Judge Prevents Air Force From Penalizing Airmen Who Refused Vaccine David covers the Air Force, Space Force and anything Star Wars-related. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. 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. Would beards be nice? There's no more reliable source for news about your Air Force. For military members, exemptions must also be documented in readiness systems (Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard Medical Readiness Reporting System, Army Medical Protection System, or Air Force Aeromedical Services Information Management System). Bearded Airmen and Guardians? Leaked Proposal for Air Force Test In 2017, the U.S. Army officially updated its dress and appearance standards to accommodate hijabs, turbans and beards. Part of HuffPost Politics. The Air Force style authorities have spoken: neck and hand tattoos are in, beards are still out. Abdul Rahman Gaitain, an airman with the 821st. The comment, which was also shared on the popular Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco, was made in response to a selfie she posted of herself alongside Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Airman 1st Class Kyle Voss-McReynolds, who was the leadership teams driver during a recent event and who also wears a beard in uniform. In an email to Task & Purpose, Bass said the Air Force is continually reevaluating its policies. Hopper,. The wing chaplain or equivalent will then assign a chaplain to interview the requesting airman about what is motivating him or her to ask for it. (In heathen lore . Shaving Waivers: Breaking the Stigma - Nellis Air Force Base Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. % 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. Chief Bass comment demonstrates her commitment to changing the culture, and there seems to be some progress already. Comer wore a beard with a religious accommodation waiver, but beards in the Air Force may become far more common after a uniform board considers facial hair in November. We recommend further study of gas mask and respirator fit testing with facial hair in the military population to clarify this.. The push to create a new Space National Guard got a major boost last week as a bipartisan team of Senators offered new legislationeven as the Pentagon works to craft details on a competing plan. All are welcome. DAF COVID-19 Statistics - January 2022. The updated Air Force Instruction, released Feb. 7, also formally allows Sikh airmen to wear turbans and Muslim women to wear hijabs. The conventional view of facial hair is that it looks unprofessional in uniform. 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. The hijab, or head scarf, can be made of a subdued material in a color that resembles the airmans assigned uniform, such as black, brown, green, tan or navy blue, the regulation said. The update to AFI 36-2903, Dress and personal appearance of Air Force personnel, allows airmen to request a waiver to wear religious apparel, as long as they are neat and conservative and present a professional and well-groomed appearance. However, given the most recent research; shaving waivers could play a role in racial disparity in terms of promotions. I can assure you that we are focused on our Airmen; they are the most competitive advantage we haveand we must get the people piece right.. He received a beard waiver on July 8, 2019. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Changing policy, actually is the easy part, Wright said. Does anyone have any information on how you actually get a religious exemption for shaving? The hammer of Thor, also known as Mjlnir, in 2013 was added to the list of religious symbols authorized to be engraved on gravestones at military cemeteries such as Arlington National Cemetery. The real challenge is how do you change the culture, not just in the Air Force but in the services period.. I know Islam is iffy on if Beard are actually required but it is apart of the religion that I want to practice. SC: IAF can tell airmen not to sport beard : The Tribune India PFB is a skin condition that makes shaving painful and can lead to permanent scarring if the skin is not allowed to heal, which makes it a common reason for receiving a shaving waiver. OpJAGAF 2019-9, 21 March 2019, Religious Accommodation Request-Norse Editors note: This story has been updated with new comments from Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass. %PDF-1.5 Paragraph 1.5.2.3 added: Members requesting a medical waiver to wear a beard must submit a letter The Coalition said both changes were influenced by a years-long advocacy and litigation campaign by the Coalition and its pro bono co-counsel at McDermott Will & Emery. PDF By Order of The Department of The Air Force Secretary of The Air - Af In the stories, you could see even the gods themselves have flaws, Sopchak said. Isnt the whole point of Religious Freedom that people CANT question your religious beliefs?? 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.. 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. Want to write for Task & Purpose? The same neat and conservative approach applies to beards, which must not exceed two inches when measured from the bottom of the chin, the regulations states. So far, the Air Force has banned beards for all except those who have five-year medical waivers for pseudofolliculitis barbae, or chronic razor bumps, or religious waivers for those for whom beards are central to their observance, like Sikhs, Jews, Muslims and Norse Heathens. Full text of "Planar Handbook" ;NNB6 j~X3E]4]euu((m#/S>c9K71,E304a;97la@Ejrf-o eP9_$)'"?#EO!orCi=5P@C5TmJY;^qzU/nWXvvRH~]/C >K)a2MuOzZ.VsDNOr%rZR[TINcCPBi!U;$TXA9%9;?&>k37{X]sa`p3Wc1^CKtjBrx\5uI3 The U.S. Air Force granted its first religious waivers to the military-wide COVID-19 vaccine mandate this week. We dont have to hire RAND or Booz Allen Hamilton to do it, but the Air Force needs to want it to happen, he said at the time. In 2018, Staff Sgt. 