My brother, Ryan, is headed for Marine Corps boot camp on January 2. In preparation for his transformation into a military man, my brother Aaron, already a Marine and deploying to Iraq in March, did the honors for Ryan's hair. Ryan has a bad habit of failing to get a haircut until the absolute last possible moment, and by the time he got the Ultimate Haircut, he had a good four inches of hair curling all over the place. We all gathered around on the porch to watch Aaron shave it off. Because we're supportive like that. And also it looked really, really funny. Here is how it all unfolded.

Let the haircut begin:

Halfway through, Aaron had to switch off his clippers and start taking the hair off in layers with his scissors. The result was that Ryan had a kind of Bozo the Clown look going.

And the final verdict is that he's probably stylish enough for the Marines. Good luck at basic training, Ryan.