Anthony Bauswell and his disqualifying tattoo
This story is a few days old and today is a slow news day (I can only get local news on my snow-covered satellite dish and it’s all weather-related) so here’ the story of Anthony Bauswell, an Arkansas teenager who wanted to join the Marine Corps, but they tell him that his tattoo (pictured above) prevents him from enlisting, according to the Washington Times;
When he showed the recruiter his body art, he was automatically disqualified from service.
“As soon as I said rebel flag on my ribs, he says DQ, just automatically, DQ,” Mr. Bauswelltold local news station KARK 4.
The tattoo on his ribs shows a Confederate flag flying underneath a banner that says “Southern Pride.”
“I felt pretty low. My own government wasn’t going to let me serve my country because of the ink on my skin,” he said.
The Marine Corps tattoo policy states: “Tattoos/brands that are sexist (express nudity), racist, eccentric or offensive in nature… are prohibited.”
Mr. Bauswell said he understood the stigma associated with the flag, but he didn’t think his tattoo was a racist symbol.
“I definitely don’t want it to be seen as racism, which is 99 percent of the reason I got southern pride on it,” he told KARK 4.
I don’t have any tattoos, my body is beautiful just the way it is, so I don’t understand the motivation to go through the process. However, I don’t think the Confederate Flag, or the Battle Flag, or whatever you want to call it, is racist either. It’s just real popular to call it racist these days, because everyone is so butt hurt about every-damn-thing. However, if young Bauswell want to serve in the Marine Corps, he should get the tat removed and move on – which is more important to him, the tattoo or military service?
Category: Marine Corps
If I really wanted to do something, and a tat was all that stood in my way the decision would be an easy one. Cover it, or remove it and move out smartly.
Covering the tat is exactly what the recruiter told him to do, that was in the original newscast which I viewed. This kid had at least two other tats on his body, weird stuff. The offending tat is on his arm, not ribs and it would show with a tee shirt on. In these latitudes anything rebel or confederate is not PC but it is okay to sing the Black National Anthem in schools. They even took down the Confederate Blvd road sign on the way in from the Little Rock airport so the Clintons would not see it on a campaign swing, then they renamed the street although Confederate soldiers are buried in the nearby national cemetery. I am a native New Yawker and it even pisses me off my wife’s kin cannot be honored.
The tat is on his ribs. This link has a picture that shows it better. http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/confederate-flag-tattoo-disqualifies-marine-enlistee
No disrespect chief, but I saw the guy on TV and the tat was on the upper arm. The tat on his ribs, half his chest and lower area, was a green blob. Now I’m wondering about the confusion.
Club, help me out here. What is the Black National Anthem? I was unaware there was such a thing. I don’t get out much, mind you.
*Lift Every Voice and Sing* is often referred to as the Black American National Anthem.
I first encountered it in 1996 attending the Pine Bluff Arsenal Black History Month Dinner. As Chief, MWR I thought I should attend and the EEO guy almost went into shock when I asked to buy a ticket. After a prayer, all remained standing and sung the Black Anthem. I remained standing out of courtesy but it did not set well with me given the fact we were an Army installation and this was an official Army event. The only other Caucasian in the room was my boss, a LTC with no balls or brains. But as many have learned, you don’t buck the EEO on minority stuff. Since Pine Bluff has a 78% Black population, there remains a cadre of those whose loyalty is to other than the USA although they claim otherwise.
As a former Marine, and a knee-jerk supporter of the Corps, if I thought I really wanted to join the Corps and got DQed because the powers that be of the Corps are knee crawling SWJ propaganda spunk chummers, then I’d think real hard about reconsidering my wants and desires.
SWJism is the desired outgrowth of PCism. PCism is communism. PCism was brought to our shores in the early ’30s by various authors from the School of Marxism at Frankfurt. PCism was and is intended to do exactly what it’s been doing, that being to aid in the fracturing of society and assist in turning the citizenry into useful idiots.
SJWism is PCism. PCism is Communism. Communism is enemy. Anyone who submits, in any way, shape or form to PCism in any of its uses or guises is enemy.
Enemy is to be located, fixed, closed with and destroyed in an merciless and non metaphorical manner.