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Religious exemptions to the rule allow for beards up to 2 inches long. Requests should normally be recommended for approval unless approval would have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, standards, or discipline, the Air Force wrote. Directly before me was one of the mirrors I have mentioned, in which I saw reflected the tall shape of my friend, Mr. Jennings, leaning over my shoulder, and reading the page at which I was busy, and with a face so dark and wild that I . One civilian study from 2018 showed that 98% of study participants with an eighth-inch of beard passed the fit test with respirators that are similar to the M-50 gas masks used in the military in terms of material and fit. If you saw a man that had a beard, you could almost guarantee that they were a good person, that you could go to them for help," Sopchak said. The religious beard exemption in the US army was created for the benefit of Sikhs. x\[o~d/Sp|A|=hdDPwfvIQuDgg?ydtx.b`1K55'V#wLDP,(Wj The military branch . DVIDS - News - Number of religious accommodations, including beards Guidelines for requesting a religious accommodation for a Heathen beard in the U.S. Air Force The AFI allows the Air Force to deny a request for a waiver only if it furthers a compelling government interest., Groups such as the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Sikh Coalition, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced their support for the decision, with CAIR saying Feb. 12 it is a step toward religious accommodation and inclusion for military personnel of all faiths., No Sikh American should have to choose between their religious beliefs and their career ambitions, Giselle Klapper, a Sikh Coalition staff attorney, said in a release. Imagine the man-hours saved when men dont have to go to the doctor to get approved for a shaving waiver, and then periodically renewed., Daniel Walker, another Facebook user, added: They keep relaxing grooming standards instead of giving us things that would actually increase our quality of life.. Paragraph 1.5.2 changed to read: Submitting Requests for Religious, Gender , or Medical Waivers. What happens when patients disagree with an exemption decision? I cant tell you how many hundreds of times, probably thousands, that weve gotten [that] question. Start with the chaplain, and work with them to route the request through your chain. Later, every religious trend sought and found the hadiths that justified its principles. Nearly Two Dozen Air Force Honor Guardsmen Are Sporting Beards Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Asatru FAQ: Beards - PaganSquare - PaganSquare - Join the conversation! Air Force). It gradually worked its way up through the bureaucracy before ultimately being approved July 8 by Air Force personnel chief Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly. This new study shows that changing beard regulations may actually be a need, rather than a want, because the current policy essentially discriminates against Black airmen. 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. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations. He joined Task & Purpose in 2019, after covering local news in Maine and FDA policy in Washington D.C. David loves hearing the stories of individual airmen and their families and sharing the human side of Americas most tech-heavy military branch. Singh wanted to serve in the U.S. military to defend the country that had taken his family in, according to the Sikh Coalition. 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. If substantiated, then the benefits of the grooming standards, as defined in Air Force Instruction 36-2903, should be re-evaluated in the context of these findings, they wrote. 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. Such a request for an exemption to a military policy can only be denied, the AFI change said, if the policy furthers a compelling government interest and is the least restrictive way of furthering that interest. Singh was born in India and followed his father, an asylee, to the U.S. in 2012. For a long time, the old Norse mythology of Odin, Thor and Ragnark was just that for Staff Sgt. But a little more than two years ago, Sopchak was seized by an overwhelming feeling that he needed to look further into these legends and the religion surrounding them. The updated policy requires religious apparel to be neat and conservative and not impede an individuals ability to perform assigned military duties or wear protective equipment. Air Force Special Operations Airman becomes first-ever religious waiver Many airmen on social media called for abandoning the beard prohibition altogether. Does anyone have any information on how you actually get a religious exemption for shaving? 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. The waivers remain in effect even when the airman is deployed or has a permanent change-of-station move, the Air Force said in the release. He joined Task & Purpose in 2019, after covering local news in Maine and FDA policy in Washington D.C. David loves hearing the stories of individual airmen and their families and sharing the human side of Americas most tech-heavy military branch. Hijabs, turbans and under-turbans (also known as patkas) should be free of designs and made of a subdued material in a color that closely resembles ones uniform. [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. Air University Airman overcomes barriers to express his faith as a Action on Requests for Religious Accommodation that Require the Waiver of Department of the Air Force Regulations or Policies or Directives . Asking questions is fine, but how is that even legal? Staff Sgt. Airmen assigned to units wearing a beret of any color may wear an appropriately-colored head covering as directed by the unit commander, one sample memo explains. 