px_eliezer_ I can speak experience to this. The Air Force has always had shaving waivers. Heck, my second year in the Air Force way back when I had a shaving waiver, and I was not part of the typical population that got them. The base Flight Surgeon’s office conducted a clinic on proper shaving techniques, and after I went through that, I never had a problem the rest of my career.
It’s an open secret across the force now that shaving waivers have been given out like candy over the last 5+ years. Enforcement and treatment options have become lax. And yes, the issue is NBC masks, oxygen masks for flight crew, as well as masks for base firefighters.
In the military the standard is uniformity in dress and appearance. I will note that in recent years there have been updates to regulations that have allowed for changes to hairstyles, jewelry, tattoos, etc. But you have to draw a line somewhere. In any organization that has standards there will always be people who desire to be a millimeter over that line if you let them. And if you redraw the line, there will be other people who will want to be a millimeter over the new line. At some point you have to logically draw a line and enforce that line, only granting exceptions and waivers that are absolutely necessary. That is the definition of standards.
No big deal, eh? A culture that adheres to standards in the military is not like working at Wal-Mart or Amazon. Erosion of institutional standards starts with small things. Then it spreads. I have seen it. Eventually people become lax with more important standards. Not following a procedure at Amazon might screw up someone’s order. Doing so in the military might get people killed if you didn’t pay close attention to that equipment deployment checklist or calibration procedure. I was not part of the flight crew community, but one can easily imagine the consequences there.