My son who is currently deployed in Afghanistan said his team got some intel that the Taliban were afraid to attack the bearded ones because the bearded ones would not stop until they had killed whoever attacked them and their families. Of course shortly afterwards the higher ups ordered all SF teams to shave their beards. I'm sure the two events were not tied to one another, but one has to wonder where our priorities lie. Robin Moore was pretty clear in his book about the war in Afghanistan that having a beard was a important factor in working with the Afghans. Not having one caused the Afghans to view our soldiers being as "cake boys". It seems to be more form over substance. If it's substantive for our allies and enables our guys to work better with the Afghans, why have our guys shave? What else are we doing policy wise to alienate our allies?
In the book, "Table in the Presence" the author who is a Naval Chaplain talks about serving with the Marines in Iraq. He mentions that the ire of the Marines was always raised when the local A team would come by in their non military outfits and long hair. Very un Marine. Then one day the Marine battalion was pinned down and the threat of suffering a great deal of casualties was staring them in the face, the same A team showed up on a bridge above the enemy position totally exposed to fire. From this position, they began lobbing grenades down on the insurgents, suppressing their fire and allowing the Marines to escape from their precarious positon. After that, the Marines were more then happy to see the A team and embraced their unique appearance.
Sometimes it's seems when the pressure is applied we always go to our strenght. Maybe grooming is the stong suit for some of our leaders and fighting a GWOT is not.
To improve morale, I sent my son this picture.
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...1&d=1171426098