If anyone knows Canadian Armed Forces’ dress instructions, it’s the chief warrant officer. Hair, beards, uniform, boots – there are LOTS of ways to catch the eye of a CWO.
If it’s 404 (Long Range Patrol and Training) Squadron CWO Andrew Elliott, you’ve got a great example to follow: his hair, tightly braided, reaches midway down his back. His goatee is full, but kept in check from neck, cheeks and sideburn wandering.
December 18, he’s cutting a great length of it off – only if 14 Wing Greenwood raises $2,500 through the national workplace giving campaign, and only to the holder of the winning raffle ticket, raising even more money for the wing’s charity efforts.
Elliott’s hair has been longer than it is today: a self-described hippie, anti-apartheid, ‘80s hair band loving teenager; he cut it back to a mullet, then trimmed it further to get a summer job between Grade 12 and university, and then further back during his university years. When he enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces almost 37 years ago, he diligently adopted the “properly trimmed flat-top or high and tight.
“I kept to the specs, got a haircut every couple of weeks. By 2005 or 2006, I was spending $50 a month on haircuts – I could have bought a set of clippers for myself for $100. That paid for itself in two months: I kept it ‘shaved right down to the wood,’ as my wife said.”
Elliott never had a problem with the military’s short hair requirements: over the ears, off the collar, a certain length on top: “I didn’t push the boundaries, but I knew where they were.”
In 2018, “Beardforgen” made allowances for facial hair. Elliott grew his goatee, but was still shaving his head. In 2022, “Hairforgen” further relaxed CAF dress instructions around hair, facial hair, tattoos and other dress and grooming guidance. Elliott, then a master warrant officer in Ottawa, was talking with a buddy who was a chief warrant officer.
“I joked I’d grow my hair, that it wouldn’t change how I approach my job every day, how I approach people. As long as you’re professional in the way you approach your job every day, I don’t care what your hair is. If you’re a professional soldier, professional at your job – we have really good people in Canada who could be good soldiers, who maybe wouldn’t join because of the dress rules.”
By the time Elliott attended his senior leadership syndicate, his peers were calling him “Kenny Rogers:’ his growing hair was ‘70s big, whitish in colour and approaching his collar.
“My take? ‘I’m going to be keeping it!’ I was doing it in such a way, if someone in my unit wasn’t following the rules, I could say, ‘This is how it should be done.’”
The dress instructions did change again in 2024, setting clearer guidance for general grooming, but keeping most of the past few years’ changes. Elliott’s hair kept growing.
“I see people on Facebook, slamming the long hair, that it’s not professional. I stay out of those arguments; I use Facebook for recipes.
“Chiefs don’t get to be chiefs by accident. I know the rules. It’s not that I can do what I want, but that I wouldn’t do it without knowing the regulations, following the regulations and enforcing the regulations.”
Cutting his hair now comes with good reasons: it’s now long enough he can donate a length of it to make a wig for a cancer patient who has lost their hair. He can do it all again in the two years or so he has left before retirement. He sees a way he can use the attention his hair gets to put eyes and effort on charitable projects – something that doesn’t take a lot of money, but could help raise funds here at 14 Wing for the workplace giving program.
“I was raised, you help those around you with what you have: time, encouragement, money. And I get that things may be tight, but I still have more than some other people, and I should be trying to help. Looking at our workplace giving, it’s underwhelming. What’s a solution?”
The answer: his hair.
Elliot is putting faith in 14 Wing, when the end-November online national workplace giving report comes in, that $2,500 target will be there. He’s putting more faith in the fun he can add to December 18’s Sticky Floor – in the name of charity.
“One cut can make all the difference.”
“Final Cut – For a Cause”
Raffle tickets are $5 each, or five for $20 – see your unit Combined Charities or Government of Canada National Workplace Giving reps. The first ticket drawn has ponytail chopping honours; the second ticket drawn has full head shave tidying up.
The “final cut – for a cause” will take place at the Annapolis Mess during December 18’s sticky floor event.
