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ak cGeoI0_enzM8_#.Skvv1Nx72!oaBV >q@yN;NG.s;9>/B32:*I=u/x|=3;.m1.DWc(P(mZ XZ David Roza The services often claim that facial hair interferes with the seal of a gas mask, but an Air Force doctor has found no direct scientific evidence to support that claim. Guidelines for requesting a religious accommodation for a Heathen beard in the U.S. Air Force It was only after becoming the top enlisted airman that Wright met fellow airmen for whom being clean-shaven was impossible without immense pain and skin damage. Sopchak said hes recently had some airmen, who were interested in exploring his religion, email him with questions, and hes helping other Air Force Heathens get their beards approved. Any recommendations made by the board would then have to be approved by Air Force senior leadership, a service spokesperson told Coffee or Die at the time. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. 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Air Force Special Operations Command has made history by granting a religious accommodation waiver to a Sikh service member. Air Force Officially OKs Beards, Turbans, Hijabs for Religious Reasons . Gurchetan Singh, the first Sikh American to secure a religious accommodation to serve in the Air National Guard, said Wednesday that hes grateful for the Air Forces policy change. 2 0 obj According to a statement from the Air Force, Senior Airman Dominic Varriale was granted the turban waiver in 2020. In March 2021, after Comer arrived at Maxwell Air Force Base, he started talking to his first sergeant about applying for a religious accommodation to obtain a beard waiver. Requests should normally be recommended for approval unless approval would have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, standards or discipline, the regulation said. For example, hijabs must be closely fitted to the contours of the airman's head and neck, tucked under the uniform top, and cannot cover the airman's eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, nose, mouth or chin. And. Chance Saltzman outlined the three lines in a series of commanders notes published Jan., Thousands of Airmen and Guardians who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 no longer have to get the shotsand those whofaced disciplinary action for failing to get vaccinated will have their records wiped clean. *!+zu[XAoC_:X/0{ v8iAU}JqQ.u`6fE_GJTBh$Wx)Vpw#7~rDeI0r\!H(NW|/bcPRHBe0tEyXYD q{ Thats according to a new research paper published last week in the journal Military Medicine, which found that Air Force regulations against facial hair disproportionately affect Black or African American airmen and can lead to slower rates of promotion and limited job opportunities within the service. Wright said he was opposed to facial hair in the Air Force for 29 of his 32 years in service. Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. Air & Space Forces Magazine is the official publication of the Air & Space Forces Association, 1501 Langston Boulevard, Arlington, Va., 22209-1198. "They were well-respected. Staff Sgt. Sikhs have served honorably and capably in the U.S. Armed Forces and other militaries around the world, and while we are eager for a blanket proclamation that all observant Sikh Americans can serve in every branch of the military without seeking accommodations, this policy clarification is a great step forward towards ensuring equality of opportunity and religious freedom in the Air Force.. Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. There's no more reliable source for news about your Air Force. Want to write for Task & Purpose? dx xE28;eN0ORG*sMhw_2iL!o@/dUKS0sD~-dd!7r.7ucOjP0GH#_&F%)wr-' Many airmens dearest wish may soon come true if the Air Force greenlights a pilot program allowing some men to grow beards. The Air Force has updated its grooming standards to formally allow Airmen to grow neatly trimmed beards, standardizing the religious or medical exemption process. There are many religious reasons why people might choose to grow a beard. Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. A staff judge advocate must also review the request package. addresses the Air Force grooming standard for beards: "[b]eards are not authorizedunless for medical reasons, when authorized by a commander on the advice of a medical official." An Airmen who requests an accommodation waiver to grow a beard for religious reasons must follow The Air Force's updated dress and personal appearance policy clarifies the gr ooming and uniform standards for members who wear turbans, hijabs and beards for religious reasons. For AFR waiver processing instructions see AFMAN 368001, - Participation and Training Procedures. Currently serving Airmen and Guardians who sought exemptions from the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate will see those actions reversed and records erased, a new memo from Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall states. Many Asatruars and other heathens think it's wrong for heathens to use this exemption because heathens don't have the kind of religion in which our gods require all their followers to follow commandments in order to achieve a proper afterlife. According to the regulation, turbans, hijabs, under-turbans or other headwear must be plain, dark blue, black, and free of designs or markings except when matching with the airman's camouflage uniform. requests requiring a waiver for uniform wear and grooming have largely fallen into one of three faith practices: the wear of a hijab; the wear of a beard; and the wear of a turban or under-turban/patka, with uncut beard and uncut hair. other similar condition s that prohibits regular facial shaving may requ est a waiver to wear a beard . Rather than delay his enlistment, Comer decided to shave his beard and apply for the accommodation at a later date. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. Though some white supremacist groups in recent years have co-opted Norse symbols such as runes, Sopchak rejected that and said his faith is not racist in any way. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass, wants to reduce the branchs cultural bias against shaving waivers granted for medical or religious reasons. The standards for growing a beard for medical reasons remain unchanged, the Air Force said. Sorry airmen, you're not getting beards without a medical or religious waiver anytime soon, as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles 'CQ' Brown and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force . In December, Military.com reported that the Air Force Honor Guard changed its policy in April to allow airmen with shaving waivers to apply and join the guard. That assessment, and ability to address and adjust, is critical to our force, and our people. But advocates argue that more sweeping changes are needed, in part because shaving waivers are often misunderstood and hurt Airmen's careers. Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Legacy sites goang.com and afreserve.com will now direct users to the central airforce.com site. