An airman assigned to the 11th Combat Air Base Squadron dons his gas mask during a mission oriented protective posture drill at Daegu Air Base, Sough Korea, on Aug. 21, 2025. (Andrew Garavito/U.S. Air Force)
The Department of the Air Force has mandated that all airmen and guardians complete new annual gas mask training by the end of the year as part of the military’s efforts to enforce more stringent grooming standards.
Air Force and Space Force troops must complete an online course — the CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) Defense Foundations Course — before taking an in-person mask validation test to ensure they can properly seal a gas mask, the Department of the Air Force announced Monday. Both tests are required to be completed by Dec. 31, and they will become annual requirements for airmen and guardians.
The new training is meant to align with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict facial hair for troops and to “reinforce how these skills are critical not only for defense against CBRN threats, but also for other hazardous mission sets where respiratory protection may be required,” according to an Air Force news release.
The announcement comes after the Navy and Marine Corps ordered all sailors and Marines to complete annual gas mask seal testing to comply with Hegseth’s new facial hair standards. The Navy mandated that its sailors assigned to sea duty stateside or overseas and some on certain land-based assignments complete gas mask training by last week.
The military services have long argued that facial hair obstructs service members from achieving a proper seal on their CBRN masks. The Navy conducted a study in 2023 to look at the impacts of facial hair on gas masks amid a legal challenge to grooming standards led by sailors seeking religious accommodations to serve on active duty with beards. The service never made the study’s conclusions public.
Hegseth last year ordered a crackdown on shaving waivers, including banning the use of permanent medical shaving waivers. The defense secretary argued that beard waivers had been overused for medical and religious purposes and were detrimental to military standards and operational readiness.
The Air Force in February began enforcing its new policy that could see airmen discharged if they require a medical shaving waiver for a combined 12 months over a two-year period.
Most troops granted medical shaving waivers in recent years have been diagnosed with pseudofolliculitis barbae, commonly known as razor bumps, which is a condition that can cause a person to experience painful inflammation after shaving. The condition disproportionately affects Black men, some 60% of whom may experience it, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.
Under the Air Force policy, commanders are instructed to “initiate discharge processing or submit a retention package” for any airmen or guardians who accumulate 12 months of medical shaving waivers in a 24-month period.
“Retention is considered case by case, factoring several aspects, including the member’s performance, unit manning and retention, special experience or specialized training, the cost and time to replace the member and other factors,” according to the Department of the Air Force.
In May, the Air Force issued a new policy mandating those seeking religious facial hair accommodations prove their “sincerely held beliefs” and explain why military shaving requirements conflict with their religious practices. The other military services have issued similar guidelines this year.