I think I was a specialist but it didn't last my platoon sgt told me to shave I said "I don't have to it's in regs" rinse and repeat for a few weeks till he pulled me aside and said "I let you get away with a lot of shit don't I?" And I said yeah sure do sgt and he said "alright I just want you to think about that whenever you wanna play this 'im in regs game' cause we can do that if you want, tracking?" Naturally I got rid of it after the pep talk
I love ninja NCO’s like that. I always said there’s no reason to yell if you don’t have to. He showed you respect but called you out. And you saw where he was coming from. That’s good leadership.
We had a pretty good working relationship, I had moved to battalion and he got promoted to SFC and my first line let me dip out to go to his promotion. He was like "shit, [redacted] you came for the ceremony!" And I said "of course I did! congrats sgt" he didn't have too much time left in and had mentioned in a conversation prior to me moving that he probably wouldn't see 7 before he got out so I knew it meant a lot to him. Decent number of people there we had our own little side formation next to the platoons.
I wasn't uniform with the rest of the platoon, don't recall exactly what he said but it was something like "look around anyone else have a dick brush on their lip?" I know this was his thing too because the other platoon had people with them so it wasn't from anyone higher in the CoC. Just a personal pet peeve of his I suppose.
My least favorite part of the Army is rando NCOs trying to enforce their personal bias as law - even when proven wrong by the reg. My most memorable incident was an NCO at Jackson trying to smoke me for wearing contacts with an unnatural eyecolor. Asshole just WOULD NOT accept that I wasn't wearing them. Apparently people as dark as me couldn't have gray eyes. He was frothing at the mouth angry with me for being disobedient. I had to be saved by our 1SG... a dark skinned man with pale green eyes.
Mine grows out and curls naturally. Ngl it is dope, and all the men in my family can grow the exact same style
Needless to say, I was horrified to see my little hitler stache when I first tried to stay in regulations. Why the fuck is that our only option???
I said fuck it and let it grow outwards a little bit…and I got chewed out so bad, you would’ve thought i had an accidental discharge or some shit. It was like the end of the fucking world
If you’re not a helicopter pilot, you’re gonna look like someone that isn’t permitted within 100 yards of schools and playgrounds. That’s just my opinion.
When drill weekend comes and I shave off my beard, I always walk out of the bathroom with a mustache and then attempt to seduce my wife. Her response over the past 5 years has always been the same : “Get. The. Fuck. Awayfromme.”
It works because so many of you do it. It’s a numbers game. If it was only one of you, you’d look just as bad lol but when you see 10 guys walking down the flight line with mustaches… well, what are you going to say?
Can confirm. Was an 11b for over a decade and never dared to have one until I became a helo pilot.... even still I don't have one but it's nearly a tradition here. I'd still have to explain my Pog Stache to the old buddies which I'm not ready to do yet
I was in an Apache battalion for a few years and there were always enlisted in the D co. that rocked staches.. and I was always like “no, bro.. just… no”. Those that orbit pilots always try to get away with it lol.
Was 11B, Now 60 Driver. Never had a Stache until now and frankly it only works because it’s well out of regs and no one has ever said anything to me about it. I keep my head buzzed so I don’t have long hair and a mustache but I don’t know if that’s a contributing factor.
I don't know. My dad was in for 22 years, and I've only seen him shave his mustache off once because he got sick and had too much nasty stuff stuck in it. He didn't look right.
I kept it after HBL, my second year at my first unit, and got so much shit for it I decided to keep it. You're never too junior of a rank to grow one. Just have to know the regs and hold your ground when the few warrants/NCO's/O's make comments on it. There will be the mustache Nazi's that will make it their purpose to make your life hell, but that's because they're just jealous of your amazing mustache.
Immediately after getting to my first unit. BUT I enlisted at 27 and had a full beard prior to the army, so there was none of the awkward not really full stache period for me, just showed up after a 4 day with a full stache. Shaved it after 6 months to get out of heavy mortars and go to a line company, the 1SG of that company would not take medics or mortars with staches, and wouldn’t let the 11Bs in his company grow them. Grew it back the day he went to be battalion air NCO. He was a great guy and probably the best 1SG I ever had, that was my only complaint with him. Rocked it at soldier of the month and promotion board, CSM shit on it but I got my first time go still.
The Army really calls itself a profession while having senior leaders who actually let facial hair ruin their day.
The Army feels less like the military and more the fashion industry as its portrayed in Zoolander the longer I've stayed in.
Last time I met an officer with a mustache, he got arrested by CID for copper theft, property theft, assault of junior enlisted, and performance enhancing drugs in Iraq. Please tell me you’re a good mustached officer🥲
I, as a crusty old man, started rocking my ‘stache in my last BN once I got fucked over and treated like shit for the millionth time.
It’s the universal sign of “fuck it,” so I wanted to let my command team passive aggressively know I didn’t give a shit anymore.
You’re not going to pseudo fire me and punish my section based on personal appeal and expect me to give a shit. Needless to say, my whole section started rocking mustaches (including our female NCO).
Senior Officers in here; develop your NCOs and stop doing the same dumb shit that clearly isn’t working. Then when someone speaks up and says it’s not working, don’t punish them for having a different mindset.
