The U.S. Navy is loosening its rules governing tattoos effective today in response to their growing popularity among young people and to remove a potential barrier for desired recruits.
Under the new rules, there will be no limit to the size or number of tattoos that sailors can have below the elbow and the knee. Previous rules restricted the sizes of tattoos on arms and legs. And for the first time, sailors can have a neck tattoo although it cannot be longer than an inch in any direction.
"We just got to the point where we realized we needed to be honest with ourselves and put something in place that was going to reflect the realities of our country and the needs of our Navy," Mike Stevens, master chief petty officer of the Navy, told The Navy Times. "We need to make sure that we're not missing any opportunities to recruit and retain the best and the brightest because of our policies."
A Harris Poll conducted last fall found that 3 in 10 Americans have at least one tattoo, up from about 2 in 10 four years earlier. Tattoos are especially popular among younger Americans, with 47 percent of millennials and 36 percent of members of Generation X saying they had at least one, Harris reported.
Those demographics represent an important pool of potential sailors for the Navy. The United States Naval Institute reported that the average age of recruits in all the armed services is 20 but that the 17-to-24 age group is a shrinking population. Further, as the economy has improved, fewer young people are interested in enlisting.
Tattoos have long been entwined with American seafaring culture, which developed a repertory over time of anchors, dragons and pinup girls, among other symbols.
Jeff Phillips, 42, of Jacksonville, Fla., said that during his Navy service in the early 1990s, it was seen as odd if you were enlisted and did not have a tattoo.
"It was a rite of passage," said Phillips, who got a tattoo of Bugs Bunny near his left biceps. "'You don't have a tattoo yet? What's wrong with you?'"
John-Henry Doucette, 42, of Virginia Beach, Va., who served from 1991-96, said he got a "tremendously bad version of Hemingway" on his upper right arm two years after enlisting.
Told about the relaxed tattoo rules, he said, "It doesn't sound like the Navy I served in."
But, Doucette said, if it helps attract young, smart recruits, all the better, adding that it does not matter what sailors look like or how many tattoos they have. What does matter, he said, is: "Do your work. Be good to each other. Have a good ship."
At All-Out Tattoo in Norfolk, Va., Jason Sumners, a tattoo artist of 22 years, said he expects the new Navy rules to mean little to his business, even if the city is home to Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval complex in the world.
Sumners, who is known as Hero, said newly enlisted personnel are the most conscientious about the rules, but sailors who have served even a few months disregard them and get what they want.
"As soon as they get in and figure it out, they don't care," he said. Sailors are seldom seriously punished for infractions, he said.
Sumners said that although he knew of the military regulations, he would be the last one to enforce them. "Why would I let money walk out the door?" he asked.
But, he added, "If you get something on your face, you're an idiot."
A Section on 04/30/2016