I would say Semper Fi here, but it’s become all too obvious that at the senior leadership level of the Corps, that’s just a silly slogan uttered out of habit but with no meaning.
It a crying damned shame, but you’re right.
Grimmy, according to former President Truman, Political Correctness is a doctrine, recently fostered by a
delusional, illogical minority and promoted by a sick mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it
is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean
end!
This is more accurate:
“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”
– Theodore Dalrymple
Let’s face it, that is BULLSHYT, that flag means something and did mean something to a LOT of people fighting for their rights…STATES RIGHTS, didn’t have a damned thing to do with racism…!
He should have gotten one in Arabic that said Infidel.
That would really test the regulations.
they would have fast tracked him to OCS
Not sure if I can say this sounds kind of whiny to me, but it does. Go get the tatt removed, Toots. Then go sign up. You may be sorry you did.
Hmmmm…yeah, and I hear the swasktika is just a Hindu good luck symbol or a Native American symbol for the four winds….Context, people, context.
The rebel flag my not be a “racist symbol” but racists sure seem to love it.
Sounds like Bauswell is one of those special snowflakes who thinks he should be allowed to serve in the military on his terms, not the military’s terms.
I served with a kid, when we were in 3521 school at camp Johnson in 1985 he had a no shit( hooded Klan member with a Confederate flag) standing on a pile of skulls, belt buckle. They required us to have belts for liberty. One day I asked the company gunny about the buckle. His words were” he meets the liberty regs” ….. never asked again and that kid went into the fleet. The company gunny was Mexican, my class leader was an idiot army transfer, and no one had problems with the kid. If he hated blacks he hid it well, other than a buckle. I actually got punched in the face outside an e club in 29 palms by a black Marine, he asked me my mos and I told him, he said white boys got promoted faster, punched me and ran like a bitch. So I consider that guy a racist. He acted on his hate.
Even if you don’t think the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism (which it is), it’s a symbol of treason and shouldn’t be on the skin of U.S. veterans.
Whatever, dude.
The kid was a clown for getting the tattoo and the USMC are being bigger clowns for not letting him enlist.
I have seen a lot worse tattoos on a lot worse clowns during my time in.
Maybe if he had the gay pride flag with the words “gay and Proud” they would automatically bump him up a rank.
Get lost.
One sentence with two demonstrations of ignorance.
Care to write something else and go for three strikes?
You need to go back and read up on the Civil War, but I can give you a major point about it in a nutshell: the great tragedy of that war was American sons on both sides went into battle to kill their fellow Americans because they were sure they were fighting on the right side. It is wrong to call either side treasonous. And when that flag was flown as a standard, it was not being flown to be racist. It was adopted by racists later on, and its reputation as a standard marred as a result, but that is not what it was originally meant to be.
If the guy waving the Confederate flag is wearing a white sheet and a hood, then yes, the Confederate flag is a symbol racism. But by the same token, the U.S. flag waved by a klan klown becomes a symbol of racism. Flags aren’t capable of racism on their own.
Bauswell’s tat still has to go.
your nuts buddy
Kristoffer`
Perhaps you should retreat to your “safe space” with a history book and re-educate yourself on the “Confederate Battle Flag”. It was never “Racist” until the special little Sparkle Ponies such as yourself made it so. I will refer you to Pinto Nag’s comment below for a quick lesson on the subject as I know your attention span is not really up to par.
The “Confederate Battle Flag” this kid is sporting is a lie in and of itself. Unless his ancestors fought kn the Army of Northern Virginia or the Confederate Virginia Navy then that flag mean no heritige to him. The “Stars and Bars” was rejected as a national confederate flag. While I agree it should be judged in context, we need to stop pretending thats is popularity across the south didn’t start in response to desegregation. The kid has a ignorant tatoo, he wants to serve he can get it covered. Hell replace it with the “Bonnie Blue Star” and show southern pride, at least that one was an “Official” Confederate Flag, but most people wouldn’t recognize it. But as a proud member of the Sons of the Conderacy, I am sick of people using ghe “Stars and Bars” as some historical confederate symbol when it in fact only represented one state.
Sorry for the grammer and spelling issues, my phone has a tiny keypad.
The “Stars and Bars” was indeed the official flag of the Confederate States.