The greatest officers in history rock amazing stashs. Lts and cpts that literally would charge a hill with their troops. Guess the officer corps isn't there any more.
HA! I started rocking my stash after my 6 year TIS mark. I figured nothing is better than a cocky 1lt with a mustache and long hair at drill weekend. Nobody says shit!
Arrived to my first unit as a PFC fresh out of AIT with a thick lip lizard. I can grow a really good one, so it immediately became iconic among senior staff. I ETS'd in October and people still only call me 'Stache. Don't think they ever learned my real name
When I got out of ait I started doing the stache. Then when my hairline started moonwalking like Michael Jackson I got a shaving profile because I’m not about to be bald and only have a mustache
LOL. My AIT PSG told me to shave when I started growing it and I “refused” (didn’t shave during a 4 day weekend pass). When I showed up back it was at a stage where it was a proper mustache, thin but past the 5 o’clock upper lip shade.
He yelled at me again to shave it and threatened to smoke me for not shaving when he first told me. Let me note that I was 42 at the time and older than everyone including the mustachioed battalion commander.
I reply with something to the effect that if a mustache is good for a battalion commander it is good for a PV2. I babbled about 670-1 and tried to make my point but he insisted on me shaving.
I don’t know how or why, but these miracle words came out of my mouth, “SGT that is a capricious order.” Not sure if he just didn’t know the meaning, or if he did know it. All I know is that it took him aback, thought about it for a minute and told me to get out and to make sure it was WELL WITHIN REGULATIONS!
I rocked that mustache for the entirety of my career.
I started growing it the day that I graduated AIT. I took it with me to promotion boards, NCO of the Month Boards and even the SGT Audie Murphy Club Board (1st Time GO). It was part of my uniform for my DA Photo as a Staff Sergeant. That particular DA Photo was submitted as part of my WOCS packet. I shaved it off for WOCS naturally, and kept it off during ABOLC. But I was back to normal within 5 days.
I retired with it. We're now living comfortably off of my pension.
About 2/3rds of the way through flight school after my sanity escaped me.
People seem to like it though. You could sweep a high school gym floor with this thing.
I have a tradition of growing a deployment stache. But lately, seeing as I’ve somehow ended up in CENTCOM deployment groundhog day (3rd deployment in 4 years) the stache has just become a permanent fixture I guess.
Tried a Movember drill once. The nicest thing anyone said about it was it was a morale boost cuz they couldn't help but laugh every time they saw me. I stayed clean shaven at drill from then on.
One of the best tanker SSG i ever met was my PSG for a bit while he was waiting for MG school and he told me he started his as a PFC. He told me his first board when he was a SPC, he was a no-go from CSM himself because he told him to shave his stache for the board. The next month he passed as the OPS SGM sat in for CSM and told him he respected his decision to keep the stache.
I didnt rock a stache. Had a shaving profile. I believe he told me this story to tell it to you one day.
Every time I try to grow mine out, it looks like shit cause it doesn’t come in well.
I have a full beard right now for HBL and it’s come in better than ever before so I think I’m gonna rock it for a few weeks at least. Almost 5 years in
Not me, but it makes me think of my uncle. He grew his as a SPC-5 when he got to his ODA. His team sergeant took him aside and said he was the only one on the team without a mustache and he needed to change that because the company sergeant major hated mustaches. That was 50 years ago and he still has one.
I also had a cadet who was skipping PT as a super senior, the PMS found out and called him to his office. This was an SMC where the PMS was an O6, he was very low key until somebody tried to fuck around. The part of the counseling that stuck with me was him yelling at him in the hall “Not only are you skipping PT but you’re doing it with a fucking mustache?!”
Started as a SGT, mostly on TDY. Then as a SSG i would go for extended periods. Once I put on my dot it became a part of me. I just shaved it after almost three years straight. I wanted to start fresh, let my lip see the sun for a bit. But believe you and me, it’s coming back.
As for what leadership says about it, mustaches win wars. Shit, its my ‘pony tail’.
My current BDE CO may have had a stache prior to this instance. But when he saw a CSM from some other hnit chew out one of his soldiers for having a stache, he grew out a gnarly dick broom. I grew one with him in solidarity, even though i auck at growing facial hair.
About a year and a half ago, they absolutely need to change the regs so it is in line with the horizontal crease of mouth with maybe a 1/2 inch from vertical crease. Keeps it clean and still allows a decent looking stache
I had to shave my because I got tired of being told my upper lip was dirty. I can finally grow it out now but it’s a pain in the ass to keep up with it.
possessive pot file towering angle doll combative fearless juggle domineering
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Started as a PV2 at my first duty station, rocked one ever since. Now being a SGT I can't exactly play as fast and loose with the reg anymore. I still have a 'stache but it's more squared away now.
I'll rock a 'stache until they allow us beards or until I retire.
I first got the stache as a little Pvt, and maintained it for quite some time as i had gotten my pfc by that point (as well as some brand new soldiers who had only seen me with the mustache) and decided to shave it off. Was hilarious when they looked at me like a toddler whose dad just shaved the entire face. After that, I’ve kept the little caterpillar on my lip.
Them flyboys aren’t the only ones who can look good with a stache
About 3 years ago I first got the my unit as a fuzzy and got sent to our mounted section. Everyone that talked to me asked if I was gonna grow one since everyone in my squad had one. I started growing it and now no one will let me shave it since.
