Everybody knows that guys with beards are more bad-ass than guys without ’em. Just sayin’. . . .
It’s true! I’m not unfortunately. I actually need the gas mask to survive in a tactical environment. Maybe the beard filters the tear gas? I might have to give that a try in the future! LOL
Yes. And it makes me look like a 26 year old Fidel Castro. I love it.
Of course.
It’s no shave November.
no, but I have a hairy back and a tattoo that says “Welcome Aboard”.
Hope that tattoo isn’t on your back; just sayin’…
OMG! LOL! For real!
touche’
however, no.
Back tattoos are only for reading material in prison showers.
Going on 15 years now. But the itching only recently stopped 😉
Tom
Beard, sunglasses, baseball cap and mechanics gloves are required. Extra points if you wear one of those Arab scarves.
They are called Keffiyeh (I have two, both from Syria). Or Shemaghs by westerners. I never wear them, I feel like they make me look like a hipster terrorist.
I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s a godsend if you ride a motorcycle (or if you’re fair-skinned and burn easily), in which case the practicality will far outweigh fear of looking like a hipster.
The operatorish tactical gloves are issue aviator nomex. But if you have the beard, glasses, and cap then I suppose mechanics gloves would pass, in a pinch?
+1 on the aircrew gloves.
No.
Beards are not common in my area unless you are old. Only young hippies and city folk have them. I believe in blending in. When I get to the full grey condition, maybe.
Arround here dark beards make taget ID easier.
Ha! I laughed when I read this. There are a bunch of contractors running around out here that like to “play operator while operating operationally” complete with beard and Infidel hats. Yeah, real smart–until you get targeted for an ambush or VBIED. Or you draw down on the Afghans that are providing security despite not being paid in months. Pretty sure their “services” will no longer be required in the very near future.
And yes, because I’ve had a beard for years. Keeps my face warm. I have no illusions of operating operationally. [Stealth intensifies.]
“there’s a word for people without beards. Women”
Just shaved mine off a few weeks ago, guess im a sheela now
I only shave once every three days or so, just for the moral support. If my wife talks to me while I’m shaving, I lose my place and just have to start over the next day.
Been trying to grow one since puberty. Eight years and still no beard. Didn’t shave the whole of 2012 – 2013, still no beard, barely visible stubble.
Only buy one razor blade every few years, because it only gets itchy after about two weeks. Shave on the third week.
No moustache to speak of either. Been letting it grow just as long, never having shaved it.
My mom put eyebrow dye on it while I was sleeping, I now look like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite.
Any tips?
I had to start shaving when I was 12 years old. I quit when I was 16 and grew a full beard and moustache. I have no hints for you, it either grows or it don’t. Oh, and I’m not from Mediterranean parents, ancestry is mostly British and German. I’ve had my beard and moustache 42 years now, in varying lengths over the years. It’s mostly white now. I look more like Santa than an “operator”.
I actually laughed out loud @ dye and Pedro. Thanks!
Yes. I’ve kept a neatly cropped goatee ( or Van Dyke or circle beard) for the past 5 years or so, but I had a wild operator-style beard before that in my early 20’s. ‘The Man’ gets to us all eventually.
I don’t need to look like a GEICO caveman to know I’m a man. I’m furry enough as it is, and I like my face.
for now, winter and lazy. plus, I hear Shannon digs Black men with beards so I am trying my luck. again.
+1 on winter. Let mine start growing in a month ago. A beard is too damn nasty hot during the summer here in Phoenix.
+1 on the lazy. When it itches I shave. The young guys here have ’em, Mullets in the 70’s-80’s, scraggly-ass beards today.
I kinda got out of the habit when work had my face on a daily basis over tanks of steaming phosphoric (and occasionally concentrated sulfuric) acid.
Talk about razor burn. The boss at the time gave me some static about not shaving, I told her to shave her legs and dangle them over a 100,000 gallon steaming hot tank of acid and get back to me. I also told her it would be no problem for me to get a note my doc if necessary.
