Eins, Zweif,Drei, Shear

In a remarkable concession to the hirsute habits of West German youth, Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt 15 months ago decided that members of the Bundeswehr could sport beards and long hair, as long as they were clean and well groomed. Another Schmidt decree stipulated that if a soldier's hair was so long that it impaired his "functioning and safety," he had to wear a hair net on duty.

The new regulations naturally led to all sorts of unseemly jokes among English-speaking allies in NATO about West Germany's "Hair Force." Within the Bundeswehr, however. Schmidt's decree quickly led to an unhumorous tangle. Closely cropped older soldiers complained that long hair interfered with discipline and troop readiness. They cited the unlikely instance of a ship's having to turn back prematurely because shampooing sailors had depleted its limited fresh-water supply. More plausible was the danger that an aircraft mechanic might have his obligatory hair net sucked into a jet engine. Meanwhile, long-haired soldiers deluged West Germany's Wehrbeau/tragter (military ombudsman) with complaints that commanders were arbitrarily forcing them to shorten their hair or making them wear hair nets even on jobs where safety was not a factor.

After so much publicity. Schmidt was apparently not willing to countermand his concessions directly. Nonetheless, long-haired soldiers last week were reluctantly snipping off their locks in response to yet another Defense Ministry order. On the hygienic pretext that excessive hair length could lead to parasites or skin diseases. Schmidt ruled that henceforth no soldier's hair could reach below his collar.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.