The Department of the Navy has completed its long-awaited study on whether beards interfere with gas mask seals, federal court filings reveal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But exactly what that will mean for sailors and Marines going forward remains unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the study\u2019s findings have not been disclosed, court filings make clear that the department is now mulling changes to unspecified aspects of its policies governing when sailors and Marines with religious or medical accommodations may wear beards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Department officials haven\u2019t provided an update on the beard study \u2015 which Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro initiated in November 2021 \u2015 for months. As recently as December 2023, Del Toro\u2019s office did not respond<\/a> to emails from Navy Times seeking an update on the study\u2019s status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But filings in a lawsuit about beard accommodations for Marines of the Sikh faith show the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego completed the study and sent it to Del Toro by June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, the department is examining whether changes to its beard policies would be \u201coperationally supportable and prudent,\u201d according to the court filing.<\/p>\n\n\n\t