Has tattoo policy changed?

JohnPAKP65

JohnPAKP65

10-Year Member
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I noticed that at INDOC Friday an individual had extensive tattoos (pictures attached **Pictures removed at OP's request**). Has the policy changed from that below, which came from an Academy document?

"The following tattoos and brands are prohibited: Any that are on the face, neck or head; any that are prejudicial to good order or discipline, including those with offensive language, patently racist or extremist symbols, or sexually explicit depictions; and any that are partly or fully visible when wearing the Summer White uniform.​
​
Tattoos or brands falling into one of the above categories must be removed within six months of identification at the expense of the individual student. Entering plebe candidates identified with a prohibited tattoo or brand will have until December 1 of plebe year to have the tattoo or brand removed, or face disenrollment."​
 
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Since the academy primarily follows Navy regulations, and her tattoos would be covered in whites (being on her forearm and upper leg), I think she is likely okay. I have seen other mids with large tattoos on chest and arms too. Hopefully the plebe candidate was cleared before they arrived.
 
FWIW, the Navy has relaxed tattoo policies recently as a way to mitigate recruiting shortfalls, so I wouldn't be surprised if USMMA is following suit.
 
RowingMom said:
Since the academy primarily follows Navy regulations, and her tattoos would be covered in whites (being on her forearm and upper leg), I think she is likely okay. I have seen other mids with large tattoos on chest and arms too. Hopefully the plebe candidate was cleared before they arrived.
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The “summer white uniform” would not cover the forearm.
 
I knew it was over 5-6 years ago the Navy restrictions eased. USMMA, because of its comprehensive mission and production of USNR officers (if they don’t commission AD into another service), would generally align with those policies.

This 2016 story may be helpful. It also contains a link to the policy that was introduced at that time. I did not go hunting for the current policy, in case there have been interim changes to the instruction (policy).
allhands.navy.mil

New Tattoo Policy

In an effort to improve support for Sailors, Navy Personnel Command updated the current tattoo policy.
allhands.navy.mil

Here’s the current USNA policy, which references the 2016 policy. Old salt note here: Subordinate command policies may be more restrictive than the governing Service policy but not less restrictive. Often, accession standards are higher than the standards applied once an individual is in the military.


This is what USNA candidates are told in usna.edu in Medical Considerations:
 
it's a little disturbing that you felt it was necessary to post photo's of a female plebe candidates tattoos on an open forum, just to ask an irrelevant question about the academy tattoo policy.
 
CAT5 said:
it's a little disturbing that you felt it was necessary to post photo's of a female plebe candidates tattoos on an open forum, just to ask an irrelevant question about the academy tattoo policy.
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Sorry you feel that way but I went out of my way to make the person unidentifiable. Also, once someone adds to a thread, the post can't be edited.
 
JohnPAKP65 said:
I noticed that at INDOC Friday an individual had extensive tattoos (pictures attached **Pictures removed at OP's request**). Has the policy changed from that below, which came from an Academy document?

"The following tattoos and brands are prohibited: Any that are on the face, neck or head; any that are prejudicial to good order or discipline, including those with offensive language, patently racist or extremist symbols, or sexually explicit depictions; and any that are partly or fully visible when wearing the Summer White uniform.​
​
Tattoos or brands falling into one of the above categories must be removed within six months of identification at the expense of the individual student. Entering plebe candidates identified with a prohibited tattoo or brand will have until December 1 of plebe year to have the tattoo or brand removed, or face disenrollment."​
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That plebe candidate was active duty enlisted Navy for 5 years before she got to KP so the DoD as well as DoDMERB have documentation of every tattoo on her body.


I know this because that's my daughter. That is the hardest working kid you will ever meet and I am very proud of her.
 
The_donkey_farmer said:
That plebe candidate was active duty enlisted Navy for 5 years before she got to KP so the DoD as well as DoDMERB have documentation of every tattoo on her body.


I know this because that's my daughter. That is the hardest working kid you will ever meet and I am very proud of her.
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Good luck to her! I thought the bigger question was the facebook postings in general. It seems odd for parents to follow indoc on FB, especially with close-up individual photos including name tags or door tags.
 
The_donkey_farmer said:
That plebe candidate was active duty enlisted Navy for 5 years before she got to KP so the DoD as well as DoDMERB have documentation of every tattoo on her body.


I know this because that's my daughter. That is the hardest working kid you will ever meet and I am very proud of her.
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Your daughter is amazing. From what I can tell she was already making a positive impact by reporting day and it was a pleasure to meet her.
 
Hey it’s me! The extensively tattooed plebe candidate. My dad pretty much said it all, DoD and DoDMERB cleared all my stuff because I was enlisted for a while. When I asked about tattoos here I was told the academy follows Navy policy, which as I’m sure you guys have now seen basically says anything from the neckline down is fair game.

I did have a Cadre joke that we were going to tattoo removal at one point, but other than that I’ve gotten nothing but compliments. I was even lucky enough to have a kind cadre who cared enough to have me fall out and put sunscreen on them, and a Drill Sgt who said that the ones on my arm had “the coolest shading he’s ever seen” on day 0.

It’s pretty hard to make me “unidentifiable” considering (to my knowledge. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong!) I’m the only heavily tattooed female plebe, and my tattoos are quite identifying on their own. I feel like this question was kinda backhanded and op could’ve left me out of it, but I get it. I’m a visual learner and like examples too. The biggest problem I see with this post is that some of my classmates are minors and there would’ve been no way to tell if I was a minor either before you shared a photo on an open, unofficial forum. Luckily I’m obviously not, but you get the point.

Lastly, thank you to those of you who defended me and shared kind words! I’ve tried my hardest to go out of my way to help those around me and do what I can to make this incredibly difficult transition a little easier for them, especially because I remember exactly how it felt, and Indoc certainly isn’t all a walk in the park. I haven’t been able to be as helpful as I’d like the past week or so, seeing as I’m out for a while with covid, but it’s the thought that counts right? :)
 
Neeonlizard said:
It’s pretty hard to make me “unidentifiable” considering (to my knowledge. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong!) I’m the only heavily tattooed female plebe, and my tattoos are quite identifying on their own. I feel like this question was kinda backhanded and op could’ve left me out of it, but I get it. I’m a visual learner and like examples too. The biggest problem I see with this post is that some of my classmates are minors and there would’ve been no way to tell if I was a minor either before you shared a photo on an open, unofficial forum. Luckily I’m obviously not, but you get the point.
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My apologies.

You can be assured that those photos, which I arranged to have deleted, did not contain any of the typical EXIF metada in digital images that permit image specific details. I had run them through Photoshop twice and then simply used a Windows screen shot so all that info was removed. You became identifiable because as you say you are a singular female member of the 2027 class.

Good luck with that Covid and especially good luck with all your future endeavors. I was in a similar situation in 1961 with infectious mononucleosis. I was faced with a setback situation but some people arranged for me to drop a few courses not take some finals, hence easing test time. I had to take the courses later with some deckies.
 
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The_donkey_farmer said:
That plebe candidate was active duty enlisted Navy for 5 years before she got to KP so the DoD as well as DoDMERB have documentation of every tattoo on her body.


I know this because that's my daughter. That is the hardest working kid you will ever meet and I am very proud of her.
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I've heard nothing but good things about your daughter. She's an outstanding young lady.
 
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