# Circumcised to join military?



## bugmenot

Please tell me that this "You must be circumcised to be in the United States military" thing is untruth.

Links would be much appreciated.


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## lovebug

i dont have time to look for links... but Dh is Army and he has 3 friends that are also Army they are not circ'ed. his cousin is a Marine and is intact too. so it is a non truth. because there ARE people in the service that have all of their penis.


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## Phantaja

That's not true. I don't have a link, but I dated a Marine that could prove it.


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## alegna

Untruth. Had no idea the concept was still out there....

-Angela


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## Arduinna

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bugmenot* 
Please tell me that this "You must be circumcised to be in the United States military" thing is untruth.

Links would be much appreciated.

First hand experience that it's untrue. My ex, was in the military for 10 years and is intact.


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## treeoflife3

definitely not true, but I know plenty of guys who believe it'll be pretty likely the uncirced need to be circ'd after deployment because of the inability to bathe well and often enough.


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## bugmenot

Quote:


Originally Posted by *treeoflife3* 
definitely not true, but I know plenty of guys who believe it'll be pretty likely the uncirced need to be circ'd after deployment because of the inability to bathe well and often enough.

I'm sure that's what it goes back to. In today's society, if they're chopping off the foreskin "because of dirt" then they might as well chop off other body parts that dirt could get beneath.


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## Phantaja

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bugmenot* 
I'm sure that's what it goes back to. In today's society, if they're chopping off the foreskin "because of dirt" then they might as well chop off other body parts that dirt could get beneath.

Oh noes!

I'll miss having fingernails.


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## brant31

Quote:


Originally Posted by *treeoflife3* 
definitely not true, but I know plenty of guys who believe it'll be pretty likely the uncirced need to be circ'd after deployment because of the inability to bathe well and often enough.

People tend to overlook the fact that the US seems to be the only country whose soldiers and sailors "need" to get circumcised because of dusty, sandy or tropical conditions. (Just about all these stories are urban myths anyway.)

Funny that the British never need to circumcise anyone to serve alongside us in the Middle East, and Rommel never had his men cut when the Germans were in sandy, dusty North Africa. Ditto the Canadians and Australians. It's always only the Americans who mention this weird idea. How strange.

BTW, more than a couple of US soldiers and officers have been "saved" by being intact -- there were some interesting news stories from the early days of the Iraq war, when the worst was happening to prisoners, about some of our guys getting captured and having their genitals examined to see whether they were spies for Israel. I read at least 2 interviews (CNN?) with captured US servicemen who said the only reason they were ultimately released was that they had intact foreskins.


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## lovebug

Quote:


Originally Posted by *brant31* 
People tend to overlook the fact that the US seems to be the only country whose soldiers and sailors "need" to get circumcised because of dusty, sandy or tropical conditions. (Just about all these stories are urban myths anyway.)

Funny that the British never need to circumcise anyone to serve alongside us in the Middle East, and Rommel never had his men cut when the Germans were in sandy, dusty North Africa. Ditto the Canadians and Australians. It's always only the Americans who mention this weird idea. How strange.
*
BTW, more than a couple of US soldiers and officers have been "saved" by being intact -- there were some interesting news stories from the early days of the Iraq war, when the worst was happening to prisoners, about some of our guys getting captured and having their genitals examined to see whether they were spies for Israel. I read at least 2 interviews (CNN?) with captured US servicemen who said the only reason they were ultimately released was that they had intact foreskins.*

oh, do you have links for that? DH has been there 4 times and i have never heard such a thing. i would LOVE to read them if you can find them.

PS officers are solders, so not need to split the 2 up.


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## 2boyzmama

I have only heard this myth associated with Vietnam drafting, not today's military. And I'm sure it was a myth back then too.

I was an officer in the AF. And although I can't personally vouch for it (I never saw any of my male counterparts naked) I also never heard of it.

My oldest son was born at a military hospital and although I was asked numerous times if I wanted it, it certainly was easy to decline circ.

Now the military DOES require removal of wisdom teeth, but I actually was able to piece together a bunch of regs and successfully fight it. I'm proud to say that I still have my wisdom teeth! There are many military regulations that contradict themselves or supercede each other, etc, so if you know how to follow the rabbit trail of regs, you can often find one that will help.


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## Claire and Boys

Common myth. http://www.circumstitions.com/sand.html


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## annablue

Yep, it's a total myth. I know my dad isn't circumcised and he was in the US military for 24 years.


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## eepster

My intact father traveled around the world and served in tropical countries with minimal bathing options while in the airforce.

Circ was offered as part of the free medical care available, and one of the guys my dad knew in basic training decided to take advantage of the chance to get it done for free.


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## mntnmom

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2boyzmama* 
I have only heard this myth associated with Vietnam drafting, not today's military. And I'm sure it was a myth back then too.

I was an officer in the AF. And although I can't personally vouch for it (I never saw any of my male counterparts naked) I also never heard of it.