The Battle Flag of Northern Virginia is not…NOT…, and never was, the Stars and Bars.
As a member of the Sons Of The Confederacy, you should know this.
Yeah, I realized my mistake shortly after posting. But I had class and could post until I got home.
I am not sure if I understand what you are saying. The Army of Northern Virginia included units formed in every Confederate state. Saying that the battle flag “only represented one state” seems factually wrong as well as misrepresenting the way armies were organized.
The Battle flag was also seen and used in the western theater of the Civil War. From 1863 until the end of the war the flag was adopted for use in the west.
I would have more issues with the kid if he had chosen to have a the “national” flag of the CSA tattooed on his body. The CSA was founded on many issues, the most pressing of which was slavery. Yet most of the army did not own slaves. Most of the men fought for the idea to be masters of their own fate, to live without interference from a government that was a long way off, and to establish and abolish groups and associations (including the “union”) as they saw fit. It was under those ideals that the men stood and fought under the Confederate Battle flag.
Flags meant something different back in those days than they do today and for many, the Confederate Battle Flag represents a different view of life and government than the government and SJW’s of today demand.
The causes of the Civil War and the meaning of the Battle Flag are very complex issues.
The Battle Flag of Northern Virginia gaines much of its popularity across the south during desegregation. Civil War history aside it was used as an almost blanket symbol during the Civil Rights movement by the dixiecrats who supported racial segregation. While it most likely doesn’t mean that to the majority of people using it today, flying it ir displaying it is at least poor taste. If the kid wants to serve, he should cover it.
Do you mean to tell me that it’s all right for him to wear a flag of the rebellion that seized federal installations and finally escalated to firing on Fort Sumter, waging war on the U.S.A. and thus committing treason against their own nation? Because last time I checked, under the Constitution a domestic waging of war against the U.S.A. constitutes treason.
Do you mean to tell me that it’s all right for him to wear one of the flags of a nation founded for the purpose of racial slavery, as Alexander Stephens described in his Cornerstone Speech? It’s not a coincidence that a flag of the Confederacy was chosen as a symbol of resistance to the black civil rights movement.
Wow.
You need a drink.
The present that those folks lived in is only defined by us, to us, in what we (some of us anyway) believe today.
Move along.
There is nothing to see here.
Kristoffer,so if we act upon the 2nd amendment and a corrupt USA comes for my friends and family, my oath to uphold the Constitution, makes me a traitor. Please elaborate.
Is the tattoo considered stolen Valor if you did not serve in Confederate forces?
Good point.
On the bright side, he’s smarter than a guy I went through MCRD with that had a KKK tattoo on his chest. Guess how long he lasted?
But yeah; sorry to hear it kid. Best get it lasered off and try again.
Used to be that the tat had to be visible when properly wearing the uniform (including PT uniform). Reckon that rule has changed.
Yep – I’m seeing a double-negative here too. The big dummy for being clueless of today’s PC climate and the USMC whose afraid that the kid will obviously be running around half-nekid if he enlists.
He should just get it covered with an EGA; he’ll be the most popular guy at MCRD.
Regs are regs for a reason whether or not we or anyone else likes the regs is irrelevant with respect to the military.
You want to join? The rules are clear, nothing that can be construed as racist. PERIOD. It’s not a fucking debate it’s a simple rule dumbass if you can’t figure that out perhaps it’s best you try not to burn your hand off while getting my fries ready at the local fast food chain.
I’m sick of all these whiny little bitches complaining about something they chose to do affecting their lives.
Well no shit assholes actions will sometimes have consequences regardless of what they told when you got your participation award for going 0-14 on your 4th grade soccer team.
Your stupid fucking symbol or the USMC, if you’re not certain which is more important you have no business trying to be a Marine.
Stay home with mommy and daddy and they can keep kissing your ass and telling you what a fucking special snowflake you are, the military doesn’t need or want you unless you can learn to assimilate. We already have plenty of non-hackers who fail, if you are already failing before you sign, well you suck dude.