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. Thanks for attaching this, it seems like a simple enough process to get the accommodation. In a Tuesday update of the Department of the Air Force's COVID-19 response, the service announced it had approved nine religious accommodations, including eight through service members' major and field commands and one through a Department of the Air Force appeal. The Air Force Surgeon General has approved five-year waivers allowing male airmen with a medical condition causing painful ingrown hairs to grow beards, the service said Tuesday. Airman becomes the first Muslim to be granted service's beard waiver for observing religion By Jon Simkins Nov 20, 2018 Air Force Staff Sgt. A soldiers Norse pagan faith earns beard waiver Air & Space Forces Magazine is the official publication of the Air & Space Forces Association, 1501 Langston Boulevard, Arlington, Va., 22209-1198. 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. There are conflicting published reports from the civilian sector with regard to the impact of facial hair on P2/N95 [face masks] fit testing, and none that we are aware of evaluating facial hair impact on military gas mask fit. the authors wrote. The new study found that airmen with shaving waivers faced significantly longer wait times for promotions and were often barred from sought-after jobs such as Honor Guard, recruiting, military training instructors, or the Thunderbirds demonstration team. Commonly referred to as razor bumps, PFB is a skin condition that makes shaving painful and can lead to permanent scarring if the skin is not allowed to heal, which makes it a common reason for receiving a shaving waiver. Garrett Sopchak, a 28-year-old aerospace . 2 0 obj Others mused that more people would enlist if beards were allowed. ~pkgEsHh,1%l|hJ 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. Beards can also be seen as symbols of power, strength, and virility. "There is no religious requirement for beards in Heathenry," the post read. Abdul Rahman Gaitan in 2018 became the first Muslim. The NATO allies who allow their service members to grow beards also do not have studies showing the impact of facial hair on gas masks, Ritchie said. Sikh American airman in U.S. Air Force allowed to serve with turban and The religious accommodation process is designed to accommodate individuals who can cite specific teachings, traditions, or texts that Air Force policies contradict. Hopper,. The study would require only 100 to 150 service members, he said. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 13 0 R 16 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Here are some active soldiers who have been allowed to keep their facial hair. Chaplains typically can tell if you're trying to BS them and it can affect the perceived credibility of real requests in the future. >_fn7dw)>S#a\7]zdWwgsZMA2!2/af>]]I+ .$sMOr])0`F\>-vxX|K h%&ZG2xI%#}pxg@;%rE*q"TY(kfIeWgh&*$|- F'$_L2;&"bw.%i^XxzS\'Z+gQI,=b6)J|Se{Sl)xog`7^}T# N7 x+|B7 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. The review directed Air Force commanders to conduct a root cause analysis of racial disparities within their commands, develop an action plan for reporting them, then release a progress report within six months. A member of the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has received the first-ever religious-related waiver, allowing him to wear a turban and keep a beard. Big news today for the many airmen out there who want to grow out their beards: not only is there little evidence showing that beards interfere with a gas mask seal, but the Air Forces ban on beards may also be contributing to racial discrimination and hurting promotion opportunities within the service. Paragraph 1.5.2.3 should be renumbered as 1.5.2.4. Also in 2019, Airman 1st Class Harpreetinder Singh Bajwa became the first Sikh airman to receive an accommodation for a turban, beard and unshorn hair, and two Norse Heathen airmen were also allowed to grow beards. Market-leading rankings and editorial commentary - see the top law firms & lawyers for Not-for-profit (nonprofit and tax exempt organizations) in United States Its unclear how many people currently use shaving waivers. | It was approved in September, which means Singh will soon head to basic training. And at least two airmen who follow the Norse Heathen, or pagan, faiths have been granted permission to wear a beard. There are many religious reasons why people might choose to grow a beard. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Air Force Special Operations Command has made history by granting a religious accommodation waiver to a Sikh service member. The Air Force plans to update its Air Force Instruction regulations governing dress and personal appearance and medical care management to reflect this change. Air Force officially OKs beards, turbans, hijabs for religious reasons Anecdotal evidence and a July 2021 study in the journal Military Medicine indicate that airmen with shaving waivers are more often passed over for promotions and other professional opportunities because of their appearance. 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US Army allows Christian soldier to wear long hair for religious reasons In the words of the Hungarian scholar Goldziher, 'The history of religion . are divided over that study showing beard waivers hurt careers. 3.1.2.3.1. Air Force top enlisted leader wants to remove stigma of beard waivers other similar condition s that prohibits regular facial shaving may requ est a waiver to wear a beard . Air Force Special Operations permits the First Sikh Airman to Keep his In 2020, the department extended shaving waivers for those diagnosed with razor bumps from one year to five years. Maysaa Ouza, the first Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps officer to wear the hijab, was also featured in a short NBC documentary last year. The Air Force Times reports on Air Force SSgt Garrett Sopchak, who just became the first US Air Force Airman to be allowed to wear a beard because he adheres to Norse Heathen religious beliefs.