Pete Hegseth’s Order to the Marine Corps: Shave—or Else

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A new USMC policy would give Marines 12 months to deal with medical problems related to shaving before requiring them to be separated from the service.

The United States Marine Corps is known for being “The Few, The Proud.” By next year, they’ll also be known for being the entirely clean-shaven.

The service announced its new policy in a statement this month. The directive is a notable reversal of a January 2025 policy that did provide some exemptions to the beard rule, including for medical reasons.

However, in his address to senior Pentagon leadership at Quantico, Virginia, last October, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made clear that the era of “beardos” in the US armed forces was over.

Join the Marines and Shave

Hegseth isn’t alone in believing that Marines should be clean-shaven. That point was addressed by Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith, who publicly backed up Hegseth on the issue: “The Marine Corps has a brand, and we’re making our recruiting mission. We’ve always made our recruiting mission, and........

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