Fuckwits. Every damn where you go these days.
I’ve alternated between a beard and a goatee since I was a junior in high school fifteen years ago. I started shaving in the ninth grade and couldn’t go more then a day or two without a shave. I’ve always felt I looked better with a little hair given my mix of Italian and German heritage, high cheekbones and dark hair.
No. Last time I tried to grow one, I looked like something that fell off the underside of a boxcar.
I used to start growing it at the beginning of the nhl season, then shave it when Detroit was done. But lately I’ve just been wearing it year round.
Like i told someone recently, its ok not to wear a tactical warrior beard on your face as long as you wear one on your heart.
Lol! Nice one. My face may be clean shaven, but my heart has a Chris Costa beard.
I guess stupid questions do exist.
Yes, one almost as long as Billy Gibbons.
No beard for me, it would be a crime against humanity to cover a jaw so square and true.
Just like Obama, you believe your own bullshit.
🙂
No tacticool operator beard here, just a real long goatee
My beard was ripped off by a bear, never quite grew back the same after that. I do have that nifty usb thumb drive from the video though. Guess I’m tacticool!
That’s about the best damn reason for not growing a beard I’ve ever heard.
The Bear considered it an honor killing. 🙂
Let it grow since I retired and was no longer concerned with military regs. Currently with mustache and goatee, thinking about going back to full beard for the cold weather.
I always hated to shave my chin.
Since my late teens and after I got out of the Army. Before tactical became tacti-cool(o). Hate shaving because I get bumps.
I started having real second thoughts about a beard when a female judge told me it was a shame to see such a nice face covered up. I might have to try again now, pretty sure it would be an improvement.
Yes I have a full beard. It’s white now. Used to work outdoors a lot and a beard comes in handy when it snows and gets cold.
Moved to CA and found out quite a few women like a beard. Tho nowadays it’s the under 8 set asking me if I’m the real Santa.
As for operating, I thought switchboards were a thing of the past. Like rabbit ears and phones attached to cords.
Actually, the ‘Bow-Tie’ UHF rabbit-ear antennae work very well for digital tv reception if you are in a strong signal area.
And the over-the-air picture will likely be nicer than cable, considering many cable systems reduce signal bandwidth so they can cram more channels in that coax.
Tactical beardness goes down the drain along with shaving cream and water every morning before work….:(
Rock Hudson had a beard and I do not believe that he was in any way tacticool.
You sure he didn’t have a goattee? I was always told a goattee was a shock absorber for a high speed c*cks*cker.
Not that kind of beard, you maroon. His beard was named Phyllis Gates.
“Beard is a slang term describing a person who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date, romantic partner (boyfriend or girlfriend), or spouse either to conceal infidelity or to conceal one’s sexual orientation.”
— Wikipedia
Now that’s a term I haven’t heard in a very long time.
Semi-tactical. He needed operator-type knee pads, and a lot of targets probably got licked.
Yep, decades before it became a chic operator thing. heh.
As will above mentioned
Many are never aware where trends or fashion come from.
The last ten years of operators have operated in Muslim countries.
No reason to to stick out like a smooth chin amongst the bearded natives. Thus Seals and rangers working covertly always wore beards, thus operators have beards, thus bearded operators are cool.
Keffiyeh is just part of the blend in.
I spent a few days in Kabul back in ’02. The operator types might’ve had beards and shalwar kameezes, but they stuck out like sore thumbs. Combat boots, sunglasses and ARs were kind of the giveaways, not to mention that the pack of them probably averaged 6’1″ and 220 lbs, which was a tad above the Afghan norm.
EXACTLY! Very, very few could ever “blend” in out here. Hmmm, let’s see: ballcap, sunglasses, backpacks, M4’s and M249’s (along with expensive accessories)? Yep, not so different from your average Afghan merchant, farmer, or shepherd. The beards are more likely a way to flip their finger at military regs and piss off Generals or SgtsMaj.
