Military Neck Tattoos: As the US military faces a crisis recruiting new and talented personnel, it has issued a new policy to rule out small arm, ear and neck tattoos for soldiers. The new policy eases restrictions on tattoos. This will give many more people a chance to be a part of the esteemed field.
This new policy has come as a relief for the people with body art who want to join the army. Earlier, the people having tattoos had to apply for waiver exceptions and wait for a long before they could join.
U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth issued this new policy on Thursday. The new policy says that soldiers can have small tattoos on their hands, neck, and ears.
The army is in the process of recruiting new soldiers. Fiscal 2022 is going to end in three months, and the army will have to finish the recruitment process before that. But it is finding it hard to get new recruits due to tattoos-related restrictions. Till now, it has been able to hire only 40% of the required number of soldiers. So the army authorities decided to ease the restrictions and formed the new policy.
Now the, U.S. Army soldiers can have tattoos as per the following rules:
- The soldier can have one visible tattoo on each hand. The size of the tattoo should be less than one inch. Though he/she cannot have tattoos on fingers, one ring tattoo per hand is permitted. Also, an unlimited number of tattoos between the fingers are also allowed, but they should not be visible when they are closed.
- The soldier can have it on the back of the neck. Its size should be less than two inches.
- The soldier can have one tattoo on the back of each ear. Its size should be less than one inch and should not go beyond the ear lobe.
- Tattoos on soldiers’ faces will remain prohibited. But if the soldier wants to have a tattoo on his/her face for religious reasons, then he/she will have to file an exception.
- Soldiers can have tattoos on arms and legs, but they should not be visible above the collar. Also, soldiers cannot cover the body art with any kind of wrapping.
There is also a directive for the tattoo designs. They should not be offensive or hateful.
Earlier tattoos were not allowed for the soldiers. But since 2015, the army started to allow them as body art is becoming quite common day by day.
The higher authorities will do an annual inspection of the soldiers’ tattoos to check if the army regulations are being followed or not. If they find any such soldier who is not going according to the restrictions, then he/she will be counseled. They will be given 15 days to alter or remove the tattoos. And if the soldier fails to do so, he/she will have to leave the army.
