Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's crusade against military facial hair is just the latest in a long line of rules you'd struggle to find anywhere else in American life.
Some services ban chewing gum or sipping a drink while walking. However, one particularly strange rule for many troops, even when it's cold out, is no hands in pockets.
The rules and the strictness with which they are upheld vary among the different service branches. The Marine Corps and Army are among the toughest enforcers.
For some senior leaders, the restriction on putting hands in pockets is about discipline, uniformity, and maintaining a professional appearance — looking sharp, so to speak. But for service members, the rule can feel impractical and has spawned numerous Reddit threads devoted to the matter.
Marines ban pocketed hands under almost all circumstances when not training, feeling that the look can "detract from an appropriate military presence," according to the Corps' uniform manual. But when training outdoors, "good judgment" will govern whether Marines can put their hands in their pockets.
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