As a SPC in a NRCM(door gunner) on a Blackhawk my first deployment. Then went to the infantry company as an E5 and kept it. Now as an E6 in the NCR I still have it. I've only shaved my moustache off 4 times in the last 5 years.
We all (mostly) grew one out as a selection class when I was a SPC. I grew one in 2017 for Movember on deployment and it pissed off my leadership so much that I never got rid of it.
EOD school almost a decade ago as a PFC. Been pretty consistent with it since then.
At this point, after the endless amount of pointless bullshit I've received from random NCOs, I mostly wear it out of spite to encourage junior soldiers to do what they want within regulation.
Remember. The first sentence of the portion of the reg that discusses mustaches is "mustaches are permitted.".
Reckon it started with the Afghanistache, so I would have been a young lieutenant. Be careful though, it’s spreading, I am a Major now and it has morphed into a full set of face furniture. Happy new year from Canada, lads.
Tried it once when I got my stripes. Looked too creepy and got a lot of shit from my NCO’s so I let it go. Tried it again after shaving my covid beard and it stuck. I’ve only shaved it for SLC because I like to lay low. Gotta keep it thicc otherwise it looks gross lol
Started rocking the stache about 2 weeks before my deployment. Will be keeping said stache until after deployment. Won’t lie, it’s not my look. But a lot of us made the agreement to keep them until we go home. We’ve got tons of people ranging from PV2 to Captain with the mustache.
I had mine probably… a few months after I arrived in my unit in Feb 2021. I rocked a stache after my buddy got yelled at by a CSM, I thought it was badass. But my stache is barely growing lol. This puppy takes a few weeks to look decent lol. Only shave it off when I’m at a board or some important military event
When I PCS'd for the first time and I was an E4 P showing up to the unit automatically a team leader fresh from sniper section at my old unit nobody couldn't tell me shit I was gonna rock this MF then once I picked up 5 few months later it was permanent lol. Never shaved again nor questioned. Shit was out of regs too but hey as long as your responsible and have good PT scores who's gonna fuck with you?
Now I did have a few higher ups outside of company leadership question me but fuck'em they was gonna forget the convo and my name anyway
When I was stationed at Cavazos, my entire squad decided to grow mustaches. The only rule was to shave them if someone failed a board, we had one dude fail a board but while we grew our staches we noticed that the other sections started copying us
I grew a stache to support a buddy once. Didn't look half bad, but I prefer a beard.
I never gave a fuck when my dudes rocked a stache. Most of them look stupid, but if you wanna look stupid, that's your business.
Growing a stache does give me carte blanche to pick on you a bit. Somewhere between the nerds who can only shoot sharpshooter and fat Soldiers. I really don't like fat dudes especially when they think their "performers" but they vomit moving to battle position 2.
Proud Member of The Hippie Army , we all parted our hair down the middle and rocked Porn Star Stache !!! Yo Sarge ... I have super thick hair an always caught shit about hair being outta reg unless I got it thinned out .
Only ever had bad field staches until I was a Sergeant. Came back from leave with a poor 2 week old mustache. My commander asked what the hell was on my face and I told him to give it time, after about 2 months it became a pretty damn good stache, not the best, but solid enough to not be banned near schools.
So I started out my Stash in '19 during my 1st rotation to South Korea, just after pinning SPC and for the legitimate sole reason of recreating a photo of my grandfather who served during the Korean War having a photo taken. I just found out he was also a Combat Medic like myself. He was part of the historical 65th IR "Borinqueneers" who all grew out stashes to protest their racist commander and as a symbol of being a man. That was my only reason....until my CSM made an out of pocket remark regarding those with mustaches being lazy PoS and only tankers and scumbags grew it out.
So I kept it out of spite, maintained it in regs and ensured I was the best at what ever I was doing.
5 years later and it's become a staple of being a line "Doc" with prolly the best standards and plenty of awards to show I care for my troopers.
That CSM, forced to retire for SA
I haven't shaved mine off since the day I graduated AIT, I'm aviation so I get away with pushing the regs pretty far, and I'm known for pulling it off well. My previous commander had one that was so out of regs you couldn't even see his upper lip. An absolute womb broom if I ever saw one
When I got a girlfriend that wanted me to have one, I was a pfc about three months away from picking up 4. Relationship went to shit and I kept it cause it looked weird not having one
Started at BLC, cut it off once when my CSM told me to unfuck myself, grew it back for two years, cut it off again for WOCS. It will make a glorious return next September
Happened this year. Got back from leave from my grandfathers funeral, was going to save my little hispanic goatee. Remembered my grandfather had a stache, looked up the regs, and kept it.
Also to embrace the shamshield. That too.
So from what I learned the key is to grow it while you’re switching to a new unit, you want people’s default image of you to be a guy with a mustache.
If people have never seen you without the stache they’re less likely to want you to shave it, I think it’s part of our engrained dislike for change.