The M4 all by itself was a dead giveaway. The real Afghan tofangdars always had Russian equipment, either an AK or something bigger.
They were always skinny as anything, too.
Americans stick out in the third world like sore thumbs for two reasons:
1. Dental work and nice teeth,
2. We tend to walk straight up, with good posture and directly where we are going.
Go down to Mexico sometime and get up somewhere high. You can pick the Americans out of a crowd instantly by how they walk.
I stuck out in Afghanistan because my skin is the color of schoolroom paste and I have blond hair. A shalwar kameez and a sufi-style beard didn’t do me for anything. My Italian-American friend, however, blended in perfectly until he opened his mouth.
I’m a couch ninja, we don’t need beards.
True couch ninjas sit on rubber donuts.
Cant grow a beard, some of us just arent that hairy (though I wouldnt mind a little bit more growing on top), but the southern gentleman stache grows naturally.
I had that same problem, but finally grew a halfway decent one. It only took me every bit of nine months.
Cool, I never knew they actually made a series out of the Team America.
Me’h…I’ll take Strike Back reruns instead.
It keeps my face warm.
I have a thin beard, but it’s not because I’m trying to be an operator or trendy…
My woman likes me better with facial hair, she says I have too much of a baby face and the beard makes me look older.
As long as she doesn’t ask me to grow a tactical beer belly or shave my head bald, I’m okay with it.
The entire “operators need beards” thing has been misunderstood. It is simply a reaction by the operator community to the way cops all started going “shaved head and operatorish gear.” So the the high-speed community said “FU” and grew beards. No way will the PD allow that. So now in the public mind cops just look like the typical pick crew-cut gay guy of the sixties, playing “war whore” dress-up. It’s all good.
Yes.
I don’t have a beard, but I do have a pretty awesome handlebar mustache.
I grew one after seeing early pics of special forces in afghanastan.
Yup I admit it. I’m not tatical, I shoot antiques mostly. But when I saw those beards, I thought it was pretty cool.
I have been growing my beard for 13 months now. I have only trimmed the mustache from getting in my mouth. Haven’t touch any thing else at all.
My beard is just over 8in now and man does my lady friend hate it lol. I am planning on growing it out till it stop growing witch can take anywhere from 2-6 years.
Beards stop growing? It have constantly shear mine or it will take over my face. My barber hates it. He can’t reconcile a high and tight with a beard.
I don’t think he watches a lot gun videos on YouTube…
I have to watch him or he’ll trim it when I’m not paying attention.
Yes Beards stop growing.
All hair on the body goes through 3 stages of life. The growing stage is called the anagen stage and can take anywhere between 2-6 years. A beard will never get longer than it is after 6 years.
The length of ones beard is deterened by your genetics.
Hair doesn’t stop growing, it falls out after growning for a certain length of time. That’s the genetics.
Some hair grows fast for a long time or slow before falling out.
Of course, it’s that time of year.
No answer from the ladies so far. That is good.
I stopped beard growing when it started coming in with odd patches of grey. It would probably be full white now. Have kept a moustache since my Platoon Commander told me to “trim it or shave it.” I feel naked without one.
I lost mine in a boating accident.
Silly question.
But no: I’m not tactical. Or bad-ass. Just hirsute.
I do currently have a scraggly full beard, it’s deer season.
I rotate between full, goatee, clean – used to be make that rotation once a year; this past year. It’s been every 2 weeks.
I’m only tactical in the winter…
Ever since middle school I’ve offered high quality mustachio rides for the low low price of just one nickel.
Poe’s Law in action. I couldn’t tell if that was that a real thing or a parody video.
The girl in the hallway did not have a beard, and I thought she looked pretty tacticool.
Everybody knows that guys with beards are more bad-ass than guys without ’em. Just sayin’. . . .