My oldest son was born at a military hospital and although I was asked numerous times if I wanted it, it certainly was easy to decline circ.

Now the military DOES require removal of wisdom teeth, but I actually was able to piece together a bunch of regs and successfully fight it. I'm proud to say that I still have my wisdom teeth! There are many military regulations that contradict themselves or supercede each other, etc, so if you know how to follow the rabbit trail of regs, you can often find one that will help.

DH has been in the over 20 years, thought he was intact (and so did I) until a couple years ago. Never had a problem. Know a few ladies w/ intact hubbys as well, and my oldest (intact) boy was born in an Army hospital, and I was only asked about circ' once, and the nurse smiled when I said no.
As far as the wisdom teeth thing goes, it's pretty standard, but definitely not necessary. Nobody said anything to me when I was in, and DH still has his too, with no fight. No idea why they gave you so much trouble!


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## 2boyzmama

mntnmom;15710610
As far as the wisdom teeth thing goes said:


> They said that to be deployable, I had to be a certain "class" of dental (Class I or Class II or something, it was years ago, I don't remember) and in that definition was an obscure reference to wisdom teeth needing to be removed if they had the possibility of becoming an issue where no dental care was available. The base I was at interpreted that to mean that *everyone* needed theirs taken out.
> 
> When I asked for the exact reg, they didn't want to give it to me at first. I went up the chain and got someone to finally cite the reg to me. Then I said that someone needed to prove to me how my wisdom teeth put me in any risk (they were already erupted, not impacted, no decay, no crowding, nothing different than any other molar in my mouth).
> 
> While they were determining how they were going to "prove" to me that I had to have them out, I found another medical reg talking about optional prophylactic treatments (or something like that) and it said that the servicemember had the right to decline optional prophylactic treatments.


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## blessedwithboys

Quote:


Originally Posted by *treeoflife3* 
definitely not true, but I know plenty of guys who believe it'll be pretty likely the uncirced need to be circ'd after deployment because of the inability to bathe well and often enough.

wow, i wonder what the women do about their nasty labia in the desert?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mntnmom* 
DH has been in the over 20 years, thought he was intact (and so did I) until a couple years ago.

excuse me if i shouldn't ask, but am i reading this this right? he THOUGHT he was intact? would it be rude of me to ask how that happened?


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## mntnmom

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blessedwithboys* 
excuse me if i shouldn't ask, but am i reading this this right? he THOUGHT he was intact? would it be rude of me to ask how that happened?

He's got what I guess is called an "incomplete circ", so all the skin and anatomy is still there. We found out a couple years ago (when FIL was trying to get me to have me boys cut







) that the doc "just took a little off the tip", so DH is actually cut- I had to try *really* hard to find the scar.









As far as the OP goes, he's been to 2 deserts with the Army and Panama, and lived in Sub Saharan Africa... never a problem!


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## brant31

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lovebug* 
oh, do you have links for that? DH has been there 4 times and i have never heard such a thing. i would LOVE to read them if you can find them.

PS officers are solders, so not need to split the 2 up.










Thanks for the tip... I never fully understood it. I grew up near the Pentagon, and was reprimanded more than once by neighbors for referring to an officer as a soldier. Also, if you would call up and ask, "Is Mr. Smith home?", the kids and wife were all trained to say, "There is no Mr. Smith here. You have reached COLONEL Smith's house" and slam the phone down. It drove my mom nuts as president of the civic association, because the phone tree she used didn't list rank, just family name.

I know the British still make a significant distinction.

As for the news reports, I remember very clearly sitting in my living room having breakfast when a TV report came on about a US airman whose plane had gone down. He told the reporter that he was captured and thought the only reason he was spared a terrible fate was that his captors had taken down his pants and seen he wasn't circumcised. Apparently they had already beaten him and accused him of being a spy. Later he managed to escape.

The newscaster then made reference to another very similar case.

I sent an email about it to a bunch of my friends; I've asked them now to help me locate it again. It had exact names, rank, etc.

Not totally appropos to the military discussion, but the CIA and NSA kept very detailed records about the circ status of covert agents. In fact, both agencies specifically recruited on college campuses for intact males for deployment behind the iron curtain... I had a long discussion about this with one such recruiter at my university. They used (properly or improperly) campus health records to pinpoint who they wanted to interview and recruit. Remember, circumcision was a critical determinant of whose "side" you were on in the Cold War. Quite a few Soviet spies were revealed by their circumcision status -- and there is almost no way to make an adult circ look like a neonatal circ. It was an almost sure-fire way to expose an agent. On the flip side, any imbedded spy in a non English-speaking country we wanted to make appear convincing, especially if using someone else's birth certificate and medical records, had to be intact or he could be revealed and killed.