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost. You will have a meeting with the Chaplain where they ask you questions to determine if you have a sincerely held belief that you shouldn't shave. Tim Chacon/Air National Guard. I know Islam is iffy on if Beard are actually required but it is apart of the religion that I want to practice. US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jackson Manske. However, most airmen who have waivers are Black, because they are more likely to be affected by pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB) than White airmen. Based on the successful examples of Soldiers currently serving with these accommodations, I have determined Singh wanted to serve in the U.S. military to defend the country that had taken his family in, according to the Sikh Coalition. Religious head coverings are also required to be free of designs or markings unless the individuals uniform has a camouflage pattern. | Paragraph 1.5.2.3 should be renumbered as 1.5.2.4. Under the new process, a commander has up to 30 days to approve an Airmans request for a waiver, and that the accommodation will generally follow the Airman through his or her career. In August, images posted on Air Force amn/nco/snco teased a pilot program for inclusive male grooming standards which would allow service members to grow neatly-kept facial hair up to a quarter-inch in length, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. 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The research studied the effect of shaving waivers on the careers of active duty male airmen. It also outlines the process to request these exemptions, sets timelines for management to respond, and ensures that the approvals will follow someone throughout his or her career in the Air Force. Abdul Rahman Gaitan, 821st Contingency Response Squadron aerial porter, was among the first to be granted a religious accommodation for a shaving waiver based . Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. No Sikh American should have to choose between their religious beliefs and their career ambitions, Klapper said in a statement Wednesday. Staff Sgt. United States Air Force members who refused to take the COVID vaccine for religious reasons will soon get a reprieve from the punitive actions the military took against them.. As described in sample memos included in the regulation, safety concerns might include wearing a gas mask or going within 25 feet of an operating aircraft. Wright, who is Black, said he resolved his own shaving irritation by learning how to shave in a way that would not irritate his skin, so he assumed other airmen would be able to resolve their irritation the same way. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the Space National Guard Establishment Act on, From Abraham Lincoln to the Tuskegee Airmen to lessons from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Also, do you have to be able to prove that you are that religion or can you just claim that you are a Muslim and thats that. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Contact the author here. The Air Force in recent years has begun granting waivers to allow airmen including airmen of the Muslim, Sikh and Norse Heathen or pagan faiths to grow beards for religious reasons. For those wondering, the regulation says that a mustache worn with a beard may extend sideways beyond the corners of the mouth to connect with the beard, but must be trimmed or groomed to not cover the upper lip.. It is unclear how many Norse pagans, Heathen, or Asatru followers are in the military, but they have become increasingly visible in recent years. Those calls accelerated earlier this year, when the Air Force changed its regulations to allow for women to wear braids, ponytails and bangs in order to prevent irreversible hair loss and migraines stemming from the old hair regulations. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md. is at the same time the history o f the interpretation of the Scriptures.'18 The Sunna embodied an ossified tradition. The Air Force is first in many things, but in this case the branch came in second to the Army, which in 2017 became the first military branch to grant religious exemptions for beards, turbans. The United States military continues to bend its strict grooming rules to appease Muslims, most recently allowing an Air Force sergeant to sport a beard for religious reasons. stream Capt. The Sikh Coalition represents Airman 1st Class Gurchetan Singh, who is the first Sikh American to secure a religious accommodation to serve in the Air National Guard. purifying respirators and controlled air purifying respirators or beard-bands: 3. work just as well as N95s, but may cost more, and thus may be found to impose . Isnt the whole point of religious freedom that people CANT do that? There are plenty of smaller regulations detailing how religious beards and apparel should look in order to appear neat and conservative, the Air Force writes. The waiver group also had a greater rate of disciplinary action compared to the no-waiver group (18.96% versus 11.45%). Thanks for attaching this, it seems like a simple enough process to get the accommodation. The Air Force encourages religious freedoms of service members as one of four pillars of resiliency to help build and sustain a strong and healthy workplace and community. Though. Published Dec 21, 2022 5:12 PM EST. The group is one of the Air Forces volunteer teams that considers ways to make policies more equitable for all airmen. At first, it appeared Sopchak was the first Heathen to get a beard waiver. Garrett Sopchak, a 28-year-old aerospace . When asked about specific efforts for removing the stigma regarding waivers, an Air Force spokesperson told Task & Purpose that the Air Force changed AFI 36-2903, its regulation governing dress and appearance standards., earlier this spring to allow airmen with a shaving profile to trim and shape their facial hair, and to allow airmen with profiles to apply for more positions in the service. . The Air Force separated 610 Airmen for declining the once-mandated COVID-19 vaccination. safety) or when precluded by a compelling (i.e., especially important) governmental and/or Air Force interest. Does anyone have any information on how you actually get a religious exemption for shaving? 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Shaving sharpens the edges of facial hair and makes the condition worse, the college said, and shaving less frequently or allowing the beard to grow helps. 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. It was approved in September, which means Singh will soon head to basic training. Still, Ritchie called for a study to come up with a conclusive answer. The Air Force currently prohibits service members from growing beards unless they are granted a religious or medical waiver, a policy that has come under scrutiny lately after military doctors studied its discriminatory effect on Black airmen. He is now about two weeks into growing his beard, and is waiting for it to come in a little more before he can start shaping it. Sample accommodation request memos included with the regulation said that the Air Force can order an airman to immediately shave or remove their turban or hijab if they need to be ready to wear a gas mask during an emergency. [T]he promotion system is not necessarily inherently racially biased, but instead biased against the presence of facial hair which will likely always affect the promotions of Blacks/African-Americans disproportionately because of the relatively higher need for shaving waivers in this population, wrote the authors of a recent Air Force study. I am grateful to hear of this policy change, because it codifies in writing what I already know: The U.S. Air Force values the service and contribution of religious minorities like me, Singh said in a statement provided by the group. I have an approved religious accommodation and have gotten pretty knowledgeable on the process. The Reserve or Guard, before finally denying a request, will first consult with the Air Force personnel directorate and obtain a legal review from the Air Force.