Commentary: Soldiers' tattoos are a sign of the times

By JIM PURCELL

There are older people who would say that the Armed Forces, and specifically the Army, are institutions rooted in being conservative and backward in the case of societal change.  

Heavily 'inked' soldiers are a sign of the times

   I will have to disagree with that. The Army was among the first organizations to de-segregate soldiers, one of the first to give women equal pay and rank to men, based not on their sex but their abilities. The Army welcomes people who are rudderless and gives them direction. Whatever someone was before joining up is not as important as who they become in uniform.

   So, when I begin the conversation about tattoos soldiers are getting these days while they are in uniform, I am not coming out against it. The current Army standard states soldiers: 1. Cannot have tattoos placed above the T-shirt line, 2. Tattoos must be two inches above or one inch below the elbow, 3. Tattoos cannot appear on the wrist or hands, and 4. Tattoos must be two inches above or below the knee.

Soldiers of other eras weren't as inked as today

   I was a soldier during the 1980s. Myself and fellow soldiers got tattoos, but it was nothing close to the extent that happens today. Soldiers are getting full ‘suits’ of tattoos and I don’t see it as a bad thing. I see it as a sign of the times.  I think tattooing is now seen as accessible, portable, personal art far more than in my younger days. I would be lying if I said that I understand why soldiers, be they men or women, feel the need to fill up every possible area of permissible skin with a tattoo or a series of tattoos. 

   In my younger days in the Army, large and elaborate tattoos would sometimes be seen as unprofessional. In some units, if there were not formal sanctions against this, then there surely would have been informal ones (e.g. not getting boarded, assigned to certain public duties). Yet, I think understanding things generationally with the Army is a way of understanding society as a whole. This tattoo discussion is just a way to do that.

Body art is the 'new normal' in uniform

   In the 1980s, soldiers pressed uniforms, shined boots, were not covered head-to-toe in tattoos. But, they also had a far greater problem than today with alcohol abuse, unruly behavior, domestic violence and soldier-on-soldier harassment. Personally, I abused alcohol while I was serving, I sometimes got into physical altercations with other soldiers and when I wasn’t in uniform on duty then I was out of uniform partying somewhere. This is behavior that would not be allowed to exist today. Rather than making sergeant early, I would have been out of the service in a few years. But, the Army reflected society. Consequently, back then “boys would be boys,” I suppose. And, I was the beneficiary of that.

   I hear some old-timers saying the tattoos today are “unprofessional,” “low class” and “excessive.” However, in this ideation of the Army, alcohol abuse is monitored closely, unruly behavior doesn’t happen – or else, physical altercations between soldiers is a quick trip to being put out of the service and any nonsense like domestic violence turns a soldier into a civilian in a snap. Furthermore, harassment of any kind is taken very seriously. These are all substantial improvements to the Army. Oh, by the way, this Army has a lot of soldiers who like to get big tattoos.

The Army is still a reflection of society

   You know, time moves on for all of us. No, the soldiers from today’s Army would probably not get along very well in the Army I was a soldier in. They’re different. Different things are demanded from them. And, these people are the reflection of the society today. This has always been the way the Army rolls. So, if everything changes, the fact that there is always change is one of the oldest traditions in the Army. The society moves and changes, and so the Army changes with it. Things that were sacrilege in my day (e.g. un-shined boots, un-pressed uniforms) are the norm today.

   I do not compare the eras of soldiers who served in the Army to one another. It would quickly become a practice of me saying the Army of the 1980s was the best it ever got, just out of ego. Yet the truth of the matter is that the Army of any generation is the Army that the nation needs at that moment. This has been true since the Revolutionary War until today.

   Today’s soldiers want to express themselves, in this case through body art, in a way that their fathers and grandfathers didn’t want to do. So, I will chalk it up to generational prerogative and leave it at that. No, I do not understand it. It is not my ideal or something I think is cool. But, the older generation always gives way to the younger one, and that is how the world has worked since the first cavemen decided to put an army together.