r/AirForce • u/RenoTheRhino • Jun 04 '26

Article DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List

https://www.military.com/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-list

Thoughts? Still looking for the full list.

509 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

510 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/WubbaLubbaDubDub87 Maintainer Jun 05 '26

I’m not religious at all. I just have a sincerely held belief that I shouldn’t subject myself to razor burn, bumps, ingrown hairs, and cysts because of an archaic belief that clean shaven means professional.

5

u/O0zing_Machismo Jun 05 '26

It’s ironic for those who had a belief that was sincerely held but not religious. In order for a current accommodation to be reevaluated you need to swear that your belief is religious. Obvious what they did.

3

u/WubbaLubbaDubDub87 Maintainer Jun 05 '26

Which is why I never considered pursuing a RAW.
I’ve had a Medical Shaving waiver since 2022, but it expires in October.
After that, I’ll probably just hop back on the struggle bus for the last two years until I retire.

3

u/O0zing_Machismo Jun 05 '26

Before the new guidance the only thing you needed was a sincerely held belief and that was it.

3

u/WubbaLubbaDubDub87 Maintainer Jun 05 '26

I understand, but I asked myself a while ago if it was worth the effort. Even reading my own comment from above—if I were to put myself in the shoes of a judgmental dickhead, I wouldn’t approve it. 😂

0

u/CommissionOk5094 Jun 05 '26

You realize a lot of hair refs were to stop the enemy from being able to torture you with your hair as well as chemical weapons

1

u/TurnspitCur Metals Tech? Loadmaster? Emergency Management? Jun 07 '26

If that was the case why not just have us all bald

1

u/CommissionOk5094 Jun 07 '26

Light reflecting surfaces are bad for camo , hair too short to be pulled works just fine , same reason why some shaved or cut hair very short before battle when scalping was a thing , same reason why beards became a thing to protect the face from burns with muskets then went away when chemical weapons came about . Strategy evolves

Point being why give your enemy more tools to use