Episode 67: Beard or No Beard: Decoding the Army's Facial Hair Memo

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Confused about the Army's new facial hair policy? You're not alone. The recently released Directive 2025-13 has created waves throughout all Army components, with soldiers debating what it really means for their grooming standards. Join me as I cut through the confusion and give you a straight-talking breakdown of what's actually written in the policy.

Many soldiers are misinterpreting the directive, claiming it doesn't explicitly require shaving. I carefully analyze the actual language: "all male soldiers will maintain a clean, shaven face when in uniform or on duty in civilian attire." While it may not literally say "you must shave," the meaning becomes crystal clear when you connect all the pieces of the memorandum. More importantly, once your command issues an order based on this policy, you're legally obligated to comply or face potential UCMJ action.

The policy introduces a significant change to how shaving accommodations work. All existing profiles must be re-evaluated within 90 days, with the ultimate goal of eliminating traditional shaving profiles entirely. Instead, soldiers will need to follow a new Exception to Policy (ETP) process that requires medical evaluation, treatment plans, and approval from an O5 commander. I walk through exactly how this process works and why you should be proactive about scheduling your medical appointment.

As a leader or soldier, understanding this directive isn't optional. I encourage you to read the policy yourself rather than relying solely on others' interpretations. Develop informed questions, consult legal resources if needed, and prepare for implementation deadlines that many units are already establishing. Whether you agree with the policy or not, knowing exactly what it requires will help you navigate the changes successfully and avoid unnecessary disciplinary issues.

Have you started the process of getting an ETP? Are commanders at your installation already announcing implementation dates? Share your experience in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe for more straight-talk about Army regulations and policies that affect your military career.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Roger Sarn.
Welcome back to the Roger SarnPodcast, where we talk all
things ARMY and I'm your host,sarn Cruz, and today I'm going
to touch on the memorandum ordirective 2025-13 labeled facial

(00:23):
hair grooming standards and,without ado, let's get started.
All right?
So, as we already know, thememorandum is out there, you
guys have had access to it, youguys have been talked to about
it and everyone has an opinionabout it.
But I want to just stick tobreaking down the question of do

(00:44):
I have to or do I not have toshave, because I've seen
multiple videos on YouTube andTikTok and well, I'm not shaving
, or you're going to have toshave, or whatever it is.
It doesn't say that you have toshave.
So I'm going to give you myperception of what it talks
about when it comes to shaving.
I'm not going to break thewhole thing down.

(01:04):
I already did a video TikTokabout that.
If you want to do it.
I also did another video inreference to when the army first
put out the information, withall the bullet points.
If you want to, I can pin it uphere and then you guys can go
ahead and look at it, but in themeantime, I'm just going to
give you my perception of whatit says when it comes to shaving

(01:25):
and this is shaving before yourevaluation.
Okay, or re-evaluation, let'sget there.
All right, here we go.
So we already see it it's 07July 2025.
That's when they put it out.
And we already see what theactual directive name is.
We see it applies to everycomponent in the Army, which is

(01:49):
National Guard, reserves andregular Army.
We see what the purpose is.
The purpose is to establish anew policy for facial hair
grooming standards and also givea directive to the fact that
they no longer want shavingprofiles to be authorized.
And then here's where the meatand potatoes is.

(02:11):
When it comes to the policy,here's where the discrepancy,
where I think it is tellingsoldiers that they are going to
have to shave when directed bytheir command.
Ok, now that you have to shaveright now, and that I'm telling
you go shave.
What I'm saying is, if yourcommand says you will shave by
certain day, then you'reprobably going to have to do it.

(02:33):
One, because I'm explaining toyou how the policy is telling
you to do it without saying youmust shave.
And two, now it becomes adirective from more than likely
a commissioned officer, which isyour battalion commander, which
flows down to your companycommanders, which flows down to
your platoon leaders, and thenit gets to you, okay, so now

(02:57):
it's an order, and if you don'tcomply with that order, now
you're subject to a whole notherslew of punitive actions, right
, and which can escalate becauseit's ultimately disrespect or
not following orders, whateverit is they want to category it.
But the policy itself, thepolicy says all male soldiers
will maintain a clean, shavenface when in uniform or in duty,

(03:20):
on duty, in civilian attire, inaccordance to reference 1,
charlie.
And we know reference 1 Charlieis 670-1.
And we know that 670-1, if wescroll all the way down right
here.
This, it is now being takenover by this memo and this memo,
the duration for the memo isthis direct.
It says this direct that isrescinded upon publication of

(03:42):
the updated references and untilthey update these references,
this policy is in place and thispolicy gives you a one-liner.
It says all male soldiers willmaintain a clean, shaven face.
You can stop it right there.
So this is what tells me thatonce the order comes down

