The New Battle Braids of the U.S. Military
Baze Mpinja - 7h ago
Master Sergeant Quintana Mitchell has been in the Army for nearly 23 years. She knew she wanted to serve ever since she saw her first Veterans Day parade, when she was nine years old. Almost a decade later, as an 18-year- old fresh out of high school in Boston, she traded her cap and gown for fatigues and combat boots and began basic training. Mitchell's career in the Army has taken her far from home (Hawaii, Iraq, Turkey), but she's currently at the Pentagon, serving on the G-1 Uniform Policy branch. She had planned to retire after 20 years of service, but her "life-changing" work in the policy branch inspired her to stick around.
In 2021, Mitchell was a key player in helping to loosen the Army's rigid rules around soldiers' appearance — most notably the length, style, and color of their hair. "This is a huge win for women throughout the Army," she says. "I have younger sisters [who were] contemplating joining the military; one of them has locs. She always thought that would hinder her from joining, and I said, 'Not anymore.'"
In a world of 280-character attention spans, Army Regulation 670-1 — the Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia guide — runs 76 pages. Peppered with black-and-white illustrations, the document instructs the force on how to "present a neat and soldierly appearance" and includes words like "pressed," "buttoned," and "trimmed." Chapter three, which outlines grooming policies, got an overhaul last year. Female soldiers are now allowed to wear earrings, natural shades of lipstick and gloss, and nail polish. The most liberating changes, however, are related to hair. Women are no longer limited to wearing tight buns, and restrictions on minimum hair length are gone. Multiple hairstyles are now permitted, meaning braids, twists, and locs can be put into buns, single or double braids, and ponytails. There's also more flexibility on the size of braids, twists, and locs — they no longer all have to be the same dimensions.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-new-battle-braids-of-the-u-s-military/ar-AAXXosE?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3ec2408aa59649e5a194bd332a72a83a
