't deserver much leeway:
https://www.reddit.com/r/GunsAreCool/comments/1nx2lgs/kash_patel_is_handing_out_these_challenge_coins/?rdt=56951
The "$" alone, or the Punisher skull alone, or the revolvers alone, or the Tommy Gun alone.... but c'mon. Challenge coins aren't a cop thing anyway, no more than the "Valhalla" saying. There are good reasons to keep police and military cultures and functions separate.
It may not be a matter of practice or clear theological thinking. It may just be his experience of Hindu culture which leads him to think this is natural. Also, in a way, he's an outsider in both cultures, so he has to make his own way, and that's going to look cringe to both at times.
DeleteI don't know what to think about the challenge coin.
I suspect he was going for an elusion to the popular imagination about Vikings.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a challenge coin? And why is it of concern? Does it come in a cereal box?
ReplyDeleteOh! I’m sorry; I forget that it’s not universally known. The challenge coin game is a military game played for drinks. A “challenge coin” is a specially-minted coin that military units, Navy ships, etc. have made (there’s a cottage industry around this) that the commander or top NCO passes out to soldiers/Marines/sailors/etc who have done something cool. The coin symbolizes the unit or ship or installation in some way. The game is that you can “coin check” another and they have to produce such a coin if they can, usually without taking more than one step (I.e. they have to be carrying it on them) or else they owe you a drink. If they do produce one, you owe them a drink.
DeleteI’ve never seen a coin check fail. To this day, I carry one in my wallet in case anyone asks.
Kash has apparently had a “Kash Patel” coin made and is handing them out ex officio as FBI Director, as if he were a military commander and his agents were servicemen. And it’s really gaudy, as you can see at the link above, more gangsta rap than anything.