Anyone know when and where this tradition started???

 

well, the US military had beards up through the civil war and beyond right? Maybe the mustache thing was like trying to hold on to that last little bit of whats legal, sort of like paying homage to the beard. Mustache march is probably a lot like Breast cancer awareness, or Movember, or throwback Thursday. Maybe it just happens when enough people get on board? Its like that book, The Tipping Point.

 

Fun's over. Someone got their feelers hurt.

Opinion: In Mustache March, I lose | Air Force Times | airforcetimes.com

 

My understanding is that the clean-shaven (w/ mustache option) military came about ca. WWI, with the need to wear gas masks that could make a good seal to the face.

Same reason airlines expect you to be clean-shaven re the O2 mask, yes...?

 

Makes sense.

 

Only in the AF.

 

You let 'em in, then you are shocked when they complain.

The Gulf War was a great military victory. It was also the event that made every female, ***, and other social misfit want to be part of the "A Team". When stealths can blow up stuff and show off good video, and only a few friendlies don't make it home, and ground wars last only 100 hours--well hell---who wouldn't want to play, right?

We have gutted the traditional macho, male warrior culture to be more inclusive and politically correct. When we are gunning muslims from AC-130s or operating without a serious air or SAM threat, while we lose some of our heroes we bring most of them home. How would a cross section of today's force held up in the Hanoi Hilton, at Inchon, or fighting in the South Pacific in WWII? Check out this video…

OLD " 666" - YouTube

My concern is not that we hurt someone's feelings, but that in the quest not to we lose the "grit" that has been the difference in so many past battles. Nobody wants a force that is mean spirited towards its own members, but an exchange (God Forbid) with the Russians or Chinese won't be Gulf 1 or anything since. It will look a lot more like the miserable days of Vietnam or WWII at times, and a lot of good men will have to kill and die before its over. Are we mentally capable of that kind of sacrifice? I know we've lost 10,000 soldiers since the GWOT, and some of them have been women. But in the quest to include everyone, we simply cannot emasculate the warrior culture. Our enemies aren't worried about hurting anyone's feelings, they are worried about winning the next battle. We need to be focused on the same goal.

And FWIW, I grow a very, very lame mustache. Its pathetic. But I always grinned and nodded at those who did grow a good 'stache, and never once went to tell the commander our TDY contest was "unfair", "hurtful", or "disrespectful". I ****, toasted the winners, and was glad to be part of the team. I saw the same "…but THEY get to do something I don't…" from non-pilots in the AF, enlisted and officer. Fact is, in the AF it IS the pilots who are leading from the front, and doing the killing and dying. We aren't all equal, and not everyone gets a trophy. I hope we scale back the PC madness before it hurts our ability to employ in combat.

 

To Late. When a finance geek gets a bronze star, we are well beyond the PC cliff. I was actually deployed in Afghanistan flying daily combat missions when this person received the medal, we kept a copy of the AF times at the step desk, I can't repeat most the comments written on the article. Everyone get's a trophy these days or they cry and the accusations fly. I was previously lambasted, via PM, for mentioning the "entitlement generation", but this is just another example of those who feel it's only, cough, "FAIR", that they get theirs without much work. What ever happened to "nothing worth while is ever easy" mindset? Albief15, you would probably throw up in discuss over what they have a *ard on about now, morale patches. Seriously. The things that we waste time and energy on these days is amazing. But there is always someone, oh my gosh, offended.

 

And those men of "666" truly earned their medals.

 

I do remember seeing something about a Randolph NCO getting same. Yep…

Morale patches have been targets a long time. In PSAB in late 90s, a subdued "NATO TIGER" patch vice Provisional Wing patch was a quick way to have some senior NCO run you down on the way to the chow hall to hassle you. Ditto having a boonie hat with any "crimp" or "roll". It was Lord of the Flies on steroids. Its was Catch 22. It was a drama of the absurd.

Best part of the whole trip was a week long divert into Kuwait (Al Jaber) when a wingman had a Hyd leak. We hung out a week at their place, wearing nothing but a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops we bought at the sundry shop while there or our bags. We also drank a lot of beer--smuggled in by the F-16 Sandy guys through their friends in the C-5 world. The base was not as "nice" as PSAB, but it also felt more like a warrior base than a REMF hangout, and I enjoyed that week. The weeks after Desert Storm with the Army as a FAC were likewise absurd…."policing" and cleaning the desert where we camped after the battles while we waited (weeks) to move back south. I hated uniform Nazis in ROTC, and I hated them on active duty too. I love visiting bases to do my seminars--going into the squadrons and the bars. I don't however, shop at the BX or do much outside the "wire" of the flying squadrons. Its just too depressing…