Female applicants and haircuts

[PettyOfficerCJ]

That would be HIGHLY recommended.

There's nothing wrong with lively discussion in the meantime though or after After non-stop, mind-draining work all day, these sort of debates and discussions are nice occasionally.

 

[Gatordev]

Just a small point of order, as this always bugs me... The Navy does not have Special Forces. The Army has Special Forces. Both services, however, operate under the umbrella of Special Operations.

 

[PettyOfficerCJ]

Just a small point of order, as this always bugs me... The Navy does not have Special Forces. The Army has Special Forces. Both services, however, operate under the umbrella of Special Operations.

I definitely never realized there was that difference..... Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Why is it that when someone is whining about "gender equality" in appearances, it is always assumed that the females need to look like males for equality to be accomplished?? Pretty sure you'd hear an uproar from men in the military if they were required to maintain female hair standards.....do away with the men's different standard, and we'll all follow the women's..... that would be equal too, right?? Oh, and while we're at it let's conduct surgeries so that everyone has the same gender neutral bodies too...... might have to do some genetic restructuring, but the outcome would be worth it....

(oh, and some men may complain about a one-time bad haircut/shave that results in a few nicks, but most men seem to like it that women survive a life-time of cuts and knicks in order to have nicely shaved legs.....pretty sure if there were no men in the USA, the amount of hairy legged women would appear in much greater numbers....oh and furry eyebrows, women don't take plyers to their faces everyday to pull out hair for nothing.......)

You don't have any sea time do you?

 

[PettyOfficerCJ]

You don't have any sea time do you?

Nope, but I would love some! Going officer was one way of ensuring that I'd get sea time....... It's not only men though that think women should be just like men in order for equality to accomplished. Women constantly insist on the same thing...... It's this push for gender neutral everything in life (both civilian and military) that bugs me.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

It's not only men though that think women should be just like men in order for equality to accomplished. Women constantly insist on the same thing.

Men think women should be just like men? That doesn't even make any sense. Why on earth would we want women to be just like us? And the women I've seen that have wanted to be just like men don't look or act like women. But I digress.

 

[Novaspike]

You don't have any sea time do you?

Just had to jump in on this, on deployments when we had our mustache contests the females would join the competition by not shaving their legs. Extra points if they shaved cool designs in.

 

[villanelle]

For the love of all that is holy, "........" is not a real punctuation of any kind. Stop doing that. It is not A Thing, and it makes you look ridiculous and uneducated. That you taught Language Arts and are still using this bastardized ellipsis is even more appalling. Three dots or four are actual punctuation marks, but even then, they aren't something you just toss at the end (or in the middle!) of every sentence; they have meaning. Christ, you even have them in your signature stats. Knock it off.

 

[LET73]

I just don't get why anyone would want long hair at OCS. Figure out how to make a damn bun before you report. It can't possibly be difficult, and there's no reason in the world to have a hairstyle that makes you take longer to get ready, unless candidates get more than a couple minutes to shower these days. Also... at what point, exactly, during OCS are female candidates going to be taught how to make a bun?

 

[PettyOfficerCJ]

Men think women should be just like men? That doesn't even make any sense. Why on earth would we want women to be just like us? And the women I've seen that have wanted to be just like men don't look or act like women. But I digress.

My favorite is the new push for gender-neutral public restrooms. I doubt though that will go beyond the few places that are actually listening to the lobbying for that to be passed.

 

[LET73]

My favorite is the new push for gender-neutral public restrooms. I doubt though that will go beyond the few places that are actually listening to the lobbying for that to be passed.

They have those in some countries. I was in Sweden a couple of years ago, and there was one that was basically two bays, one half male, one half female, and another that was just mixed. What's the difference, as long as there are stalls for everyone? It's a different story if people are showering, but in terms of the normal activities that take place in public restrooms, I don't see how it matters.

 

[PettyOfficerCJ]

They have those in some countries. I was in Sweden a couple of years ago, and there was one that was basically two bays, one half male, one half female, and another that was just mixed. What's the difference, as long as there are stalls for everyone? It's a different story if people are showering, but in terms of the normal activities that take place in public restrooms, I don't see how it matters.

This push included ones in public schools. I taught high school long enough to know that there'd end up being more problems than good that would come from that.

I didn't have an issue with my hair being cut. I keep it long now because it's easier to maintain and keep in regs for normal Navy life, but I plan on getting it cut quite short before OCS. PTing with short hair will be a little annoying, but I don't plan on having time to take care of hair while there. So short hair it is! I did the same thing before bootcamp (although you had to have it cut for there).

 

[Spekkio]

They have those in some countries. I was in Sweden a couple of years ago, and there was one that was basically two bays, one half male, one half female, and another that was just mixed. What's the difference, as long as there are stalls for everyone? It's a different story if people are showering, but in terms of the normal activities that take place in public restrooms, I don't see how it matters.

Restrooms are usually pretty cramped and I could see why some women would be uncomfortable in unisex ones, particularly in bars/restuarants/clubs that serve alcohol and have drunk men that might find it acceptable to grope women. Yea, they could do that outside the bathroom, but there's at least staff or a boyfriend out there who could see it and do something about it.

 

[Spekkio]

Someone mentioned haircuts and likened them to physical standards... I hate arguments over the PRT because it usually revolves around misunderstanding why the PRT exists. The PRT exists because the Navy requires its Sailors and Officers to maintain a certain level of fitness. "Be in shape" is the standard. Well, what does that mean? To put it into an objective measurement the Navy decided that its Sailors and Officers had to be in the upper 50th percentile of performance in 3 events for their age and sex, and then through some kind of research found fitness data that they could translate to scores.

It's not because the ability to do 50 or 100 or whatever pushups or to run a mile and a half in whatever time is a requirement to perform your daily duties. That is an excuse fat Sailors use to complain about being on FEP.

Is it perfect? No. I certainly question where the performance data comes from, the height/weight charts, at least for men, don't scale properly with height and the rope-and-choke is woefully inaccurate. Nevertheless, that is how the Navy defines when someone is physically fit. It's clearly defined and it's measured every spring and fall.

This is different than a minimum requirement to perform your duties, such as knowing the rules of the road or handling 2 contacts in a dip scope routine. If you can't do that, you're not safe. If you're not safe, you won't have much of a Naval career.

If you wanted to do a functional fitness test in the Navy, we could institute the applicable parts of the CPAT, and do it in the most confined spaace of the ship. Because at least firefighting directly translates to something that Sailors have to physically do, except I'm pretty sure that at least 80% of them would fail the test.

What does this have to do with haircuts? Absolutely nothing. Which is kind of the point - there are times when acknowledging biological differences between men and women make sense, and there are times that it doesn't. Haircuts aren't one of those times. Either everyone should get bad haircuts, or no one gets bad haircuts.

 

[Brett327]

I've been in plenty of multi-stall unisex bathrooms INCONUS - mostly at restaurants. It's not a big deal.