INSTILLING SHARED IDENTITY

INSTILLING SHARED IDENTITY 

By Andy Weddington

Wednesday, 30 November 2022

A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life. - Coco Chanel

Yesterday afternoon standing in the shade of an old red brick building, before easel painting what was once a textile mill's Superintendent's home, a car moving less than 10 MPH passed within just a few feet. 

The male driver, with short if any hair and appearing about my age, did not look my way, to port, for paying attention to the narrow road with potholes.

The car's front plate - deep red with gold wings of a Naval aviator - caught my attention. I suspected Marine. As he passed, the common circular Marine Corps seal decal at the bottom of the rear window driver's side confirmed Marine.  

Had I not loaded palette in one hand, brush in the other, and concentrating on painting, I'd have tried to get his attention; clearly, we have much in common.

He continued driving and I continued painting. 

But that impromptu moment, though intent on painting, caused me to rehash the making current news matter of hair standards in the Marine Corps.

Specifically, the case of three male Sikhs arguing, through legal channels on religious grounds, to be exempt from shaving their heads and beards while undergoing recruit training.

I remembered, vividly, head shaving day at Officer Candidates School. And the confusion of trying to find platoon mates after leaving the barber chair. It was not so traumatic as it was hilarious. A few days of being imprinted with hair now gone made them momentarily unrecognizable. Team. Shared identity.

Female candidates did not have to be sheared. Not even close. They looked the same. Individuals. Shared identity?

As reported in Marine Times, the Marine Corps defends the scalping of all male recruits as necessary "to instill shared identity."

If shared identity (and also cited as matter of national security) is so critical why, historically and to date, some Marines exempt from the bald head experience?

That for over a hundred years the Marine Corps has proven recruits (female) can be made Marines without the shared identity ritual of shaving heads then why is any head being shaved?

Culture. Superficial. 

Silly? Yes and no. 

The Marine Corps argument baseless and emotional. And traditional. 

But this is a matter of simple logic. 

And can be argued of fairness, equity, and inclusion. 

Hair is not a critical variable making Marines. 

Gender moot. 

That shared identity position is nonsense. 

Shave all heads or shave none.

The beard is another matter and short discussion. The practical argument against begins with fit and seal of the gas mask.

However, if one beard then all merit option to grow. 

Headgear and other outward symbols of religion? 

The Marine Corps is a uniformed service. 

A Marine in a small Messenger group of Marines wrote ...

"When you make the choice to become a Marine you have agreed to take part in a transformational process where you agree to abide by their rules and regulations. You are a distant second to the mission and success of the Marine Corps. Nobody is asking you to give up your religion but you have to be a part of the greater good, not an exception to the rule." 

There is not word nor string of words to convey my sentiments about being a Marine. Officer Candidates School, nearly 43 years ago, was the most difficult thing I'd faced in life. The time since has rooted in soul a fire only another Marine can understand. 

What a privilege - for nearly 27 years in uniform - to serve under, to serve aside, and to lead Marines. I have failed miserably trying to imagine what my life would have been otherwise. I am a Marine. And in a sense pity those not though take solace one does not miss what one does not know.  

Long ago came seasoning lesson to extricate emotion out of analysis and decision-making. 

The cultural argument (males short hair, females long hair) is superficial and irrelevant. 

Logically, based on precedent - a century of successfully making Marines without shaving heads while not compromising mission nor national security, even an incompetent attorney ought prevail arguing the Marine Corps defense of hair for some but not others, never mind religion, is ridiculous. 

Such as today's peculiar times, common sense alone concludes one hair grooming standard for all - recruit to Marine, and thereafter, inevitable.

Is the Marine Corps transforming - into the Army of yesterday ... "Be all you can be,"? Emphasis on individual. 

An effective pitch that lured prospects (me) to the Marine Corps ... "Maybe you have what it takes to be one of us." Emphasis on team.   

My hope is to never see braids, buns, ponytails and twists (nor colored nail polish and earrings) on male Marines in uniform. Though, too, heavy sigh, shared identity - all for one and one for all.

Next week a panel (three judges) hears oral arguments. 

Headline forecast: United States Marine Corps, by a hair, loses fight.

Should that print, I will not but know many Marines who will absolutely wig out. 

Standby.