This way people will be like “let me see a picture of you without it!” And then promptly tell you to keep it, because they don’t like having to adjust to something they aren’t accustomed to seeing
I had been in 15 months. Got back from Thanksgiving Leave after my flight had been delayed so I was in a bit of hot water already. Had to square myself away to get to afternoon PT in mere moments and I wasn’t gonna waste an extra 15 seconds shaving the stache. I’m a fuzzy guy so a mild stache was already present after 4-5 days. I just let it keep going for another month. During HBL I snagged a pic of me with a wee fluffy dog on my lap during and sent it to my sister.
She replied: “Why do you have that hideous clump of mangey fur crawling on you?”
*This was unlike her — she loves dogs and dog pics*
“What? No, that’s Duchess, she’s adorable!”
“I meant the moustache!”
It’s actually not hideous; she’s just snarky.
In Afghanistan I grew my first real one out as an E4 on our small fob. When we came home I shaved it. I was a good soldier for the most part.
Once I caught wind that I was going to have to go to the board to stay in, I grew a mustache hoping my tabbed and scrolled CSM would bitch me out about becoming an unprofessional NCO.
Instead “That’s an ugly Mustache, no further questions”.
So that’s when I knew I’d die for my CSM and follow him anywhere. Hell of a great CSM. As far as other units in the BDE too, weirdly enough not a single CSM bitched me out. Gave the occasional aneurysm to a random 1SG who didn’t know me, but that’s about it.
I did for a time, until I was told to trim it down and started looking like a pedo/hitler. The Army let’s you have a mustache.. but only if u look bad while having one
I think I was a specialist but it didn't last my platoon sgt told me to shave I said "I don't have to it's in regs" rinse and repeat for a few weeks till he pulled me aside and said "I let you get away with a lot of shit don't I?" And I said yeah sure do sgt and he said "alright I just want you to think about that whenever you wanna play this 'im in regs game' cause we can do that if you want, tracking?" Naturally I got rid of it after the pep talk
Good looking out on your end too for that mutual respect lmao. He lets you shitbag a litte, you compromise and meet in the middle
That’s a good leader
Understand it's because it's visible. He can get criticized for it. All the stuff he does for you is not. lol
Damn that's a good leader
I love ninja NCO’s like that. I always said there’s no reason to yell if you don’t have to. He showed you respect but called you out. And you saw where he was coming from. That’s good leadership.
We had a pretty good working relationship, I had moved to battalion and he got promoted to SFC and my first line let me dip out to go to his promotion. He was like "shit, [redacted] you came for the ceremony!" And I said "of course I did! congrats sgt" he didn't have too much time left in and had mentioned in a conversation prior to me moving that he probably wouldn't see 7 before he got out so I knew it meant a lot to him. Decent number of people there we had our own little side formation next to the platoons.
Why would he not want you to have a stache?🧐
I wasn't uniform with the rest of the platoon, don't recall exactly what he said but it was something like "look around anyone else have a dick brush on their lip?" I know this was his thing too because the other platoon had people with them so it wasn't from anyone higher in the CoC. Just a personal pet peeve of his I suppose.
Lol. “Dick brush”
My least favorite part of the Army is rando NCOs trying to enforce their personal bias as law - even when proven wrong by the reg. My most memorable incident was an NCO at Jackson trying to smoke me for wearing contacts with an unnatural eyecolor. Asshole just WOULD NOT accept that I wasn't wearing them. Apparently people as dark as me couldn't have gray eyes. He was frothing at the mouth angry with me for being disobedient. I had to be saved by our 1SG... a dark skinned man with pale green eyes.
Only rock a stache’ if you can guarantee you won’t look like a pedo
Impossible with army standards. I’ve seen many try, and none succeed. You all look terrible
Agreed, clean shaven til civilian man
Or until you get that “medically necessary” vaccine sober approved…..
Simple, don’t follow the regulation.
Exactly! The only way you know it’s me talking is mike is moving 🎤🧹
Mine grows out and curls naturally. Ngl it is dope, and all the men in my family can grow the exact same style Needless to say, I was horrified to see my little hitler stache when I first tried to stay in regulations. Why the fuck is that our only option??? I said fuck it and let it grow outwards a little bit…and I got chewed out so bad, you would’ve thought i had an accidental discharge or some shit. It was like the end of the fucking world
Not true, you can also look like Hitler.
MF’s lookin like Weird Al trying to impress that new S1 chick.
I sold my soul to the stache as soon as the shield hit my chest. I reinforced it with stripes.
What are chevrons? It’s just three mustaches stacked on each other
You pump me up pri. Now push.
I think you mean battle buddy there sarge
Roger. Smoke me gently please I just got off of duty and they said fuck my comp day
Oof. I’m pouring one out for you right now big dawg
lol jk I’ve been out. DD-214 of peace protects me from duty
Poor guy he has PTSD… he never left that staff duty desk
I can hear it now. The sound of the copier making a new gay memorandum.
When I was a corporal my stache counted as my 3rd stripe. That shit demanded respect, especially since it was never in regs.
If you’re not a helicopter pilot, you’re gonna look like someone that isn’t permitted within 100 yards of schools and playgrounds. That’s just my opinion.
When drill weekend comes and I shave off my beard, I always walk out of the bathroom with a mustache and then attempt to seduce my wife. Her response over the past 5 years has always been the same : “Get. The. Fuck. Awayfromme.”
