The US military has been known for its strict rules and high standards since its formation. The role of the military is too critical to a nation making its decisions extremely crucial in the eyes of the nation. Furthermore, the actions of every member of the military reflect on it making it crucial to maintain a good image. For this reason, the need to maintain tattoo regulations in the Corps is crucial. Even though officers of the Marine Corps are entitled to do as they please with their bodies, they are required to abide with fundamental rules such as to maintain physical fitness and a decent physical appearance according to military standards. Compromising these standards is easy given the messages conveyed in tattoos. The US Marine Corps, therefore, ought to maintain these high standards by regulating tattoos in order to avoid the falling of officers in controversy and instead encouraging them to serve at their best of ability.
In defense of enforcing tattoo restrictions, it is important to emphasize that the US Marine Corps restrictions are not meant to completely cut out persons with any tattoos but only encourage compliance with the bulletin. In fact, the policy does protect its officers by including the Privacy Act consideration in the bulletin of 2016 to ensure that officers are treated with dignity and respect during revelation of the tattoos and that this information is treated as confidential. It also does not undermine officers grandfathered by previous policies. It also protects officers by allowing them the chance to disclose information about tattoos using photographs to describe them and verbal communication in the event that the tattoo is in a private region of the body. In this manner, the restrictions show a great deal of fairness to every officer, whether new or already recruited.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The military does understand the purpose of tattoos as being artistic expression for which any kind of message may be communicated, seeing as there is freedom of expression in the United States. It means, therefore, that the military will take responsibility for offensive messages by its officers since the military is not merely an institution of civilians but that it represents the nation itself. In the event that a person has sexist, homophobic, pedophilic, racist or even obscene and extremist tattoos on their bodies and in places that are visible to the public, then that would mean tarnishing the Corps image. Such misrepresentation also means that the public would not feel safe regarding the Corps seeing as some of its members were racist, sexist or homophobic. It means that civilians would feel unsafe among the people that are supposed to protect them. Surely the Corps would not be able to carry out its responsibilities and this would lead to chaos.
The military is also often involved with other nations and may be misunderstood in the event that certain tattoos are seen on the bodies of officers. These are tattoos extending beyond stipulated parts of the body as per the Tattoo Policy. As mentioned earlier, the message of the tattoos would aggravate the situation in the event that it portrayed discrimination or hate. Moreover, different countries have different views on messages generally. It means that even an acceptable tattoo in one nation on an exposed part of the body could be misunderstood as per the perception of the various nations. After all, innocent symbols in one region of the world could mean something completely diabolical in another leading to controversy. It is for this reason that the policy demands places tighter restrictions on officers hoping to work in certain missions such as special duty assignments.
By ensuring that these tattoos do not exceed four on the upper body and that they are not visible outside of PT training clothing, the Marine Corps encourage concentration over distraction. Furthermore, it also encourages the Marine Corps to treat their bodies with respect, a crucial lesson for the job at hand. In any case, the military does require a great deal of discipline for survival. Military engages in quite intense activities that if no discipline is applied, would fail dramatically. Putting up restrictions on tattoos is also an advantage since it encourages revealing of skin in the event of an accident. In cases where more skin is covered with tattoos, it could be extremely dangerous given that treatment of injuries on such areas would be more difficult to administer.
Marine Corps tattoo restriction policy is an indication of the orderliness with which the US operates smoothly. Without this tool, the military would be quite the circus with all manner of messages and coverings on the skin. While restricting tattoos may seem like denying the officers freedom of expression, that cannot be any further from the truth.. For freedom to be provided by any entity, it has to be controlled otherwise, it is not really freedom as it will only end in chaos. Failing to restrict tattooing in the US Marine Corps, is failing to guide the process of freedom of expression. It would only end in disaster where misrepresentations occur. Furthermore, the United States Marine Corps does not merely aim at attaining standards but aims at working beyond those standards. It is necessary to acknowledge that the tattoo policy is more beneficial than it is detrimental to the military. In any case, the implementation of this policy in the Corps cultivates a great deal of respect among officers of the various ranks.
Bibliography
Colbert, Ron. "Teacher candidate fashion, tattoos, and piercings: Finding balance and common sense." Childhood Education 84, no. 3 (2008): 158-C.
Department of the Navy. "Tattoo Policy." Marine Corps Bulletin 1020. Washington DC, June 3, 2016.
Jurden, John P. "Spit and polish: A critique of military off-duty personal appearance standards." Mil. L. Rev. 184 (2005): 1.
Lande, R. Gregory, Bhagwan A. Bahroo, and Alyssa Soumoff. "United States military service members and their tattoos: a descriptive study." Military medicine 178, no. 8 (2013): 921-925.
Stephens, Mark B. "Behavioral risks associated with tattooing." FAMILY MEDICINE-KANSAS CITY- 35, no. 1 (2003): 52-54.
