Posted on Jan 22, 2015
A rock & a hard place: Is "Grandfathered" really grandfathered when it comes to tattoos?
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Yes, I have posted about this before but I feel held back, scrutinized, and pretty much for the most part pissed off. I have seen pretty crappy individuals get picked up for drill, recruiting, and AIT PSG and not have any issues getting in and on one case here recently with a DUI from around 4 1/2 years ago I know him personally. Yes I did make the rank of Staff Sergeant fast and while some find that to be bad or wrong I worked my tail off to get where I am at no one gave me anything and I definitely didn't ask for a hand out not once. When I stand in front of my soldiers and they see me in any uniform I know in the back of my head that everything I got is because of me. I feel that I can stand in there with the best of them regardless of the MOS. I got denied by drill due to my tattoos, who's to say I am not better than the next man because he doesn't have tattoos?! because ink in our skin automatically makes me a shXt bag or not able to perform the job better right?.... I no longer have faith in really being "grandfathered". Only thing I ever wanted to do was dawn a round brown and go Airborne, is it wrong to want these things?.... I am here in Korea on my first PCS and things are just taking a weird turn for me. I was the guy that never wanted to miss pt if I had a pee test i'd pee quick and go catch my company on the run. I love the Army and the competition atmosphere around a lot of things. My ETS is 2016 so I am coming up on reenlistment and im strongly considering getting out I have never felt the want to get out of the military AT ALL! not one bit. But the whole culmination of things have made me do a 180. Any thoughts? any help with writing a resume? I want to put myself out there way ahead of time so that I don't just get out and be stuck. I have never had to write a resume, maybe even point me in the right direction if you could? any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance...
Drill Sergeant
Recruiting
Tattoos
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 11
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I have seen some great patriotic work done on some of the finest service members this Nation ever produced. One had 5 combat tours under his belt and less than 10 years in the service. The man was hard as woodpecker lips and was also a great dad, husband, and neighbor. I'm sorry, but the DoD has a set on them for allowing tattoos when they need warfighters and then saying you have to be as wholesome and clean cut as CPT America. It's a tattoo. If it isn't EO complaint worthy, seek OER bullets elsewhere.
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SFC Jeff Stevenson
Fully agree with Mark. If you want models, then go after models, but when its time to kit up and do what must be done, don't complain about some artwork I had done on a deployment.
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Personally, I could care less about your tattoos, if you have my back , then I'll have yours. A brother in arms is a brother in arms. Both of us still bleed red!
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Sadly the best advice ever given me was this: Tattoos are great, just dont get any that can be seen in short sleeve open collar. Not because the military has something against it (and they do), but because professional civilians companies do! If you don't mind working blue collar jobs for low pay when you leave the military get all the tat's you want, if you want to work a management job, teach, or be a professional...that sleeve has got to go. This is the same reason why mega producer/songwriter/performer Pharrell Williams has his tattoos removed.
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COL Vincent Stoneking
TSgt Joshua Copeland This is exactly what I came here to post. It's just a riff on the ancient advice that "the clothes make the man."
There are many places you can work with a tattoo, including some big companies and office jobs (because people always point out "I know a guy that..."). However, as a rule of thumb, the more visible the job and the higher up the ladder, the fewer people with tattoos you will see.
On the whole, the first impression is one of unprofessionalism. Is it fair? Meh, no. Do I know people (Soldier or otherwise) with tattoos who are competent & professional? Yup. But it keeps right on being true. That's the thing about first impressions - they are formed before you know much about a person & they hang on - especially if you don't get to know the person. It's also why I don't wear ratty sweaters to interviews.
The other spiffy thing about (negative) first impressions is: They will tend not to tell you. People know it's not a terribly rational or defensible reaction, so they will reverse engineer a reason why you didn't get the job/promotion. They will reverse engineer why you got a poor eval. Etc. Even better, this will often happen at a subconscious level. Rather than say "He has a sleeve tattoo, I'm not going to hire him" they will say "the other candidate seemed more poised."
Do I think this will change over time? Sure. It already has in my decades in the workforce. You will see some people in office & professional jobs with tattoos, including some really high profile people. All over the place in sports & entertainment. I foresee a time when there is a mental saturation, and it's no big deal. I don't foresee that anytime soon.
There are many places you can work with a tattoo, including some big companies and office jobs (because people always point out "I know a guy that..."). However, as a rule of thumb, the more visible the job and the higher up the ladder, the fewer people with tattoos you will see.
On the whole, the first impression is one of unprofessionalism. Is it fair? Meh, no. Do I know people (Soldier or otherwise) with tattoos who are competent & professional? Yup. But it keeps right on being true. That's the thing about first impressions - they are formed before you know much about a person & they hang on - especially if you don't get to know the person. It's also why I don't wear ratty sweaters to interviews.
The other spiffy thing about (negative) first impressions is: They will tend not to tell you. People know it's not a terribly rational or defensible reaction, so they will reverse engineer a reason why you didn't get the job/promotion. They will reverse engineer why you got a poor eval. Etc. Even better, this will often happen at a subconscious level. Rather than say "He has a sleeve tattoo, I'm not going to hire him" they will say "the other candidate seemed more poised."
Do I think this will change over time? Sure. It already has in my decades in the workforce. You will see some people in office & professional jobs with tattoos, including some really high profile people. All over the place in sports & entertainment. I foresee a time when there is a mental saturation, and it's no big deal. I don't foresee that anytime soon.
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