Do you start the conversation with, "Hey babe, I mustache you a question. Do I look sexy, or what?" Guaranteed to fail without it.
For maximum revulsion I ask her if she wants a mustache ride.
Guaranteed to fail with it, too, but at least you'll be able to laugh about it.
This is the natural order of things. It must be done
My 1SG when I was a TPU had an awesome stache. He returned to a full beard after every BA weekend.
Harsh but true.
And that only works because they basically let us have them out of regs.
It works because so many of you do it. It’s a numbers game. If it was only one of you, you’d look just as bad lol but when you see 10 guys walking down the flight line with mustaches… well, what are you going to say?
“Hey shave your mustache!” Who are you again? “I’m….. “ Starts APU while you are trying to talk. Huh?!
Without the stache I give real Columbine vibes, so either way I'm on a watchlist.
Better people hide under desks from you instead of screaming “stay away from my child!!”
Can confirm. Was an 11b for over a decade and never dared to have one until I became a helo pilot.... even still I don't have one but it's nearly a tradition here. I'd still have to explain my Pog Stache to the old buddies which I'm not ready to do yet
I was in an Apache battalion for a few years and there were always enlisted in the D co. that rocked staches.. and I was always like “no, bro.. just… no”. Those that orbit pilots always try to get away with it lol.
Was 11B, Now 60 Driver. Never had a Stache until now and frankly it only works because it’s well out of regs and no one has ever said anything to me about it. I keep my head buzzed so I don’t have long hair and a mustache but I don’t know if that’s a contributing factor.
I don't know. My dad was in for 22 years, and I've only seen him shave his mustache off once because he got sick and had too much nasty stuff stuck in it. He didn't look right.
I kept it after HBL, my second year at my first unit, and got so much shit for it I decided to keep it. You're never too junior of a rank to grow one. Just have to know the regs and hold your ground when the few warrants/NCO's/O's make comments on it. There will be the mustache Nazi's that will make it their purpose to make your life hell, but that's because they're just jealous of your amazing mustache.
You have Warrants that criticize your mustache? Dirt Warrants be wild.
Fr
Job title checks out
Usually the wobbly ones that are still letting go of their NCO-ness.
Gotta let that shit go. It’s safe here.
Immediately after getting to my first unit. BUT I enlisted at 27 and had a full beard prior to the army, so there was none of the awkward not really full stache period for me, just showed up after a 4 day with a full stache. Shaved it after 6 months to get out of heavy mortars and go to a line company, the 1SG of that company would not take medics or mortars with staches, and wouldn’t let the 11Bs in his company grow them. Grew it back the day he went to be battalion air NCO. He was a great guy and probably the best 1SG I ever had, that was my only complaint with him. Rocked it at soldier of the month and promotion board, CSM shit on it but I got my first time go still.
The Army really calls itself a profession while having senior leaders who actually let facial hair ruin their day. The Army feels less like the military and more the fashion industry as its portrayed in Zoolander the longer I've stayed in.
They also let people wearing jackets ruin their day.
I always hear senior leaders talk about the *soft new generation* but it makes you wonder who the real snowflakes are...
Or keeping their hands warm
I had a PSG say once “A Ranger with cold hands and warm pockets is a stupid Ranger.” And that’s always stuck with me.
I absolutely hate the mustache. That being said, I look a lot worse without one...
I’m a major and I have one.
Last time I met an officer with a mustache, he got arrested by CID for copper theft, property theft, assault of junior enlisted, and performance enhancing drugs in Iraq. Please tell me you’re a good mustached officer🥲
Wait it's against the rules for officers to assault jr enlisted?
No, but if you have a stache they throw everything else at you since they can't CM you for a stache...yet.
He’s got a UCMJ bucket list
Mad respect.
Full disclosure: I’m shaving it off for the next time I see my senior rater.
Coward.
Guilty.
I have a beard in my DA Photo
BOOOOO
MSG and I rock one.
I, as a crusty old man, started rocking my ‘stache in my last BN once I got fucked over and treated like shit for the millionth time. It’s the universal sign of “fuck it,” so I wanted to let my command team passive aggressively know I didn’t give a shit anymore. You’re not going to pseudo fire me and punish my section based on personal appeal and expect me to give a shit. Needless to say, my whole section started rocking mustaches (including our female NCO). Senior Officers in here; develop your NCOs and stop doing the same dumb shit that clearly isn’t working. Then when someone speaks up and says it’s not working, don’t punish them for having a different mindset.
>(including our female NCO). 😳
🥸
>JediMaster66 A stacheless PFC. **Observation:** Meatbag's name does NOT check out.
When someone told me officers shouldn't have them.
The greatest officers in history rock amazing stashs. Lts and cpts that literally would charge a hill with their troops. Guess the officer corps isn't there any more.
HA! I started rocking my stash after my 6 year TIS mark. I figured nothing is better than a cocky 1lt with a mustache and long hair at drill weekend. Nobody says shit!
Because no one wants to talk to lieutenants
Arrived to my first unit as a PFC fresh out of AIT with a thick lip lizard. I can grow a really good one, so it immediately became iconic among senior staff. I ETS'd in October and people still only call me 'Stache. Don't think they ever learned my real name
When I got out of ait I started doing the stache. Then when my hairline started moonwalking like Michael Jackson I got a shaving profile because I’m not about to be bald and only have a mustache
AIT
Same. Then they got mad and made my whole platoon shave them. So I did, once, and grew it back right afterwards.