It’s true! I’m not unfortunately. I actually need the gas mask to survive in a tactical environment. Maybe the beard filters the tear gas? I might have to give that a try in the future! LOL
Yes. And it makes me look like a 26 year old Fidel Castro. I love it.
Of course.
It’s no shave November.
no, but I have a hairy back and a tattoo that says “Welcome Aboard”.
Hope that tattoo isn’t on your back; just sayin’…
OMG! LOL! For real!
touche’
however, no.
Back tattoos are only for reading material in prison showers.
Going on 15 years now. But the itching only recently stopped 😉
Tom
Beard, sunglasses, baseball cap and mechanics gloves are required. Extra points if you wear one of those Arab scarves.
They are called Keffiyeh (I have two, both from Syria). Or Shemaghs by westerners. I never wear them, I feel like they make me look like a hipster terrorist.
I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s a godsend if you ride a motorcycle (or if you’re fair-skinned and burn easily), in which case the practicality will far outweigh fear of looking like a hipster.
The operatorish tactical gloves are issue aviator nomex. But if you have the beard, glasses, and cap then I suppose mechanics gloves would pass, in a pinch?
+1 on the aircrew gloves.
No.
Beards are not common in my area unless you are old. Only young hippies and city folk have them. I believe in blending in. When I get to the full grey condition, maybe.
Arround here dark beards make taget ID easier.
Ha! I laughed when I read this. There are a bunch of contractors running around out here that like to “play operator while operating operationally” complete with beard and Infidel hats. Yeah, real smart–until you get targeted for an ambush or VBIED. Or you draw down on the Afghans that are providing security despite not being paid in months. Pretty sure their “services” will no longer be required in the very near future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard_%28companion%29
Guns don’t kill people, men with beards do
LOL @ “Experience the Perfect Shave” ad
And yes, because I’ve had a beard for years. Keeps my face warm. I have no illusions of operating operationally. [Stealth intensifies.]
“there’s a word for people without beards. Women”
Just shaved mine off a few weeks ago, guess im a sheela now
I only shave once every three days or so, just for the moral support. If my wife talks to me while I’m shaving, I lose my place and just have to start over the next day.
Been trying to grow one since puberty. Eight years and still no beard. Didn’t shave the whole of 2012 – 2013, still no beard, barely visible stubble.
Only buy one razor blade every few years, because it only gets itchy after about two weeks. Shave on the third week.
No moustache to speak of either. Been letting it grow just as long, never having shaved it.
My mom put eyebrow dye on it while I was sleeping, I now look like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite.
Any tips?
I had to start shaving when I was 12 years old. I quit when I was 16 and grew a full beard and moustache. I have no hints for you, it either grows or it don’t. Oh, and I’m not from Mediterranean parents, ancestry is mostly British and German. I’ve had my beard and moustache 42 years now, in varying lengths over the years. It’s mostly white now. I look more like Santa than an “operator”.
I actually laughed out loud @ dye and Pedro. Thanks!
Yes. I’ve kept a neatly cropped goatee ( or Van Dyke or circle beard) for the past 5 years or so, but I had a wild operator-style beard before that in my early 20’s. ‘The Man’ gets to us all eventually.
I don’t need to look like a GEICO caveman to know I’m a man. I’m furry enough as it is, and I like my face.
for now, winter and lazy. plus, I hear Shannon digs Black men with beards so I am trying my luck. again.
+1 on winter. Let mine start growing in a month ago. A beard is too damn nasty hot during the summer here in Phoenix.
+1 on the lazy. When it itches I shave. The young guys here have ’em, Mullets in the 70’s-80’s, scraggly-ass beards today.
I kinda got out of the habit when work had my face on a daily basis over tanks of steaming phosphoric (and occasionally concentrated sulfuric) acid.
