What you Win
1. Bragging rights to be the 2015 Armed Forces Mustache March Champion.2. $1,000 Donation: The winner gets to choose a charity that we will donate $1,000 to in your name.
Rules
1. Have fun, don’t ruin your career over breaking regulations but let’s be honest, mustaches can ONLY help your career.2. Submissions: A Facebook feed will be posted to the bottom of this page for submissions during March. To qualify as a finalist you MUST print and show the 2015 Robin Olds poster in your mustache “selfie” so we know it’s a 2015 mustache.
3. Participants: Anyone in the Armed Forces
4. Women, As Gen Welsh said last year; “[your] job is to ridicule us nonstop about the idiotic look that these mustaches will have on most of us, as we try to look like Tom Selleck and end up looking like a three-haired mole,” he said. “Fight’s on.”
How you can help
- Download, print and share the free poster of Robin Olds to promote the contest. 8.5×11 or 11×17
- We need more help from businesses! Last year we had so many amazing charities that needed help. If you know of a business that would like to donate to create donation prizes for 2nd and 3rd place please email us at [email protected]. In return, we’ll feature the business on our page. Thank you!
Shop Mustache Canvas
Shop Mustache Shirt
How to Submit:
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It’s Time! Vote on the 2015 Military Mustache March winner here by liking submissions in the comments of this post!…
Posted by Squadron Posters on Tuesday, March 31, 2015
2014 Mustache March charity fund:
Last year’s funded charity was Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST). Their fight isn’t over, please visit http://www.cureangelman.org to learn more.
Let's get it straight--Mustache March began in the US Air Force.
No, the idea did not come from hipsters in Portland, Oregon. The idea stems from an early Air Force tradition in which members of the U.S. Air Force would grow mustaches in good-natured protest against facial hair regulations during the month of March.[1] The act of growing a mustache as a gesture of defiance against dogmatic leadership is attributed to U.S. Air Force triple-ace Robin Olds who grew an extravagantly waxed handlebar mustache which did not comply with U.S. Air Force regulations.Robin Olds “Wolf of Kunsan” (July 14, 1922 – June 14, 2007) was an American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was a “triple ace”, with a combined total of 16 victories in World War II and the Vietnam War. He retired in 1973 as a brigadier general.
Robin Olds was known for the extravagantly waxed (and decidedly non-regulation) handlebar mustache he sported in Vietnam. It was a common superstition among airmen to grow a “bulletproof mustache”, but Olds also used his as “a gesture of defiance. The kids on base loved it. Most everybody grew a mustache.” Returning home, however, marked the end of this flamboyance. When he reported to his first interview with Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. McConnell, McConnell walked up to him, stuck a finger under his nose and said, “Take it off.” Olds replied, “Yes, sir.”
For his part, Olds was not upset with the order, recalling:
- “To tell the truth, I wasn’t all that fond of the damned thing by then, but it had become a symbol for the men of the 8th Wing. I knew McConnell understood. During his visits to Ubon over the past year he had never referred to my breach of military standards, just seemed rather amused at the variety of ‘staches sported by many of the troops. (It) was the most direct order I had received in twenty-four years of service.”
The incident with the mustache is given credit as the impetus for a new Air Force tradition, “Mustache March”, in which aircrew, aircraft maintainers, cyber operators, space operators and other Airmen worldwide show solidarity by a symbolic, albeit good-natured “protest” for one month against Air Force facial hair regulations…”
Standby for Submission Instructions
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