Life as a Red Head

Ok, so I’m a natural brunette who occasionally likes to go a little more auburn.  And then there was the time in college that my crew teammates and I in an attempt to go more red took on a distinctly orangeish look, while training at the University of Tennessee (team color? orange).  Count coach not happy.  And a time during law school when it might have been more purplish.

So out on mission yesterday, the Chief Judge had distinctly raven hair and a beard which did NOT match his eyebrows and the DCoP in another district had pretty crazy and obviously dyed red hair as well.  So I knew something was up.  I consulted my USMC culture smart card and DoD country handbook and nothing.  Both Google and Wikipedia (ever veritable sources of knowledge) tell me that this is because Muhammad had red hair or dyed his hair red.  I’ve asked a few soldiers about this and they chalked it up more to “fashion.”  Hmmmm.  Either way, I’m happy to have something in addition to an affinity for chai in common with my Afghan friends.