Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,995
The hairiest army of the world!
On February 8, 1971, West German Federal Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt...
... issues the so-called "hairnet decree" for the Bundeswehr.
In the course of the 1960s, long hair hairstyles had become common among young men...:
As recently as 1967, a hair decree expressly prohibited soldiers from “wearing a hairstyle that is shoulder-length or otherwise appeared feminine”.
This requirement met with rejection, particularly among those doing basic military service...:
Since then, the Bundeswehr has led a fight - hopeless from the start - against the long hair styles of its conscripts, who in every conceivable way undercut the actually prescribed trip to the hairdresser.
With the "Hairnet Decree" the military bureaucracy finally capitulates!
Now you can officially wear long hair as a soldier, provided it is stowed in a hairnet and - as the decree says - "does not get in the way of the performance of official duties", which made the Bundeswehr the hairiest army of the world almost overnight!
The conscripts don't have to buy the new hairnets themselves, they are provided by the state along with the rest of the equipment!
And with foresight, which is how German military bureaucracy is, the Bundeswehr equipped itself with 740,000 camouflage-colored hairnets, which would have been enough for two armies!
On February 8, 1971, West German Federal Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt...
... issues the so-called "hairnet decree" for the Bundeswehr.
In the course of the 1960s, long hair hairstyles had become common among young men...:
As recently as 1967, a hair decree expressly prohibited soldiers from “wearing a hairstyle that is shoulder-length or otherwise appeared feminine”.
This requirement met with rejection, particularly among those doing basic military service...:
Since then, the Bundeswehr has led a fight - hopeless from the start - against the long hair styles of its conscripts, who in every conceivable way undercut the actually prescribed trip to the hairdresser.
With the "Hairnet Decree" the military bureaucracy finally capitulates!
Now you can officially wear long hair as a soldier, provided it is stowed in a hairnet and - as the decree says - "does not get in the way of the performance of official duties", which made the Bundeswehr the hairiest army of the world almost overnight!
The conscripts don't have to buy the new hairnets themselves, they are provided by the state along with the rest of the equipment!
And with foresight, which is how German military bureaucracy is, the Bundeswehr equipped itself with 740,000 camouflage-colored hairnets, which would have been enough for two armies!
