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Comment by TimorousBestie | Hacker News Reader

The US military is in the process of changing fitness standards, mostly for ideological reasons [0]. Most enlisted I’ve spoken to consider the new tests harder, especially for women, but it isn’t clear cut and implementation across services has been weird.

Rumor is they’re also cracking down on (specifically medical, not religious) shaving waviers again, probably because some minorities have a skin condition that makes regular shaving painful.

So it’s a bit of a conundrum! They obviously want more enlisted so they can do more wars in more places, but they also are adding disincentives for female or nonwhite enlisted.

[0] https://www.fitnesswarriornation.com/hegseth-military-fitnes...

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It’s a real bummer when your ideological imperatives start conflicting with each other.

Poe's law: I can't tell if you are sarcastically commenting on op's ideology.

I suspect that they're commenting on the administration's ideology.

have a skin condition that makes regular shaving painful.

Pseudofolliculitis barbae [1] or PFB was a regular issue for some I served with in the 90's.

[1] - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6585396/

You are seriously suggestions they are doing this for race reasons?

There’s no other credible reason. A 1/4” beard (which is all the medical wavier allows) doesn’t affect gas mask fit.

I’m hardly the only person who has inferred this:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/september/ne...

> It is estimated that 45–94 percent of all Black men will experience PFB at some point during their lifetime. Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern men also are often affected, as are some women. A 2021 study found an association between shaving waivers and delayed promotions. Since most of the waiver group (65 percent) was Black, the new policy could have a discriminatory effect. In our conversations with Black sailors, including some in senior leadership positions, many shared that they feel the new policy is racially insensitive at best—or may be designed to target them.

You're just frankly uninformed.

Shaving waivers have been so abused it's a running joke in the army.

It's still trivially easy to have a doctor get you a waiver.

Even if they are abused, their abuse doesn't have any downsides. These people are not growing beards.

Also, I don't even think they are necessarily abused. A lot of men are very sensitive to shaving, with degrees of sensitivity. I think there's probably plenty of guys who have perpetual razor burn and ingrown hairs and nobody cares.

No idea what you're basing these thoughts on, but I don't think you understand the military or what makes it effective.

The reasons grooming standards are enforced are the same reasons anything is enforced.

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