Took the words out of my mouth (or off my keyboard)
Word
I knew a SNCO who had the confederate flag on his back. He got it after enlisting and wasn’t the sort to knowingly flout USMC regulations, so either it wasn’t a problem back then (early 2000s) or he just escaped scrutiny because it wasn’t in a visible location. Eventually he sought a commission and though he didn’t get in trouble, he did have to have it blacked out in order to receive one. So I can say with some certainty that the corps’ position is not new, and is remediable. Service = sacrifice. Guess the kid had a choice to make.
Life lesson #1: Life is all about choices and the responsibility that goes with those choices. He’s a young man, that’s a fairly new tattoo, and he knew what he was doing. Now he has a choice: he can remain a civilian and enjoy his tattoo, or he can get that tattoo altered and go into the military. His choice.
Agree completely. A young man shouldn’t tell the Marine Corps he wants to be one of them on his terms. Now he can go be an infantryperson.
I DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE APOLOGY FROM YOU JOHN!!
I’m butt hurt you said“butt hurt”.
Have terroristic day,
Dr T
Back in the Dark Ages, before any of you were born, sailors and Marines had tattoos, but NOT where they showed unless they were down to their skivvies.
That’s all I have to say on this subject.
When sailors sported facial fur.
And passageways were ambivalent about boxer shorts enroute to the head.
The OOD was unimpressed with securing the gangway attired in skivvies, M14 and shower shoes during security alerts.
Shower shoes are more correctly called zori scuffs.
if you had a Filipino Drill Sergeant like SSG Zambuto, they were “chower choes.” I crack up every time I read about some idiot paying thousands for Jimmy Choos… brings back memories.
He would probably be spending the first few evenings in MCRD fighting the other recruits who have “urban pride”. Seriously, the Drill Instructors would be spending all of their time saving him from the frequent ass beatings from others, and nobody would be getting the training that they need. Too much of a headache for the Marine Corps to deal with. Even if he did get it covered up, his reputation would precede him before he got to step on the yellow footprints. And just judging by his photo, it looks like he scores on the lower end of the ASVAB. Not worth the effort to bring this guy in, too much baggage.
Having spent nearly 5 years active duty Navy, I understand and respect military regulations including those I did not agree with but honored because it was my duty to do so. With that in mind, I think this poo-pah is a jumbo pile of elephant manure so ripe that even a Goatlocker full of crusty ol’ salts couldn’t harrange their charges into dealing with. I’m Jewish. To me, the swastika represents the worse possible kind of evil mankind is capable of. The KKK has never been overly fond of Jews and, make no mistake about it, this Jew is not very fond of them and I’ve seen the KKK associate themselves with the Confederate flag in a great deal of propaganda. Being that I am Jewish I’d prefer to see a symbol other than the cross used on the Mount Soledad on other Veterans Memorials. At the very same time, however, while my service on an SSBN as an Oxygen Generator Operator isn’t the kind of service that legends, some of which frequent this very forum, are made of but the Navy needed what I did done and I did it in support of my country, the United States of America where once upon a time we could stand proud, speak freely and somehow manage to get along in spite of all our political, religious and ideological differences. Someone wearing a swastika is not going to make it past the front door of my home. I won’t do business with companies and/or organizations that display the swastika for whatever reason. Get in my face with a swastika and, well, this is a public forum so I’ll just leave the answer to your imagination. I see the Confederate flag a bit differently but that doesn’t mean I’m going to hang one on the living room wall. As a Jew I’m a minority. The cross is not and as long as someone doesn’t attempt to beat me over the head with a cross I simply see them as part of the landscape. Nevertheless, when I joined the Navy back in 1974 I… Read more »
Well said, even for a turd chaser.
The rule about tattoos is far from new, nor is it limited to white power/racism tats.
Any racial tats, even questionable ones, would be enough to get the boot off the med floor at MEPS.
Kudos to the recruiter who had the integrity and balls to tell this kid no.
Nothing happened to America, some kid who didn’t meet the qualification regs didn’t get in.
No different today than the many decades ago when i joined.
If you couldn’t meet the standard or fit inside the regs you never made it in. Nothing new here just a bit more whining which isn’t unusual with this latest generation of molly coddled whiners.
Shooter: very eloquent post. Great perspective.
Once again, I agree with sj.
Eloquent is the right word to describe your comment, Ex-Garbage Gun Shooter.
I’m with sj and LIRight. Damn good post in a thread awash in good comments. Keep it up and it might force me to say something nice about the Navy. Okay, strike that last line. Good post.