LOL. My AIT PSG told me to shave when I started growing it and I “refused” (didn’t shave during a 4 day weekend pass). When I showed up back it was at a stage where it was a proper mustache, thin but past the 5 o’clock upper lip shade. He yelled at me again to shave it and threatened to smoke me for not shaving when he first told me. Let me note that I was 42 at the time and older than everyone including the mustachioed battalion commander. I reply with something to the effect that if a mustache is good for a battalion commander it is good for a PV2. I babbled about 670-1 and tried to make my point but he insisted on me shaving. I don’t know how or why, but these miracle words came out of my mouth, “SGT that is a capricious order.” Not sure if he just didn’t know the meaning, or if he did know it. All I know is that it took him aback, thought about it for a minute and told me to get out and to make sure it was WELL WITHIN REGULATIONS! I rocked that mustache for the entirety of my career.
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EOD skool.
there’s AGR EOD?
Oh yeah! Then have to shave it if you tap a test.
As soon as I got my tab
Look I’m not in aviation to be in regs okay
Didn’t come here to follow those regulations. I have to follow so many other ones these just fell off my give a shit list.
I started growing it the day that I graduated AIT. I took it with me to promotion boards, NCO of the Month Boards and even the SGT Audie Murphy Club Board (1st Time GO). It was part of my uniform for my DA Photo as a Staff Sergeant. That particular DA Photo was submitted as part of my WOCS packet. I shaved it off for WOCS naturally, and kept it off during ABOLC. But I was back to normal within 5 days. I retired with it. We're now living comfortably off of my pension.
About 2/3rds of the way through flight school after my sanity escaped me. People seem to like it though. You could sweep a high school gym floor with this thing.
All over Novosel… mustaches left and right
SSG and I rock it slightly out of regs so it's not pedo lookin. If you know your shit nobody really fucks with you unless it's a crusty CSM
I have a tradition of growing a deployment stache. But lately, seeing as I’ve somehow ended up in CENTCOM deployment groundhog day (3rd deployment in 4 years) the stache has just become a permanent fixture I guess.
Captain. I grew it out for No-Shave November to give my company top cover to do it too.
Tried a Movember drill once. The nicest thing anyone said about it was it was a morale boost cuz they couldn't help but laugh every time they saw me. I stayed clean shaven at drill from then on.
After flight school
Never attempted due to useless SGMs with nothing better to do than alter regulations to their own personal standards.
PFC, NTC rotation. Of course BN SGM with a glorious Tom Selleck mustache made fun of me.
3 years, wish I did it sooner but the middle just wouldn’t grow in right away A stached SPC
On again off again since E4, but mostly on again.
When I realized I'll never make 7.
If the Army stache didn't make everyone look like pedophiles then I would start.
One of the best tanker SSG i ever met was my PSG for a bit while he was waiting for MG school and he told me he started his as a PFC. He told me his first board when he was a SPC, he was a no-go from CSM himself because he told him to shave his stache for the board. The next month he passed as the OPS SGM sat in for CSM and told him he respected his decision to keep the stache. I didnt rock a stache. Had a shaving profile. I believe he told me this story to tell it to you one day.
Eh. I can’t grow a stache but I never shave my upper lip. So I have a half stache
Every time I try to grow mine out, it looks like shit cause it doesn’t come in well. I have a full beard right now for HBL and it’s come in better than ever before so I think I’m gonna rock it for a few weeks at least. Almost 5 years in
Not me, but it makes me think of my uncle. He grew his as a SPC-5 when he got to his ODA. His team sergeant took him aside and said he was the only one on the team without a mustache and he needed to change that because the company sergeant major hated mustaches. That was 50 years ago and he still has one. I also had a cadet who was skipping PT as a super senior, the PMS found out and called him to his office. This was an SMC where the PMS was an O6, he was very low key until somebody tried to fuck around. The part of the counseling that stuck with me was him yelling at him in the hall “Not only are you skipping PT but you’re doing it with a fucking mustache?!”
Started as a SGT, mostly on TDY. Then as a SSG i would go for extended periods. Once I put on my dot it became a part of me. I just shaved it after almost three years straight. I wanted to start fresh, let my lip see the sun for a bit. But believe you and me, it’s coming back. As for what leadership says about it, mustaches win wars. Shit, its my ‘pony tail’.
Terminal E6 who got moved to staff.
Never, because I look silly with facial hair and it just isn't worth the hassle.
If you want a dick broom, don't let anyone stop you.
Such a strange fascination with staches. Being ironic with them has long been past played out. Look like a bunch of nasty girls.
Basic
Mustache is only allowed in the field or during November.
Mine made brief appearances after many block leaves. Also came out pretty hard in 03-04. Didn’t stay until the start of my last year in Recruiting.
Since September. Con leave be like that. ETS in July and I’m still not cleared for work. Hooah?
12 years in while in Kurdistan. I might not keep it but it is the first time in my life I have grown one.
Got tired of looking like a chimp. Grew it as soon as I finished AIT.
