Tattoo • ology

Though tattooing has been a long standing tradition with the US marines, recently though there have been some strict guidelines regarding tattooing. The current USMC tattoo policy which was announced in April this year, the entire approach is a bit conservative when it comes to personal appearance.

Effective April 1, Marines are prohibited from getting sleeve tattoos. Those individuals who have sleeve tattoos are required to be documented by their command by July 1. In the words of Marine commandant Gen.

James T. Conway “Some Marines have taken the liberty of tattooing themselves to a point that is contrary to our professional demeanor and the high standards America has come to expect from us. I believe tattoos of an excessive nature do not represent our traditional values.”

The US marines are known to be traditionally associated with high standards of quality when it comes to upkeep of personal appearance. Tattooing could be considered as one of the ‘eccentricities’ which distort the body looks and detracts from uniformity and team identity. Thus according to the recent amendment of the USMC tattoo policy:

• The US marines can not tattoo on their head and neck region.
• No tattoo can be made which covers a person’s entire arm or leg (referred to as sleeve tattoo) be it with one large tattoo or several small tattoos. This means no tattoo can be seen when a marine is wearing standard PT gear which has half-sleeve or quarter-sleeve upper garment.
• Tattoos by nature of its art form are considered to bring discredit to the US Marine Corps.
• The members of the USMC who already have their tattoos will be grandfathered, their pictures taken and documented in their service record books.

Historically speaking the marines are one of the first to proceed in times of war – so they would usually tattoo themselves with talismans, charms or any symbol which would remind them of their esprit de corps. The other symbol could be the Marine Corps seal itself.

In ancient times sailors would go through a prolonged tattoo ceremony which was accompanied with rituals, incantations and ink pigments which were considered to bring them luck.

The anchor motif remains an all time favorite for the sailors which have spread its popularity to fictional and comic characters like Popeye. These symbols apparently protected them from natural disasters at sea. Christian crosses are also famous Marine Corps tattoo design.

To investigate the history of modern marine tattoos would lead us automatically to English sea captain James Cook who commanded his first expedition to study an eclipse. Months later, when Cook returned with this crew, many of his officers and ordinary seamen were tattooed, a system which is followed even today.

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