Talk about razor burn. The boss at the time gave me some static about not shaving, I told her to shave her legs and dangle them over a 100,000 gallon steaming hot tank of acid and get back to me. I also told her it would be no problem for me to get a note my doc if necessary.
Fuckwits. Every damn where you go these days.
I’ve alternated between a beard and a goatee since I was a junior in high school fifteen years ago. I started shaving in the ninth grade and couldn’t go more then a day or two without a shave. I’ve always felt I looked better with a little hair given my mix of Italian and German heritage, high cheekbones and dark hair.
No. Last time I tried to grow one, I looked like something that fell off the underside of a boxcar.
I used to start growing it at the beginning of the nhl season, then shave it when Detroit was done. But lately I’ve just been wearing it year round.
Like i told someone recently, its ok not to wear a tactical warrior beard on your face as long as you wear one on your heart.
Lol! Nice one. My face may be clean shaven, but my heart has a Chris Costa beard.
I guess stupid questions do exist.
Yes, one almost as long as Billy Gibbons.
No beard for me, it would be a crime against humanity to cover a jaw so square and true.
Just like Obama, you believe your own bullshit.
🙂
No tacticool operator beard here, just a real long goatee
My beard was ripped off by a bear, never quite grew back the same after that. I do have that nifty usb thumb drive from the video though. Guess I’m tacticool!
That’s about the best damn reason for not growing a beard I’ve ever heard.
The Bear considered it an honor killing. 🙂
Let it grow since I retired and was no longer concerned with military regs. Currently with mustache and goatee, thinking about going back to full beard for the cold weather.
I always hated to shave my chin.
Since my late teens and after I got out of the Army. Before tactical became tacti-cool(o). Hate shaving because I get bumps.
I started having real second thoughts about a beard when a female judge told me it was a shame to see such a nice face covered up. I might have to try again now, pretty sure it would be an improvement.
Yes I have a full beard. It’s white now. Used to work outdoors a lot and a beard comes in handy when it snows and gets cold.
Moved to CA and found out quite a few women like a beard. Tho nowadays it’s the under 8 set asking me if I’m the real Santa.
As for operating, I thought switchboards were a thing of the past. Like rabbit ears and phones attached to cords.
Actually, the ‘Bow-Tie’ UHF rabbit-ear antennae work very well for digital tv reception if you are in a strong signal area.
And the over-the-air picture will likely be nicer than cable, considering many cable systems reduce signal bandwidth so they can cram more channels in that coax.
Tactical beardness goes down the drain along with shaving cream and water every morning before work….:(
Rock Hudson had a beard and I do not believe that he was in any way tacticool.
You sure he didn’t have a goattee? I was always told a goattee was a shock absorber for a high speed c*cks*cker.
Not that kind of beard, you maroon. His beard was named Phyllis Gates.
“Beard is a slang term describing a person who is used, knowingly or unknowingly, as a date, romantic partner (boyfriend or girlfriend), or spouse either to conceal infidelity or to conceal one’s sexual orientation.”
— Wikipedia
Now that’s a term I haven’t heard in a very long time.
Semi-tactical. He needed operator-type knee pads, and a lot of targets probably got licked.
Yep, decades before it became a chic operator thing. heh.
As will above mentioned
Many are never aware where trends or fashion come from.
The last ten years of operators have operated in Muslim countries.
No reason to to stick out like a smooth chin amongst the bearded natives. Thus Seals and rangers working covertly always wore beards, thus operators have beards, thus bearded operators are cool.
Keffiyeh is just part of the blend in.
I spent a few days in Kabul back in ’02. The operator types might’ve had beards and shalwar kameezes, but they stuck out like sore thumbs. Combat boots, sunglasses and ARs were kind of the giveaways, not to mention that the pack of them probably averaged 6’1″ and 220 lbs, which was a tad above the Afghan norm.
