The Air Force is tightening its standards on uniform and shaving waivers as part of an effort to simplify its rules and present a more unified force.
Under the new standards the Air Force shared over past last week, long-term shaving waivers will be granted only to airmen or guardians who have severe cases of pseudofolliculitus barbae. PFB is a painful condition, primarily affecting Black men, which causes deep scar-like bumps on the face or neck after shaving.
Moderate or mild cases of PFB could be addressed with temporary shaving profiles, follow-up appointments and more frequent management of the condition, Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. John DeGoes said in a memo the service posted online. Long-term shaving waivers must be approved by a senior profiling officer, he wrote.
DeGoes said in a video posted Monday that the department’s 2020 policy allowing five-year shaving waivers, which is now expired, did not give medical providers enough clarity on diagnosing PFB. It didn’t differentiate between that painful condition and more common shaving irritation.
“They are two different things,” DeGoes said. “Ensuring a standardized approach to managing PFB is essential. And it is crucial that we provide consistent and effective care to our service members, enabling them to meet grooming standards while managing their condition.”
Without standardized department-wide guidance, the Air Force has issued and managed shaving waivers inconsistently. Before the five-year waivers were an option, airmen could get only one-year waivers.
The Air Force plans to issue new guidance March 1 that will govern which airmen can get shaving waivers that allow them to grow beards, DeGoes said. This revised guidance will require anyone getting a shaving waiver to be evaluated by a health care provider, he said.
Current shaving profiles will expire 90 days after the airmen receive their periodic health assessment, beginning in March, he said.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin has pushed the service to tighten its standards, both to make them easier to understand and to underscore the importance of following them. In a Dec. 20 video, Allvin said the Air Force has updated its rules multiple times in recent years, but the combined effect of those changes has made them more complicated and led to lax compliance.
“This selective enforcement can lead to situations where airmen believe they have the opportunity to do selective compliance,” Allvin said. “This is where the danger lies. As airmen decide for themselves whether they should comply with the tech order, or safety regulations or other instructions, they may make the wrong choice that’s uninformed. And the damage is to property, it’s to our equipment, but most importantly, we get airmen injured or killed.”
Allvin posted another video Monday on the proliferation of duty identifier tabs, which are patches airmen wear to signify their job or specialty. The number of approved tabs has swollen to more than 134 over the years, he said.
“This is a lot of tabs,” Allvin said in the video, gesturing to an image showing a plethora of tabs ranging from navigators and engineers to munitions and security forces airmen. “Under the principle we have of easy to understand, easy to comply with, and easy to enforce: This fails that test.”
Having such a wide array of duty tabs on airmen’s uniforms undermines the service’s desire to have all airmen contribute to “a winning, warfighting team,” Allvin said.
“We want to emphasize that we value the team over the individual,” Allvin said. “We value the mission over the function. And we do this to ensure that we are lethal and ready to fly, fight and win, airpower anytime anywhere.”
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
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