I just read the Washington Times article, and he was disqualified after an initial contact. No mention of ever taking the ASVAB and going to MEPS to enlist. When I was on Recruiting Duty, we had a lot of trash walk through the door. The Recruiters job is to screen people that are MENTALLY, MORALLY AND PHYSICALLY QUALIFIED. On occasion, waivers can be granted, but for a marginally qualified, if at that, applicant, the Staff Sergeant is not going to put his ass on the line going to the District to ask for a waiver for a guy that is probably a 31 AFQT, if that. With manpower reductions in place, the military can be more selective in who they let in.
Bingo. WhIle the CRF types may not like it, every good recruiter always asked themselves at some point, “Do I want this person serving with me?”
You can bet your ass if it had been a rainbow colored Gay Pride tattoo, he would have been passed for enlistment, no questions asked. Da’ hell is this stuff coming to? But I agree with Jonn, if he truly wants to serve, then rethink the importance of one tattoo and get it covered and then serve and serve well with as much “American Pride”, as he had when he had the tattoo put on for the sake of his “Southern Pride”.
Rhectorical Question: How DID this 18 year old and his Tatoo ever make it to the News Media?
He whined.
the only flag the south needs to fly…
http://www.defendclevelandshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/White-Flag.jpg
Ok cupcake, before you go and have that tattoo remove let’s make sure you’re qualified (outside of the unauthorized tat). Sit down and let’s chat…
1. See if you’ve taken and passed the ASVAB or pretest.
2. Moral – law violations, pending actions, etc.
3. Physical – fill out the pre-screening form, meets height and weight, etc.
4. Education – minimal qualifications, HS Diploma, GED (if eligible), etc.
5. Dependents (not sure if we can call them that) – Have you got five kids and twins on the way?
Now Cupcake if you meet the basic standards for enlistment and want to join, take your happy arse down to the local tattoo parlor and cover that ink or have it removed…
That is all, you’re dismissed!
No recruiter is going to schedule him for an ASVAB test if he already has a disqualifying issue. It costs time and money to administer an ASVAB, and back in my day, they (who they are I have no idea) said it ran about $300 a test. In addition to the tattoo, do you want to bet that he probably never graduated high school, maybe a few Minor In Possession Of Alcohol charges, and probably knocked up his girlfriend/sister? All of those would require on their own. They won’t grant any waivers for someone not scoring at least a 50 on the AFQT part of the ASVAB, at least it was when I was recruiting. I don’t see tis kid qualified to do anything beyond pulling targets on the grenade range.
Lot of confederate battle flags in Nam.
Its not the “Confederate” battle flag. It has NEVER been the “Confederate” Battle flag. It was REJECTED as the official Confederate flag. Its knly the Naval flag for Virginia and the Battle Standard for the Army of Northern Virginia. It has NO history as a confederate symbol for any other state than Virginia.
CA_Sgt, the flag in the photo, with it’s shape and colors way only used by two enteties. It was the rectangular Naval Jack and used by some units in the Army of Tennessee.
The Army of Northern Va did not take that name until March of 1862. There were at least three, and as many as 7 Variants of the Battle flag carried by the Regiments. They all were Square in shape and had Trim on the outside borders (the First issue had Orange, the rest had white) The flags varied mostly in the size of the saltire, the stars and the fibrillation, as well as the trim along the borders.
Correct, JAOD, with one minor quibble. I believe the Confederate Naval Jack used a lighter shade of blue than did the versions used on land – but I could be wrong about that.
Regardless, the “Confederate Flag” of today was never the flag of the Confederacy. That said, it has enough added baggage today due to its postwar adoption as a symbol by racist idiots that anyone displaying it today should probably expect pushback and/or other forms of negative consequences.
Context: I was in the ARMY between 1970 and 1976, I entered service in Michigan – as a Northerner from a small town. I don’t have any tats. During the Civil War my great grandfather and his brother both fought in the 26th Ohio Infantry and then homesteaded in Michigan.
During my time in the Army and whatever they are called, I saw A LOT of those flags as tats, bumper stickers, paintings, rear window screens on cars and trucks, paint on hoods, doors, houses, and garage doors, tee shirts, jackets, hats (LOTS of hats) — lots of stuff. Sometimes the flag partly covered an attractive woman. I confess, I didn’t mind.
