That was my dad in the Navy in the '60s. The rules were you could have facial hair, but if you wanted to go from clean shaven to facial hair you needed permission and you had two weeks to grow it - if it wasn’t good enough you had to shave.
He couldn’t grow a beard in a fortnight. I can’t grow a beard in a fortnight.
So he applied right before going on leave so he would have 4 weeks of leave + 2 weeks to grow the beard, which was sufficient
You are allowed to have a beard, but you are not allowed to grow a beard.
That was my dad in the Navy in the '60s. The rules were you could have facial hair, but if you wanted to go from clean shaven to facial hair you needed permission and you had two weeks to grow it - if it wasn’t good enough you had to shave.
He couldn’t grow a beard in a fortnight. I can’t grow a beard in a fortnight.
So he applied right before going on leave so he would have 4 weeks of leave + 2 weeks to grow the beard, which was sufficient