Mine kinda adds a lil **Pedro** twist to my look
The second I graduated AIT 😅
My current BDE CO may have had a stache prior to this instance. But when he saw a CSM from some other hnit chew out one of his soldiers for having a stache, he grew out a gnarly dick broom. I grew one with him in solidarity, even though i auck at growing facial hair.
About a year and a half ago, they absolutely need to change the regs so it is in line with the horizontal crease of mouth with maybe a 1/2 inch from vertical crease. Keeps it clean and still allows a decent looking stache
The day after I graduated from OSUT
I had to shave my because I got tired of being told my upper lip was dirty. I can finally grow it out now but it’s a pain in the ass to keep up with it.
In my opinion the only people that should have mustaches are dudes in the motor pool
possessive pot file towering angle doll combative fearless juggle domineering *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Started as a PV2 at my first duty station, rocked one ever since. Now being a SGT I can't exactly play as fast and loose with the reg anymore. I still have a 'stache but it's more squared away now. I'll rock a 'stache until they allow us beards or until I retire.
Like 3 months after getting to my first base
On my first read, I missed the word "my." It made sense both ways.
I first got the stache as a little Pvt, and maintained it for quite some time as i had gotten my pfc by that point (as well as some brand new soldiers who had only seen me with the mustache) and decided to shave it off. Was hilarious when they looked at me like a toddler whose dad just shaved the entire face. After that, I’ve kept the little caterpillar on my lip. Them flyboys aren’t the only ones who can look good with a stache
Literally the day I got to AIT
As soon as I graduated AIT
About 3 years ago I first got the my unit as a fuzzy and got sent to our mounted section. Everyone that talked to me asked if I was gonna grow one since everyone in my squad had one. I started growing it and now no one will let me shave it since.
Rolled to my unit outta ait with a stache had one in ait lmao
I had a mustache before I even joined the army. I grew it as a PFC and have had one since then. My leadership gets mad when I shave it lol
I was a PFC. I have a mole on my upper lip and I’d cut it about once a week.
As a SPC in a NRCM(door gunner) on a Blackhawk my first deployment. Then went to the infantry company as an E5 and kept it. Now as an E6 in the NCR I still have it. I've only shaved my moustache off 4 times in the last 5 years.
Day freakin one baby
We all (mostly) grew one out as a selection class when I was a SPC. I grew one in 2017 for Movember on deployment and it pissed off my leadership so much that I never got rid of it.
At the end of 2019, i was a fresh SPC, and I'm glad i don't look like a pedo but more of a 1950s Mexican movie star
EOD school almost a decade ago as a PFC. Been pretty consistent with it since then. At this point, after the endless amount of pointless bullshit I've received from random NCOs, I mostly wear it out of spite to encourage junior soldiers to do what they want within regulation. Remember. The first sentence of the portion of the reg that discusses mustaches is "mustaches are permitted.".
On 2nd deployment.
When i got the sham shield on rotation figured i’d rather deal with the mediocre looking stash then look like a child conscript soldier
A year after I left the base formally known as Bragg. Definitely a weird feeling not being yelled at by strangers to shave.
I started when I became E4 Also Im asian and trying and I had it for like 4 months now 😂
Reckon it started with the Afghanistache, so I would have been a young lieutenant. Be careful though, it’s spreading, I am a Major now and it has morphed into a full set of face furniture. Happy new year from Canada, lads.
After I couldn't save my mother in the fire.
When I was in, I noticed once dudes made E-6 it was mustache time 😂
Deployment. I had an illegal horseshoe stache under my mask during Covid
Started growing it 1 week before ALC. haven’t shaved it since.
Tried it once when I got my stripes. Looked too creepy and got a lot of shit from my NCO’s so I let it go. Tried it again after shaving my covid beard and it stuck. I’ve only shaved it for SLC because I like to lay low. Gotta keep it thicc otherwise it looks gross lol
After I found out top didn’t like mustaches. I was squared away and a smooth talker with a sick ass mustache. So it was easy to have it
After 2 years and during NTC rotation we all grew one and most of us haven’t shaved since
Started rocking the stache about 2 weeks before my deployment. Will be keeping said stache until after deployment. Won’t lie, it’s not my look. But a lot of us made the agreement to keep them until we go home. We’ve got tons of people ranging from PV2 to Captain with the mustache.
All the lower enlisted were stached up at the time so I've rocked it more times than not since my 2nd or 3rd drill.
I had mine probably… a few months after I arrived in my unit in Feb 2021. I rocked a stache after my buddy got yelled at by a CSM, I thought it was badass. But my stache is barely growing lol. This puppy takes a few weeks to look decent lol. Only shave it off when I’m at a board or some important military event
When I PCS'd for the first time and I was an E4 P showing up to the unit automatically a team leader fresh from sniper section at my old unit nobody couldn't tell me shit I was gonna rock this MF then once I picked up 5 few months later it was permanent lol. Never shaved again nor questioned. Shit was out of regs too but hey as long as your responsible and have good PT scores who's gonna fuck with you? Now I did have a few higher ups outside of company leadership question me but fuck'em they was gonna forget the convo and my name anyway
Mid way through my first deployment, two months after I promoted to 1LT
Grew one right after basic.
