Is Airborne without a border considered a tab? Should I get the “Airborne” on my tattoo covered up or removed?

2023-05-27T00:19:30-04:00

The tattoo on the left is mine & the right is an Internet one I found. I have always been told that if the words Airborne and Air Assault don’t have a border around them on a tattoo they aren’t considered a “tab” and anyone can have them.

I have had my tattoo for a decade & my uncle (a Vietnam vet with the 101st/173rd) has seen and known about it the whole time. Now all of a sudden he wants me to cover up or remove ONLY the word “Airborne” because it is on top of the eagle making it a tab & since I was Supply working there from 02-05 and didn’t get to go to air assault school due to the Iraq War starting I haven’t earned the right to have it (This despite the fact he knows I did all the training the Infantry soldiers did on top of my own and did well enough to pass the EIB course & even did the training for Air Assault school including climbing the rope & ringing the bell, etc. as well as my getting pushed back for infantry soldiers coming in to go through first as was the policy).

It costs a lot to cover up or remove a tattoo I am finding out after a decade of having this one. So my question is IF I find someone I can afford to cover up that word should I do it (He is the reason I joined in the first place, otherwise I probably would tell whoever to mind their own)?

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 27 at 2023 12:26 AM

2023-05-27T00:26:47-04:00

Since your uncle was okay with your tattoo for a decade....tell your uncle he can pay for the removal since he now suddenly doesn't like it. Yea, he may have been the reason you joined, but that doesn't give him the right nor authority to make you alter your tat.

Response by Maj Kim Patterson made May 27 at 2023 12:47 AM

2023-05-27T00:47:38-04:00

You’re all grown up now. Make the decision that suits you, SPC James Seigars

Response by SPC Gary C. made May 27 at 2023 5:43 AM

2023-05-27T05:43:54-04:00

Well the Division is known as the "101st Airborne" not just as the "101st"
If he was good with it for 10 years, I'd respectfully tell him to go pound sand, it's not his tat or skin.

Response by COL Randall C. made May 27 at 2023 8:30 AM

2023-05-27T08:30:14-04:00

"I have always been told that if the words Airborne and Air Assault don’t have a border around them on a tattoo they aren’t considered a “tab” and anyone can have them."

You've never once heard that as official guidance from the Department of Defense or the U.S. Army although I'm sure you've heard that from a group/individual that gave you the "this is how we do things around here" guidance. Personally, I've never heard "tats being tabs" type of thing in my >32 years in the Army, but then again, I'm not a "tattoo guy" and probably hung around with a different group.

So, it comes down to the individual's or group's social construct - in this case your uncle's - on what is acceptable or not. Frankly, it all comes down to your last sentence - anyone else you would have told to butt out, but he's the reason you joined.

Obviously the relationship you have with your uncle is important to you, so the first thing I would advise is just talking to him to see why he has this change in attitude after it being ok for 10 years. Maybe he hangs with a group of vets from his Vietnam days and that is the social norms with them. Maybe he read something somewhere and one thought lead to another and another and eventually ended up with "My nephew needs to remove Airborne from his army because he's not!". Heck, maybe something about the 101st being in Romania and being "Ukraine adjacent" set him off.

Bottom line: You won't know why he's switched his view on your tattoo unless you talk to him.

If after the discussions with him are done and you know the why of his attitude change he still wants you to have it removed, then I'd say you have a decision to make regarding accepting someone else's social norms in regards to your relationship with them (however, if you do come to the decision that you want to honor his reasons and have it removed that you do as MSG Private RallyPoint Member suggested - if he's having the issue, then he can meet you halfway. You agree to remove it and he agrees to pay for it since you're removing it for him).

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made May 27 at 2023 10:15 AM

2023-05-27T10:15:14-04:00

Not sure if AR670-1 covers tattoo renderings of SSIs, but here is a tidbit: the Airborne Tab on the 101 st SSI is considered part of the SSI. It’s worn regardless of the Division’s jump status. The Division stopped its airborne status in 1967 And began airmobile/air assault.

