Navajo Marine says religious waiver will help recruit more personnel

A Native American Marine reservist who recently received a religious waiver to grow his hair out believes the approval will lead to more Indigenous service members serving.

Cpl. Bradford Flores, who is a Navajo Anti-Tank Missile Gunner in the 4th Marine Division, says successful instances where Marine Corps members get to practice their faith and cultural traditions will signal to others that similar opportunities exist for them.

“It makes it easier for Indigenous men in the Marine Corps to be able to do this and that’s what I want,” said Flores, the first Marine authorized to wear his hair long in honor of Navajo tradition. Military.com first reported this news in June.

The approval grants Native Americans an opportunity to express their identity freely, allowing it to be recognized more, he said.

“It’s bigger than us,” said Flores. “It’s just a way for us to be able to share our culture with other Indigenous people, but also share our culture with people that don’t really understand it and give us a teaching opportunity, saying this is why it’s significant.”

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Flores split his time between Oklahoma City and Norman, Oklahoma growing up, enlisting in the Marine Corps in 2021.

He credits his father for instilling in him both a reverence for his roots and a dedication to serving his country.

Emblems of Navajo tradition such as art, pottery, and baskets lined the walls of his childhood home and Flores says he was given his first pair of moccasins as a baby.

“If you think I’m Native now, just wait till you get to our house,” Flores said he’d tell friends growing up.

His father was equally invested in work and service, he said, so much so that cutting his long hair, a symbol of strength in the Navajo tradition, never seemed to bother him as it was what his job in the Air Force required.

Flores prioritized the work like his father when he first joined the Marine Corps and wasn’t bothered by the requirement to cut his hair. Typically, Flores said, the act of cutting his hair involves a ceremony where he burns the hair with sweetgrass or sage, which he couldn’t do during Marine Corps recruit training.

It wasn’t until a car ride with a Comanche staff sergeant in his first year of service that Flores considered applying for a religious waiver . In a conversation about shared traditions and similar backgrounds, Flores admitted how cool it would be to grow his hair out in uniform. The staff sergeant agreed and said if Flores ever decided to pursue it, he’d offer his support.

“Obviously, you’d be the first,” Flores said the sergeant told him. “That’s what kind of started the gears.”

From there, the idea percolated furhter until eventually, Flores reached out to Airman 1st Class Connor Crawn, who’d received a religious waiver to grow his hair out in 2022. Flores had seen Crawn’s videos on TikTok and he reached out to him on the social media platform. They began a correspondence, Flores asked for advice on how to begin the process, and Crawn obliged.

Flores applied for his religious waiver between in early 2023. He filled out paperwork detailing the reasons behind it, had an interview with officials, and submitted a letter from hist church pastor explaining the significance of his long hair, which he said represents his identity as a Navajo and a warrior.

During the process, he says he used other Marine’s successful efforts to get religious waivers as a way to make his case. He pointed to a Sikh Marine who in 2023 graduated from boot camp with a turban and beard after being granted a religious accommodation.

He was at Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center in Arkansas when he got word of his waiver’s approval. The first thing he did, he said, was send a photo of the acceptance letter to his family, who were ecstatic.

He’s already started to receive messages from other Native American service members seeking guidance on the religious waiver process.

“I just want to be able to help others get their process started,” said Flores.

The Marine Corps has at times fought religious waivers, initially denying a Sikh Marine’s 2021 request for accommodations to wear a beard and turban in honor of his faith. A federal appeals court eventually ruled in 2022 that the Corps’ refusal to accept the accommodation went against the Marine’s right to religious liberty.

“The Marine Corps places a high value on the rights of members of the military services to observe the tenets of their respective religions, including their right to hold no beliefs as well as other sincerely held beliefs based on conscience and moral principles,” said a Marine Corps spokesperson in an emailed statement to Marine Corps Times.

The all requests for religious accommodations are assessed on a case-by-case basis, according to the statement.

Flores said as of now, his hair is growing out, but it’s in the awkward stage.

He said his fiancé is just as excited for him to grow it out.

“Now she’ll get to braid my hair,” said Flores.