Maybe seeing that flag all over the place caused brain damage and this is a symptom but I don’t see that flag as a racist symbol. When I was active duty it seemed to me that a majority of troops were from the south and their fathers and brothers had served in the military since forever. At the time that flag was about southern pride – race didn’t enter into it.
I get the “it’s the regulation” argument – I really do. I agree that if the young man in question wants to be a Marine, he needs to get that tat removed.
But he’s 18. He didn’t get the tat because he is a KKK member and he is joining up to enforce racial purity in the world, he is a kid. He got it because his friends got it or he thought that it will help him pick up girls. I understand testosterone poisoning and now that I am old, fat, and even more ugly than I was when I was his age, I am also more tolerant. You may have noticed that tolerance is out of fashion. THAT is too damned bad. So he did something that, in the context of enlisting in the Corps, is stupid. Fix it and move on. There has to be more important shit than this to worry about.
agreed.
I also do not see the flag (or whatever, for that matter) a racist symbol, unless the A-hole holding it is a racist and intends for it to be seen that way. Live and let live. It’s supposed to be a free country.
However, there are rules and regs in the military, every branch. Even the USAF (just kidding, couldn’t help it). If you desire to be a member, you have to meet those standards.
Being a dumb kid has bit him in the a$$, AND considering he is only 18 years old, his parents probably Had to give permission for him to get the tattoo (it doesn’t look new)So he comes by his ignorance honestly. I have no problem with tattoos but like everything else you should be old enough to except the responsibility and the consequences that come with them.
Doesn’t sound like the kind of recruit I’d want to try to supervise. At all. He goes whining to the media when he doesn’t get what he wants? Well, isn’t that special.
Look, little darlin’, I had folks serving from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line and am very proud of all of them. They were honorable people, every last one of them. How exactly would it honor them to have ink applied to my body? It would not. But then, I had sense enough to find out the requirements of future employment and service possibilities prior to investing in education and other stuff instead of doing what I wanted followed by feigned disappointment that the United States Air Force didn’t change their standards to accommodate my wishes.
Get a grip, and get a life, youngin.
Ignoring the gist of this story, just to babble a bit of historical background about this flag instead; while this is the Confederate Naval Jack, and a similar version was carried by some later war regiments in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, it was never a national flag of the Confederacy (and yes, it was associated with the KKK, who also frequently displayed the U.S. national flag as well, but that point gets ignored because It Screws Up The Narrative©). It was and is used as a more familiar modification of the later war standard square Confederate Army of Northern Virginia regimental battle flag. This point is central to the general level of idiocy in the left/liberals/Southern haters who get the vapors and scream all manner of ill things about it on sight these days.
Almost as soon as the ACW ended, veterans began holding regular reunions, and began having joint reunions starting with a small gathering in NJ in 1875. During the first large joint reunion, in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair, several thousand Confederate veterans marched into their camps behind Confederate 3rd (“Stonewall”) National Flags. This resulted in complaints from Union veterans of the GAR, and in a subsequent meeting these vets stated that they saw the Confederate national banners as ones of treason and secession, while they viewed the “Southern Cross” style battle flags as fit symbols of their honorable but defeated foes. The UCV agreed to this change of banners, which is why in the films of the 1938 Gettysburg Reunion you see so many Southern battle flags, but not a single Confederate National Flag.
This, it was the Union veterans themselves that chose this symbol of their reunited former battlefield foes, not as symbols of slavery or treason, but those of brotherly bonds forged on the battlefields. A deep and tragic shame that this meaning and intent has been warped, twisted, and forgotten to turn that flag of honorable combatants into what it is seen as today.
Ah, yes…the sounds of the politically correct jack boots in the streets…..
So a Sikh who wants to be an Army dentist can get ok to not have to get his hair cut or have to shave, and he can carry a dagger, but this guy is just out of bounds?
It doesn’t pay to be the wrong kind of minority these days.
They made the right decision in both cases.
I am an old-fashioned guy. I don’t care much for tattoos and have little sympathy for those who get them and then don’t like the consequences. Guess what? It may not seem like a big deal at the time, like joy riding a car, but it goes into your permanent record.
