The Stupid Spreads: Now it's Beards in Afghanistan

This is a great blog post from Brandon Friedman, an Iraq and Afghanistan vet who blogs for VoteVets.org, that talks about the ban on facial hair in the war zone. Here is my favorite part:

Right. Real big threat of chemical attacks in rural Afghanistan. Good thinkin' guys.
There is an exception, though, for special operations forces to enable them to better blend with locals. Senior military officials point out that special operations forces have more experience and maturity than other troops, so that lax grooming standards will not lead to a degeneration of other forms of discipline.

Do these "senior military officials" see the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and think Delta Tau Chi? Probably so, I'd guess. But then, these same "senior military officials" are likely career staff officers who've never met a "real" Afghan or Iraqi.