(04:02):
through your particular commandthere are some posts that
already have you will shave byMonday Once they put that out.
That's it, because they'vealready discussed it with their
brigade or battalion legal andthey've already discussed it
with whoever it is that theyneed to talk to and they know
that their legal team has vettedit and they are given the right

(04:26):
commands.
Then it says on 4-1, soldiersmust comply with the grooming

(04:57):
standards unless granted bytheir 05 commanders for
re-evaluation by a medicalprovider no later than 90 days
from this publication, from thepublication of this directive.
The re-evaluation will assessthe soldier's current treatment
and determine if continuation ofprofile is required.
So not only does there-evaluation say, hey, we're

(05:19):
going to check you out within 90days, they're going to say if
this current treatment is enoughfor you to even be on profile
still OK.
Now let's talk about the ETP.
The first O5 commander in thesoldier's chain of command will
review the recommended profile.
The medical provider willrecommend a treatment plan to

(05:40):
assist the soldier in returningin compliance with the facial
hair grooming standardconsistent with paragraph 3,
alpha through 3 delta, which arethe phases right here, three
alpha through delta.
Once the medical treatment planis approved, the O5 commander
will issue the soldier anapproved ETP for facial hair
grooming.
So you have to get thetreatment approved to get the

(06:03):
ETP.
So right here, when it sayssoldier must comply with
grooming standards unlessgranted a written exception to
policy, that means if you don'thave the ETP which we know that
the ETP is only granted throughthe approved medical treatment
from the provider then thatmeans ultimately that you would

(06:27):
have to shave until then.
Now, the quicker you can get anappointment, the quicker you can
get your ETP.
Because if you see down here itsays they're going to review
the, they'll re-evaluate andwe'll assess the soldier's
current treatment.
So if you're already ontreatment, all they're going to
do is put you in a phase andthen you go from there.

(06:47):
So you could and I would thinkthat what they're doing is all
the soldier beard appointmentsthat they're going to front load
.
Those Start out by going tosick call, get in there and then
let them tell you okay, here,make an appointment, here we're
going to put you in this day.
But I think the quicker you getthere, the quicker you can get

(07:07):
on the treatment plan, thequicker you can get the ETP.
But all in all, from what Iread here, you have to have an
ETP in order to not shave.
You can't get an ETP until thecommander has approved the
treatment.
So if you go back to theoriginal policy where it says

(07:28):
all male soldiers will maintaina clean shaving face when in
uniform or on duty in civilianattire, that tells me that when
they order us to shave, we'regoing to have to comply, and
this is something that, asleaders, you must be able to
read through and articulate toyour troops.

(07:48):
You have to break this down tothese troops.
There's going to be people thatdon't understand like genuinely
don't understand and thenthere's going to be people who
don't want to understand.
And that's fine, because I dounderstand the premise of the
policy.
People have a perception of itand you're well within your

(08:11):
right.
However, once you take it intoyour own hands to disobey an
order, now you've subjectedyourself to a whole nother can
of worms.
So what I would say in thissituation?
Read the policy, explain it toyour soldiers and, until the
command comes down from yourparticular footprint, well then,

(08:32):
you're good right?
I would think so.
No one is going to move amuscle until that whole brigade,
division, battalion, company,until they have a full
understanding, some post orbases, whatever you want to call
them they already have a setdate.
Hey, monday clean shaven, boom.
That's it, and legally they'rewell within their right from my

(08:52):
perception.
If you guys don't think this iscorrect, I would think I would
want you guys to read it andpiece it together.
They're not going to put likethe straight verbiage in there
because now the commanders nolonger have no left and right
limits, ok, so I would urge youguys to read it for yourselves.
Even if you're a Joe I'mtalking about a troop, a junior

(09:13):
soldier read it for yourself.
It's available for you to read.
Your leadership does not haveto read it for you, so read it
to yourself.
Develop any questions so whenyou guys have the powwow at your
level, you're able toarticulate and ask questions,
general questions, and bring upconcerns that you may have, and
they will provide clarity foryou.
Now, if you also want to takethe memo and ask TDS, there are

(09:38):
multiple avenues of approach.
Like get some legal assistance,you can do that too.
There's nothing that says thatyou can't, because they're going
to be the ones to best tell youhey, this is what's going on.
This is just Sark Cruz'sperception of what he reads when
he pieces it all together andreads the lines, not in between
the lines.
I'm reading the line.
It tells you straight up allsoldiers must maintain a clean,

(10:00):
shaven face.
That's telling me to shave.
It doesn't say all soldiershave to shave, because it
doesn't need to say that.
It's written for regulation.
Okay.
So I just want to hear whatyour thoughts are.
Do you think my understandingof the memo is accurate or not?
Drop your thoughts in thecomments.
Keep it clean and remember youdon't have to embrace the suck

(10:21):
if you got the right tools inyour rug.
I'm Sarn Cruz and I'll see youin the next one.
Peace, roger Sarn.