Response by Sgt David Scott made May 27 at 2023 12:01 PM

2023-05-27T12:01:55-04:00

Wear and Show the Tat with pride as it is. It is amazing what some "Old Soldiers" demand as if they are the only ones that count. I fall into the catagory of being a "Viet Nam Era Veteran" as i did not serve in "Country", even though I fought to join the Corps in 1968, made Sergeant 19 months later serving with Force Troops 2nd Tanks and then 3rd Tanks at Camp Hansen, but a lot of those that were in "Country", lets include the VA here as well, don't consider us in most ways. Really sad, we all served our Corps, Country and God as we are assigned or allowed to do. O.K. soap box away for now.

Be proud of what you did and the Tat that you have.

Response by SGT Christopher Hayden made May 27 at 2023 7:10 PM

2023-05-27T19:10:56-04:00

Anyone can get and wear any tattoo they want, and anybody whos going to make a stink about it is a goofball. So you do you, man. (Also, as a supply guy, you did not do all the training the Infantry guys did. I don't get why so many support types always make this statement. Nobody in the Infantry is claiming to be just as trained on supply as supply MOS guys are even though we'd handle like 99% of our own shit at the company level.)

Response by SSG Roger Ayscue made May 28 at 2023 2:55 AM

2023-05-28T02:55:59-04:00

The AIRBORNE Tab is different from other tabs in that it is part of the Unit patch and not an individual award. As a Jumpmaster in the 82d I was NOT allowed to transfer the Airborne Tab to my patch in any other unit. A ranger tab or a SF Tab are individual awards earned by completion of the prescribed qualification course.
You served in the 101. The 101 is basically all Air Assault, and yet the unit patch retained the AIRBORNE tab even though AIRBORNE is talking about Paratroopers, not Helicopter ops. With that being said, You served int he 101, the tab is part of the patch for the 101 and it is called the 101st Airborne Division. I would leave the tat the way it is, tell your uncle that you went to the 101 and did what you were assigned to do and that he can have a beer with another Screaming Eagle and let it go or not.

Response by COL Dan Ruder made Jun 3 at 2023 11:02 PM

2023-06-03T23:02:01-04:00

It's not a tab, nor is the eagle a patch (picture on left).

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Jun 4 at 2023 5:32 AM

2023-06-04T05:32:20-04:00

You are a grown man who should know what you want. It is a unit designation, it is not a tab. Is it a bit strange, maybe, as long as you don’t present yourself as one or the other qualified it is your choice. You know yourself what the first thought of anyone seeing the Tattoo is that he is Airborne.

Your call.

Response by CSM Richard StCyr made Jun 8 at 2023 10:48 AM

2023-06-08T10:48:45-04:00

Does anyone really care. It's a tattoo. The airborne above the unit patch is a unit designation like "Mountain" above the 10th -mountain patch. Tab is totally different animal. You don't get an airborne tab.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2023 1:36 PM

2023-06-08T13:36:33-04:00

Tell him "I am the border." Then have a a UH-60 land behind you and hop inside. As you fly away, hold your arms out like an eagle and scream the 101ST Airborne Division song.

I'm positive this will solve the argument once and for all.

Response by MSG Lonnie Averkamp made Jun 8 at 2023 10:28 PM

2023-06-08T22:28:51-04:00

(Even though it is my combat unit), the 101st hasn't been "Airborne" since the 1960's - - with the exception of 1971 or 1972, when they absorbed the 173rd, to make the 3rd Brigade of the 101st. I often referred to my combat unit as the "101st Leg Division". In Vietnam, practically no enlisted personnel in my infantry battalion was parachute qualified.

But do they still have the moral right to display the tattoo of their combat unit? Hell yes!

Response by SGT Christopher Sigafoos made Jun 13 at 2023 12:49 AM

2023-06-13T00:49:32-04:00

Your body, your tattoo, your decision. To me, your tattoo honors the Division, not attempting to "recreate" the tab. If your uncle sees it otherwise, that's his choice to see it that way and should NOT influence you one way or the other UNLESS you are trying to honor Him with it. From my perspective, it all comes down to what the tatt means to you.

Response by 1SG Paul Ayotte made Aug 25 at 2023 6:06 PM

2023-08-25T18:06:48-04:00

If you didn't go to jump school, your not "AIRBORNE ".