Military Myths and Legends: Mustache March

When March rolls around, visitors to Air Force bases worldwide might notice a marked increase in the number of airmen sporting mustaches. Some observant readers might remind me that mustaches are making a comeback among airmen of the latest generation, and while that observation is correct, there's still something special about growing a stache in March. 

The tradition is called Mustache March, and though it has become a month to honor and remember pilots everywhere, it started with a U.S. Air Force legend: Robin Olds. 

Olds was undoubtedly one of the greatest fighter pilots to ever get behind the stick of an aircraft. He was a triple fighter ace with victories in World War II and Vietnam; scoring kills from the P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, and the F-4C Phantom II. One Air Force historian even remarked that Robin Olds was "made to be the perfect airman" and the greatest aerial warrior in American history. 

All his achievements in the United States Air Force, World War II, and Vietnam are his true legacy, of course. But what Airmen who learn about Olds for the first time are really taken with is the magnificent mustache he sported during the Vietnam War, one that should have been off-limits to any member of the armed forces, let alone a Colonel in command of a squadron.

But there it is, in both black-and-white and in full color, depending on the photograph. 

By all accounts, he was well within regulations before deploying to the Vietnam War. He was commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Ubon Royal Air Base, Thailand. From there, he put together his own string of aerial victories, leading his pilots, nicknamed the "Wolfpack," through daring maneuvers and combat operations, each of which probably deserves its own article in Dispatches. 

He scored four aerial victories in Vietnam, one officially shy of becoming an ace. But if his mustache is any indication, he wasn't always playing by the rules. He was technically only allowed to fly 100 missions over Vietnam, but USAF Historian Henry Halvorsen writes that he flew 152. The odds that he shot down only four enemy aircraft in 152 missions are hard to believe. He believed he would have become a public relations stunt if he had become an Ace and would thus have lost his command.

Olds grew his mustache in March of 1965, and it became a symbol of defiance against the doctrinal, statistics-based warfare in Vietnam. He wanted no part in supporting that kind of thinking.

"It became the middle finger I couldn't raise in PR photographs," he said in his autobiography, Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds. "The mustache became my silent last word in the verbal battles I was losing with higher headquarters on rules, targets, and fighting the war."

The Airmen deployed to Royal Ubon loved it, and many began sporting their own mustaches. When higher-ups visited the base, no one gave it much thought, being so far from home and so far removed from the spotlight. However, after his time in Vietnam ended, the mustache had to go. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John McConnell told him to take it off, and Olds complied. 

But legends never die. 

To this day, airmen start growing their own "bulletproof" mustaches on March 1st. Sadly, they must still comply with uniform regulations, so few will ever be as magnificent as Col. Olds' once was, but traditions like Mustache March keep his memory – and the spirit of the Air Force – alive.