Posted on May 27, 2023
Is Airborne without a border considered a tab? Should I get the “Airborne” on my tattoo covered up or removed?
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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)?
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)?
Infantry
11A: Infantry Officer
Air Assault School
Tattoos
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 15
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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.
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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.
Your call.
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SPC James Seigars
CSM, I always tell people when they notice it that I didn’t get to go to Air Assault or AirBorne school since we were in Iraq or getting ready to go to or return from there. I did complete & pass the EIB course and the other training like ringing the bell & ruck-marching with so much weight for a certain distance within a certain time limit required before we went to the school. If we hadn’t went to Iraq I would have gone to and most likely passed (according to my CoC) Air Assault school, but I didn’t get the chance.
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Suspended Profile
It's not a tab, nor is the eagle a patch (picture on left).
SPC James Seigars
Thank you for pointing that out, Sir. I purposely made it like it is to keep it from being confused with a patch and/or tab, yet somehow a decade later here we are.
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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.)
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SPC James Seigars
This is what I hate about posting on rallypoint and why I don’t use it more. I was half asleep when I wrote the stuff in parentheses and meant to say was “I did all the Air Assault school training the Infantry soldiers did & even did well enough to pass the EIB (including the Ruck March part)”. But because this site doesn’t let you edit your post after it goes live like every other site does now I have to either delete it and start over or make replies like this one to explain what I mean (The post was deleted three times before I finally got this one posted as it is).
That being said, when we got ready to go to Iraq the Infantry guys were coming in when I did, BUT I was leaving at 1800-1900 and they got to go at 1400. Also I am also a mos-trained Tank Driver (19K NG) and Paladin Missile crewman (13B active) so I’m not just some “Support type”, I’ve also been in combat mos’ as well. I hope this clears up any confusion and if anyone knows a way these posts can be edited please let me know. I appreciate it.
That being said, when we got ready to go to Iraq the Infantry guys were coming in when I did, BUT I was leaving at 1800-1900 and they got to go at 1400. Also I am also a mos-trained Tank Driver (19K NG) and Paladin Missile crewman (13B active) so I’m not just some “Support type”, I’ve also been in combat mos’ as well. I hope this clears up any confusion and if anyone knows a way these posts can be edited please let me know. I appreciate it.
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COL Randall C.
"But because this site doesn’t let you edit your post after it goes live like every other site does now I have to either delete it and start over or make replies like this one to explain what I mean"
SPC James Seigars, that's not fully accurate. If you're using the App on your phone, then you won't see the edit button, but if you use a browser (make sure it is in desktop mode) on your phone or PC, then you will see an edit button in the lower-right corner of your post. You can edit comments that you make as well.
The only thing you won't be able to edit after you leave the page is a reply (until you leave the page you can go back and edit the text).
SPC James Seigars, that's not fully accurate. If you're using the App on your phone, then you won't see the edit button, but if you use a browser (make sure it is in desktop mode) on your phone or PC, then you will see an edit button in the lower-right corner of your post. You can edit comments that you make as well.
The only thing you won't be able to edit after you leave the page is a reply (until you leave the page you can go back and edit the text).
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SPC James Seigars
COL Randall C. Sir, Thank you for the information (again). I do only get on here on my phone in normal mode so I didn’t know about the desktop mode trick. I’ll have to use it to edit my post so it makes more sense.
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