EXACTLY! Very, very few could ever “blend” in out here. Hmmm, let’s see: ballcap, sunglasses, backpacks, M4’s and M249’s (along with expensive accessories)? Yep, not so different from your average Afghan merchant, farmer, or shepherd. The beards are more likely a way to flip their finger at military regs and piss off Generals or SgtsMaj.
The M4 all by itself was a dead giveaway. The real Afghan tofangdars always had Russian equipment, either an AK or something bigger.
They were always skinny as anything, too.
Americans stick out in the third world like sore thumbs for two reasons:
1. Dental work and nice teeth,
2. We tend to walk straight up, with good posture and directly where we are going.
Go down to Mexico sometime and get up somewhere high. You can pick the Americans out of a crowd instantly by how they walk.
I stuck out in Afghanistan because my skin is the color of schoolroom paste and I have blond hair. A shalwar kameez and a sufi-style beard didn’t do me for anything. My Italian-American friend, however, blended in perfectly until he opened his mouth.
I’m a couch ninja, we don’t need beards.
True couch ninjas sit on rubber donuts.
Cant grow a beard, some of us just arent that hairy (though I wouldnt mind a little bit more growing on top), but the southern gentleman stache grows naturally.
I had that same problem, but finally grew a halfway decent one. It only took me every bit of nine months.
Cool, I never knew they actually made a series out of the Team America.
Me’h…I’ll take Strike Back reruns instead.
It keeps my face warm.
I have a thin beard, but it’s not because I’m trying to be an operator or trendy…
My woman likes me better with facial hair, she says I have too much of a baby face and the beard makes me look older.
As long as she doesn’t ask me to grow a tactical beer belly or shave my head bald, I’m okay with it.
The entire “operators need beards” thing has been misunderstood. It is simply a reaction by the operator community to the way cops all started going “shaved head and operatorish gear.” So the the high-speed community said “FU” and grew beards. No way will the PD allow that. So now in the public mind cops just look like the typical pick crew-cut gay guy of the sixties, playing “war whore” dress-up. It’s all good.
Yes.
I don’t have a beard, but I do have a pretty awesome handlebar mustache.
I grew one after seeing early pics of special forces in afghanastan.
Yup I admit it. I’m not tatical, I shoot antiques mostly. But when I saw those beards, I thought it was pretty cool.
I have been growing my beard for 13 months now. I have only trimmed the mustache from getting in my mouth. Haven’t touch any thing else at all.
My beard is just over 8in now and man does my lady friend hate it lol. I am planning on growing it out till it stop growing witch can take anywhere from 2-6 years.
Beards stop growing? It have constantly shear mine or it will take over my face. My barber hates it. He can’t reconcile a high and tight with a beard.
I don’t think he watches a lot gun videos on YouTube…
I have to watch him or he’ll trim it when I’m not paying attention.
Yes Beards stop growing.
All hair on the body goes through 3 stages of life. The growing stage is called the anagen stage and can take anywhere between 2-6 years. A beard will never get longer than it is after 6 years.
The length of ones beard is deterened by your genetics.
Hair doesn’t stop growing, it falls out after growning for a certain length of time. That’s the genetics.
Some hair grows fast for a long time or slow before falling out.
Of course, it’s that time of year.
No answer from the ladies so far. That is good.
I stopped beard growing when it started coming in with odd patches of grey. It would probably be full white now. Have kept a moustache since my Platoon Commander told me to “trim it or shave it.” I feel naked without one.
I lost mine in a boating accident.
Silly question.
But no: I’m not tactical. Or bad-ass. Just hirsute.
I do currently have a scraggly full beard, it’s deer season.
I rotate between full, goatee, clean – used to be make that rotation once a year; this past year. It’s been every 2 weeks.
I’m only tactical in the winter…
Ever since middle school I’ve offered high quality mustachio rides for the low low price of just one nickel.
Poe’s Law in action. I couldn’t tell if that was that a real thing or a parody video.
The girl in the hallway did not have a beard, and I thought she looked pretty tacticool.
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