In a remarkable concession to the hirsute habits of West German youth, Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt 15 months ago decided that members of the Bundeswehr could sport beards and long hair, as long as they were clean and well groomed. Another Schmidt decree stipulated that if a soldier's hair was so long that it impaired his "functioning and safety," he had to wear a hair net on duty.
The new regulations naturally led to all sorts of unseemly jokes among English-speaking allies in NATO about West Germany's "Hair Force." Within the Bundeswehr, however. Schmidt's decree quickly led to an unhumorous...
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