Army Gas Masks Could Get Design Update For Beards

The Army’s traditional gas masks could be undergoing a complete design makeover soon. The reason for the change? To accommodate facial hair.

Gas masks, which cannot seal properly if the wearer has a beard, could be modified to accommodate the hair preference as gas mask manufacturers look into potential design options for safety updates, Army Times reported Tuesday.

Up until 2017, soldiers were not permitted to have facial hair, but a directive recently permitted facial hair for soldiers for religious purposes. The move to allow soldiers to keep turbans, hijabs, dreadlocks and facial hair for religious purposes has been an ongoing discussion, and the Army recently underwent a study to decide whether or not the new rule would be safe, the Army news outlet had reported.

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“Authorizing the wear of beards in the Army, in addition to approved religious accommodations policy, is a topic that soldiers have inquired about recently across the force,” Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey said in early March. “As of now, there are no plans to change the policy. Army leaders and researchers are currently reviewing the wear of beards by soldiers in the Army.”

Soldiers already use a range of different masks produced by a variety of different manufacturers, but the masks have been said to not seal properly with added bulk or a beard beneath the mask. Masks like Avon’s M50 Joint Service General Purpose Mask are used for environments that might experience nuclear, biological or chemical explosives.

“Right now, we do the protection for all-encompassing threats,” Angela Benoit, a Defense Department market manager for Avon Protection Systems, told Army Times earlier this month. “As we really take a look at what’s necessary, … for example, there might be appropriate times where you just have a scarf protection that covers your nose, mouth, that type of thing, for more specific threats.”

The future masks are being reconsidered to meet different classes of threats, but could also be designed to accommodate beards and scarves, according to Benoit.