-: The only exception to the beard and the turban rule is
for example, if I'm going into a frontline situation
where there is genuine,
what we call a nuclear, chemical, biological threat,
where we know the enemies using
chemical weapons or things like that.
Then to protect my own life
and to stop being a risk to the wider team,
because obviously if I end up with inhaling some of those
liquids, chemicals or whatever,
and then I become a casualty,
then my team are going to trying to be responding to me,
which might mean that they might as well come under risk.
Because obviously they're too busy trying to look after me.
The rule is, the emaldi line is, that while we're serving
we carry on doing dry drills.
But obviously, if we want to go to threat line,
we then have to take the turban off,
wear a patka, which is a smaller piece of fabric.
You haven't got the bulk there,
so you can then fit your respirator,
and then you still need to get the seal,
so what you'd have to do is modify your beard
so that you get a perfect seal.
Because it's all about preserving life.
But on that point, in 37 years regular service,
I've never had to actually modify my beard.
You know, the risk is there, you just got to accept that
it might come one day.
But, I personally, have not had to shave my beard at all,
or trim it to achieve that seal
because I've never actually been in that environment.