Wearing a ring on the left hand; allowed by AR 670-1 but not by an NCO. How would you handle it?

Recommendations:
- Confirm / deny with a senior NCO that your reading of AR 670-1 is correct.
- I would also recommend that you check your local unit SOP. Some MOSs and/or branches such as Armor that work around heavy vehicles, machinery, or equipment may have something as part of a safety issue not as part of an Army Regulation uniform issue. Easy to tear skin off a finger or a finger off if a ring gets caught and your body weight pulls you down.
- After above (if confirmed), ask the SSG to show you in AR 670-1 or unit SOP where it states that you are out of compliance. I would tell him that you are not questioning his authority but that you are trying to educate yourself and the best place to get educated is out of the source documents themselves.
- If above does not work and you feel strongly about it, I recommend seeing your PSG then 1SG if need be.
- Good luck.

SPC Cody Voye, Just follow the reg! And when your ring gets hung up on something and you lose your finger - cite the reg to the medics! The military is a hazardous profession, respect it!

You might even save a dated copy of the regulation, all of the reports you can get from the medics and photos for the VA.

It is not a battle worth fighting. It's jewelry. The ring, in my opinion, is in a grey area. "Conservative" is in the eye of the beholder. In your case, it is in the eye of a superior. Take it off. Having to be constantly told to take it off can be construed as a lack of respect; which is far more offensive than the ring itself.

COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM has provided the best answer by far from what I've seen, but consider the following.

As I'm sure you've heard at some point there's an Army saying that goes something like "a leader can add to but can't take away" when it comes to regulations/policies. As far as I know this statement is not backed up officially by any regs (beyond of course the most liberal interpretations of regs generally covered by the "magic bullet"), but it's the culture of the Army and if you're going to fight it you're going to be fighting an uphill battle all the way. You might win, you might not, but take a moment to consider the negative attention you'd be inviting on yourself and the potential fallout that might entail.

Also consider that the exact verbiage used in AR 670-1 per your own research is that rings "must be conservative in taste and not extreme." What is and is not conservative or extreme is relative, and therefore up to a leaders discretion. After seeing a picture of the ring in the response you provided to TSgt Joshua Copeland all I'll say is that an argument could be made that its design and size could be construed in violation of regulation.

It says you're a 12B. I'd ditch the ring for safety reasons. You are right, look at mason rings, recruiting rings, and west point rings. I've battled a lot of leaders in my career because I knew I was right. Cite the reg, with paragraph and line if you feel you need to prove a point. At the end of the day though, rings are a hazard in our line of work. Be smart, not stubborn.

I'm not a big jewelry guy. I don't wear necklaces even off duty, because that's not me. Having said that, this particular ring is a LOT less flashy than some of the West Point bling I've seen on some officers... I don't know why everyone's saying this ring isn't conservative.

Having said that, this isn't the hill you want to die on. Take your SSG's actions as how NOT to be as a leader, take the ring off when off duty, and wear it all the time when off. Seriously. It's not a wedding ring, therefore it's not worth fighting over, even if you're right.

I mean, I even remove my wedding ring when I know I'm going to have my hands in the guts of a computer. A 14 year old me was working in the guts of one of the first IBM PCs (yeah, I'm old, shut up), and left the PC itself plugged in. I touched something I shouldn't have, and it blew my ass halfway across the room. That day I learned a very healthy respect for electricity. Imagine the outcome if I'd had a ring on at that time.

There are only three times I'd ever fight this battle:

1. If someone objected to my class ring, as a lot of West Point bling is a LOT more flashy. My class ring is from the University of Maryland University College, and has an emerald in the center (my birthstone). It's gold, and I got it when I graduated in 2001 with a Master's of Software Engineering. I wear it on the ring finger of my right hand.

2. If someone objected to my Masonic ring. It is very conservative. It's a dark grey, with the square and compass etched into it. My wife gave it to me as an anniversary present. I wear it when I don't wear the class ring.

3. If someone objected to my wedding ring. It's a plain gold band.

If I'm working with machinery or have my hands in the guts of a computer, the rings come off and go in a secure pocket.

If I'm in formation, all but the wedding ring would come off.

If neither of those situations are happening, but I have a senior leader demanding I remove rings, I would ask what the issue is, and point out that I'm entirely within regs. If the leader continued to be insistent, I would remove the class (or Masonic) ring and put it in a pocket, and just put it back on when that senior leader was out of the area. Why poke the bear?

Now, because of what my wedding ring represents, absent any safety issues, THAT is a hill that I am willing to die on. In my twelve and a half years of active duty and thirteen years of Reserve duty, I've only had ONE senior leader demand I remove my wedding ring.......that was a demand for uniformity, and when I pointed out that he wasn't requiring this of anyone else in the platoon, and other platoons did not enforce this...he quickly backed down. Plus, a well placed "Excuse me, Sergeant, but are you ordering me to compromise my integrity by pretending not to be married? I don't want to misunderstand your orders, so I execute them properly" works wonders.....

What purpose does the ring serve? If you are wearing it just because your interpretation of AR 670-1 says you can and it has no other significance you are certainly not doing yourself any favors- from a safety standpoint or a career standpoint. You may actually need your leadership someday... best to stay in their good graces. I knew a SGM with half a ring finger because his wedding ring took it off. I've known MANY soldiers that for no good reason had an overwhelming desire to push the buttons of their leadership. You have all the free time in the world to wear that ring while out of uniform, if it has no significance I would drop the issue before you escalate your troubles any further. It may be an "Army of One" but you still have to work as a team.

Look, being a Marine I don't know how Army Regulations are written. But every Marine Corps Order, same as your regulations, I've ever seen ends with at the discretion of the command. In other words, they can make the order more restrictive but never less restrictive. The order is the bare minimum. So, just like the Army we have jewelry regulations as well. If you wear a ring it has to be on your ring finger, one on each hand. If the command sees fit to restrict that order further to keep good order then they can.

Remember, this is from a Marine POV, so that's how our orders/regulations are written. Are AR's written to allow the command to tighten up regulations at their discretion as well? If so, you have no ground to stand on if it's a command policy. Just a thought.

As a spc. Myself I would listen to your ssgt. There could be other reasons such as the mos. You are in could be a chance of injury if something happens
You have to look at the broader picture of regs.

I would suggest just going with what's most important to you. If it's the ring, then go down fighting. If it's your standing with your CoC, then maybe consider just wearing the ring when out of uniform.

Honestly, If you want to make an issue of it, he could probably make the argument that wearing a ring on your index finger is faddish, since rings are traditionally worn on the "ring finger".