Accusations were flying everywhere. Marines at Camp Pendleton allegedly in close proximity to each other and their barbers, a potential violation of Defense Department guidance. A phone call of inquiry from the secretary of defense to the commandant of the Marine Corps was promised.
That’s when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, with a close-cropped buzz cut of thin, gray hair tried to cut in.
“Let me take that for you, Mr. Secretary. So, first of all …” he began in part of Tuesday’s Pentagon briefing.
The haircut questions from reporters were first handled with jest from a 6-foot distance. But as the debate grew long, the argument turned razor sharp.
“What do you want?” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, with mid-length brown hair, combed over, fired back at one questioning reporter. “Do you want me to issue instructions on haircuts? Is that what you want?”
To cut his own hair during the coronavirus epidemic, Milley revealed he used a home barber kit.
“It’s a mirror with a thing, one of those barber kit things,” the chairman explained.
Esper was silent. His locks perhaps untrimmed since the Pentagon raised to HPCON Charlie on March 27, or even further back, when the Pentagon’s Health Protection Condition was raised to Bravo on March 16.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, who is bald and would seemingly be unaffected by any temporary grooming regulation change, had remained silent since a March 26 Pentagon briefing.
“Everybody’s still getting their head shaved as long as the barbers come to work,” he said. “But there will come that time if it gets worse and worse and worse, where barbers won’t come to work. In that case, you know, we’ll have to make a decision: Do Marines cut Marines’ hair? Do we make adjustments?”
Footage alleged to be from April at Camp Pendleton revealed a long line of Marines snaking outside a barbershop. On one side of the line, Marines stand six feet apart. But closer to the door, they are in clear violation of social distancing guidelines, revised for the eighth time Monday.
“Thank you. I’m writing it down,” Esper responded to the first haircut policy inquiry at the Pentagon briefing.
Laughter broke out.
“The commandant will get a call,” Milley said.
“Commandant’s going to get a call,” Esper echoed.
“Way to go. Way to go. He’ll thank you,” Milley affirmed in jest.
“That’s something I would not have thought of putting in the guidance is the haircut policy, right?” Esper said of his initial social distancing guidance, which he left to each commander to interpret and execute.
“It’s stuff like that, where you find people close together, where you could find a way to do it, or not require it for a period of time,” the secretary proposed.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that you all could go to any camp, fort, base, you name it, and find somebody not following the guidance,” he continued.
The Marine Corps could not confirm the date of the video in question.
“It’s unclear as to when the video was taken,” Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Eric Flanagan told the Washington Examiner. “Camp Pendleton says that on Sunday there were ground markings (6 feet separation) and mask usage in place. So it was some time prior to that.”
Milley also cast doubt about the date of the alleged violation.
“File footage,” he said. “B-roll. B-roll.”
Laughter followed. Esper continued.
“So our challenge is to get out there and educate the chain of command,” he said. “I’m sure the commandant, if he’s watching, probably is already on it. But if not, the chairman is going to give him a call and say, ‘What is going on? What don’t you guys understand?’”
The Marine Corps’ “neat and closely trimmed” grooming regulation requires regular attention.
“Suspend haircuts, right? For whatever period of time,” Esper thought aloud. “So that’s the type of guidance we need to meet, otherwise —”
Milley chimed in: “Don’t take that as guidance yet! Don’t take that as guidance yet.”
“A lot of ways to do haircuts,” he added.
On Wednesday, the Marine Corps released a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Because [COVID], like other pandemics, is different area to area, region to region, HQMC has not said ‘all grooming standards are relaxed for a given period of time,’” Berger said in the statement. “We very much trust leaders to make those calls, and we’ve given them the latitude to waive requirements where it’s not practical to meet restrictions.”
At the Pentagon Tuesday, Milley described a scene from Iwo Jima, 1945, for perspective.
The United States had been at war for over two years. The final battles on the islands of Japan were taking place. The American flag was rising.
“As the son of a Navy corpsman who hit the beach at Iwo Jima with the Fourth Marine Division, it took extraordinary discipline to conquer that island, with 7,000 Marines killed in 19 or 20 days,” said Milley. “That put a flag on Suribachi, that was a result — that Marine victory was a result of incredible discipline of America’s 911 force and the expeditionary force.”
Haircuts meant discipline. The discipline that saves lives and wins battles, he said.
“Whether they’re Marines or soldiers or airmen or sailors, discipline is a fundamental function of our force, and for many, many years, the United States military has had hair standards,” he said.
“But yes, I think Marines should get haircuts, from a personal standpoint,” he added. “It may seem superficial to some, but getting a haircut is part of that discipline. So, yes, I support the Marine Corps.”
