Army poised to make major change to recruitment rule for first time in more than a century
ARMY chiefs are a whisker away from overturning a century-old ban on beards.
Top brass hope the decision — to be made this month — will help them attract more recruits.
It would bring the Army in line with the Royal Navy, which has long allowed beards, and the RAF, which permitted them in 2019.
Elite SAS and SBS troops — like ex-commando Ant Middleton — are allowed them by tradition.
And they can also be allowed by commanders on medical or religious grounds.
The prickly subject will be debated at the Executive Committee of the Army Board next week.
An Army insider said: “We’re in a really difficult jobs market.
“If a ban on beards is putting people off, then it needs to be reconsidered.”
Commanders expect a backlash over a slip in standards for ditching the 1908 no-beard rule.
But the National Army Museum said facial hair regulations had followed fashions for centuries.
Soldiers fighting in Crimea grew enormous beards in the mid 1850s.
And until 1916, every soldier was told they had to attempt to grow a moustache.