Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s push to eliminate so-called “beardos” from the armed forces is drawing criticism from service members who say the policy tramples religious freedoms and disproportionately targets Black airmen, Muslims, Sikhs, and pagans. What Hegseth frames as discipline and toughness, critics say, is exclusion and discrimination packaged as military tradition.

“The feeling is, ‘shave your beard or get out.’ People are associating not shaving with laziness. It’s not laziness, it’s my constitutionally protected religious right,” said a practicing Hanafi Muslim service member currently on active duty.

The service member, who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said he renounced his citizenship in his country of origin in the Middle

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