24. Juni 2005 F.A.Z. Weekly. A military court has granted a male German solider the right to wear a ponytail.
The 18-year-old soldier went to the court in Munich after he was forced to cut off his ponytail, which was nearly 10 inches long. He acted after his superiors threatened to hold him in confinement for three weeks, the newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported.
The court backed the solider, saying the different rules that applied to hair styles of male and female soldiers were “incomprehensible,“ the magazine reported.
The German Defense Ministry said it considered the ruling “a decision that only applied to the specific case.“ In general, the ministry said the basic rules for men's hair still applied. These rules say that a male soldier's hair must “lie on the head or be cut so closely that the ears and eyes are not covered.“