With the falling US circ rate, the dramatic circ fall-off in the UK, Canada, Australia and NZ of the past half-century, and the big push for circ in the only regions of Africa that had traditionally low circumcision rates (East & South), there seems to be a wholesale redistribution of the global circumcision equation. Instead of the US's relevant big divide being between circumcised Capitalists and intact Communists, it's turning into light-skinned people having intact penises and dark-skinned men being circumcised. Also, the education, income and net worth divide between cut and uncut is rapidly widening, with the average cut male being less wealthy and less educated, on a global basis. Not sure where that's going, but I don't like it one bit. Every male and female has the same birthright to a whole body.


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## brant31

The myth of cutting males in the desert makes no sense on its face. In windy, dusty and sandy conditions you'd WANT a very full foreskin... it keeps stuff out of your urethra (where it really hurts) and the mucosal membranes of the glans and inner foreskin are generally tacky enough that they prevent even a speck of dirt from getting in between. The more acroposthion you have, the better off you'd be.


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## bugmenot

Quote:


Originally Posted by *brant31* 
The myth of cutting males in the desert makes no sense on its face. *In windy, dusty and sandy conditions you'd WANT a very full foreskin... it keeps stuff out of your urethra (where it really hurts)* and the mucosal membranes of the glans and inner foreskin are generally tacky enough that they prevent even a speck of dirt from getting in between. The more acroposthion you have, the better off you'd be.


And the thing that they're all seeming to forget? In these dirty conditions with wind, sand, mud, whatever else... they all have pants on, right?

So...obviously, the sand isn't going to get up there anyway, unless they're walking around with their penises out.


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## Jaxinator

I don't have a link, but I have an intact husband who is active duty. Most definitely a myth, and he's been to the desert a few times and kept all of his parts.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bugmenot* 
And the thing that they're all seeming to forget? In these dirty conditions with wind, sand, mud, whatever else... they all have pants on, right?

So...obviously, the sand isn't going to get up there anyway, unless they're walking around with their penises out.


I certainly hope he kept his pants on! Stranger things have happened I'm sure though.


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## 4chunut1

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bugmenot* 
Please tell me that this "You must be circumcised to be in the United States military" thing is untruth.

*Links would be much appreciated.*

No links, but personal experience... I was a career Air Force Officer...20 years in uniform, and a veteran of the SEA conflict. I was intact when I enlisted, and was intact when I retired... Intact status was certainly not a prohibition to serving.

An interesting anecdote... The wife of a fellow officer in my unit was having a baby, and if it was a boy, they were having him circumcised. The father, who was intact, was semi-seriously considering circumcision for himself at the same time (irregardless of the baby's sex), figuring there would be no sex after their child's birth for awhile, and that would be a good time to get it done for him.
But, since that was an elective surgery for him, it required our commander's approval, since he would be off-duty for up to 30 days on medical leave. The commander would not approve the procedure AT THAT TIME, as we were short of personnel then, and it would have placed an undue burden on the rest of the unit.
I don't know if he ever had it done later or not. We were both transferred to different units before their next child was born, and he's never mentioned it...


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## EdnaMarie

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/u...6;t=001143;p=0

This thread is too funny and contains the gem, "I've seen a lot of un-cut winkies in the service." Haha!

You don't have to be circumcised. Just... it's not even written anywhere because that's how little they care about your foreskin. Nowhere, NOWHERE, did they ever ask my husband about his penis in all the forms he filled out, and it's not on the physical form I don't think, either. If you look on Yahoo Answers, you will find this question many times over and the answer is always "no" or "they don't care about your penis".

Ugh, just looked at a few more Google links... can I just say... don't do that, apparently there is a specific sub-fetish dealing with circumcision and military service. Wow, how specific can you get??? Wouldn't they love MY everyday life!


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## Dave RW

So for whatever reason, this thread shows up as one of the first choices for me in a search on "uncircumcised military" five years after the last post. 

Just to let anyone know, I spent 20 years in the military as an uncut dude with minimal shit given to me about being uncircumcised. I entered the service intact and retired intact and am proud to say that I successfully encouraged a number of my fellow airmen to stay intact and/or keep their sons intact.


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## JLUK

Not sure whether to laugh or cry at how worrying the background to this thread is.

To continue the funny side of how ridiculous it is : Being cut is a pre requisite to joining the Islamic State Army. Is the plan to be able to go under cover ?


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## Dave RW

In my case, it's largely laughing, although with a bit of worry. I grew up long enough ago, in a small enough town, that high guys were expected to play three sports a year in high school. Showering was mandatory after PE and sports, and we'd regularly see coaches in the showers, particularly the assistant and student coaches who actually did the work. A PE/health teacher who was an assistant football/wrestling/track coach and also a former Marine And Would Not Let Any One Forget It was uncut and was pretty matter of fact about washing his penis. Another student coach was in ROTC and uncircumcised, so I got the message well before joing the military that being uncut was perfectly fine.

When I got into the military, I had a few guys act surprised that I was uncut and asked questions about it, so, yeah, at least at that time and place there was still a belief among some people that it was "different."


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