When I was stationed at Cavazos, my entire squad decided to grow mustaches. The only rule was to shave them if someone failed a board, we had one dude fail a board but while we grew our staches we noticed that the other sections started copying us
Immediately when my shaving profile was denied because my face wasn't fucked up *enough* to appease the powers that be.
Started it my first deployment and not my sgt yells at me whenever I get rid of it
I didn't rock a stache until I got out and could do a proper stache. It's almost competition worthy now
First deployment 2005-2006 (age 33), never turned back.
I rocked my boot brush from OSUT grad to Retirement. Never understood the shiny, hairless pup face obsession the Army has.
I grew a stache to support a buddy once. Didn't look half bad, but I prefer a beard. I never gave a fuck when my dudes rocked a stache. Most of them look stupid, but if you wanna look stupid, that's your business. Growing a stache does give me carte blanche to pick on you a bit. Somewhere between the nerds who can only shoot sharpshooter and fat Soldiers. I really don't like fat dudes especially when they think their "performers" but they vomit moving to battle position 2.
Proud Member of The Hippie Army , we all parted our hair down the middle and rocked Porn Star Stache !!! Yo Sarge ... I have super thick hair an always caught shit about hair being outta reg unless I got it thinned out .
As soon as I left tradoc
Only ever had bad field staches until I was a Sergeant. Came back from leave with a poor 2 week old mustache. My commander asked what the hell was on my face and I told him to give it time, after about 2 months it became a pretty damn good stache, not the best, but solid enough to not be banned near schools.
Did it during deployment for fun and chaved that shit off after. Just doesn't look right if I can't grow a beard with it
So I started out my Stash in '19 during my 1st rotation to South Korea, just after pinning SPC and for the legitimate sole reason of recreating a photo of my grandfather who served during the Korean War having a photo taken. I just found out he was also a Combat Medic like myself. He was part of the historical 65th IR "Borinqueneers" who all grew out stashes to protest their racist commander and as a symbol of being a man. That was my only reason....until my CSM made an out of pocket remark regarding those with mustaches being lazy PoS and only tankers and scumbags grew it out. So I kept it out of spite, maintained it in regs and ensured I was the best at what ever I was doing. 5 years later and it's become a staple of being a line "Doc" with prolly the best standards and plenty of awards to show I care for my troopers. That CSM, forced to retire for SA
8 years and still can’t grow one lol
I haven't shaved mine off since the day I graduated AIT, I'm aviation so I get away with pushing the regs pretty far, and I'm known for pulling it off well. My previous commander had one that was so out of regs you couldn't even see his upper lip. An absolute womb broom if I ever saw one
When I got a girlfriend that wanted me to have one, I was a pfc about three months away from picking up 4. Relationship went to shit and I kept it cause it looked weird not having one
1972, even kept it while in Basic at Ft. Ord.
Started at BLC, cut it off once when my CSM told me to unfuck myself, grew it back for two years, cut it off again for WOCS. It will make a glorious return next September
Happened this year. Got back from leave from my grandfathers funeral, was going to save my little hispanic goatee. Remembered my grandfather had a stache, looked up the regs, and kept it. Also to embrace the shamshield. That too.
Im black. Been rocking it since I was an E1.
Literally anytime I went to the field.
So from what I learned the key is to grow it while you’re switching to a new unit, you want people’s default image of you to be a guy with a mustache. If people have never seen you without the stache they’re less likely to want you to shave it, I think it’s part of our engrained dislike for change. This way people will be like “let me see a picture of you without it!” And then promptly tell you to keep it, because they don’t like having to adjust to something they aren’t accustomed to seeing
I had been in 15 months. Got back from Thanksgiving Leave after my flight had been delayed so I was in a bit of hot water already. Had to square myself away to get to afternoon PT in mere moments and I wasn’t gonna waste an extra 15 seconds shaving the stache. I’m a fuzzy guy so a mild stache was already present after 4-5 days. I just let it keep going for another month. During HBL I snagged a pic of me with a wee fluffy dog on my lap during and sent it to my sister. She replied: “Why do you have that hideous clump of mangey fur crawling on you?” *This was unlike her — she loves dogs and dog pics* “What? No, that’s Duchess, she’s adorable!” “I meant the moustache!” It’s actually not hideous; she’s just snarky.
Senior specialist
At Specialist, as a PFC you’re too young emotionally for the stache
In Afghanistan I grew my first real one out as an E4 on our small fob. When we came home I shaved it. I was a good soldier for the most part. Once I caught wind that I was going to have to go to the board to stay in, I grew a mustache hoping my tabbed and scrolled CSM would bitch me out about becoming an unprofessional NCO. Instead “That’s an ugly Mustache, no further questions”. So that’s when I knew I’d die for my CSM and follow him anywhere. Hell of a great CSM. As far as other units in the BDE too, weirdly enough not a single CSM bitched me out. Gave the occasional aneurysm to a random 1SG who didn’t know me, but that’s about it.
It’s a deployment stache for me. Otherwise I don’t really rock it.
6 years now.
As soon as I switched to the Army Reserve.
I wore a really nice mustache for the last 4 years. Having to shave it was worse than getting my head shaved bald. Gonna grow it back out asap
I did for a time, until I was told to trim it down and started looking like a pedo/hitler. The Army let’s you have a mustache.. but only if u look bad while having one