Tough way to learn, perhaps, that your choices have consequences. Permanent choices, like tattoos, have permanent consequences.
I wonder if the USMC would let this person in with the tattoo if she was a lesbian wanting to join the Infantry?
I wonder how many wayward youths from the inner city are being turned away for gang-related tattoos? If a Kid has no record, wants to join and can pass the tests, don’t hold this bullshit against him.
Then again if kids want o join they can cover the ink up. I just think it is a big deal.
When I was in, none.
My platoon was full of them.
Good guys, too. For the most part.
Hey wait a minute….
http://youtu.be/vuuTS_WNw5w
I see a lot of people saying “back when I was in…”. I’m not taking anything away from anyone’s service…I’m just going to drop some facts about the current Marine Corps.
I retired as a Staff Sergeant (3529) the summer of 2013 after 20 years in the Corps. I have tattoos. CURRENTLY the Corps has the strictest tattoo policy out of all branches. Those Recruiters will get punted off the streets for letting a kid who is not qualified in. Now getting punted back to the fleet might sound like the good end of that deal but it ain’t. That’s the end. No more career. No more promotions. No more reenlistments. No retirement. Do not pass go.
That kid really wants to serve his country…get it covered or removed and go back to the Marines….or try the Army…they’ll probably take him.
It is racist.
In your opinion.
Ah, I see Taylor the Infallible has reappeared.
CW, there’s something you need to know about Taylor (if you don’t already). First, in his own mind he’s infallible on all subjects; his opinion is law. And second, no accommodation regarding free speech or behavior is too much for symbols, causes, or positions he supports – which typically are liberal ones. However, he doesn’t extend the same tolerance to causes, symbols, or positions with which he disagrees. In fact, per Taylor the Infallible those should be banned entirely, and he would do exactly that if he had the power.
Personally, I find Taylor’s kind of thinking dictatorial, authoritarian, and un-American. IMO it’s more something you’d find in a Fascist dictatorship or an authoritarian nightmare like Orwell’s 1984, even. It’s very “thoughtcrime-ish”.
I think the quote often wrongly attributed to Voltaire (but actually penned by his biographer Evelyn Beatrice Hall) is more apropos than Taylor’s position: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. IMO it’s obvious that Taylor doesn’t subscribe to that philosophy. Instead, he seems to take the view that, “All speech is equal – but speech with which I agree is more equal than others.”
I guess I could be reading Taylor wrong here, but I don’t think I am.
No, you nailed it, Hondo. He is also a horse’s ass whose inanities and goosestepping proved too much for me to bear and too frequent to avoid. If he means to darken the otherwise blue skies over TAH again, it will be a sorry day indeed.
I think he’s stalking you, Air Cav.
He hasn’t been here in weeks, but you show up and he drops in right away? There are no coincidences. None at all.
Over the years, knuckleheads have come and knuckleheads have gone. Most took a few verbal beatings and departed. Basement Joe was one, you’ll recall, who logged in each afternoon, spewed some drivel, got whacked, and skulked away. I guess his nuthouse finally denied him internet privileges. But then there’s this one, the guy who is above it all, is always right, and dismisses those who, however intelligent their rebuttal to him, disagree with him. Oh, he’ll throw a bone out now and then, but it’s always pretense; he’s hoping that somewhere around here he’ll find someone who will recognize his native genius and applaud him. It’s all a silly, but infuriating, charade. And. He. Just. Will. Not. Leave.
Eh, just give him a “Hymn” and ignore his drivel, 2/17 Air Cav. Or, alternatively, simply have fun while deconstructing his bogus statements. His arguments are generally so poor that it’s not much of a challenge.
Welcome back.
Shut up, Lars. You are a racist. The more you pound on that nail, the more you point at yourself. So shut your yap.
HEY, LARS! Two wrongs don’t make a right and I use your parents as an example.
Lars has a mind like concrete, all mixed up and permanently set!
The military is different today than it was years ago, although its core mission remains unchanged. The country itself is also different. I suppose those of us who are a tad long in the tooth are given to regret the passing of what was. Younger people have nothing of personal experience to contrast yesterday with today. Ex-Garbage’s comment hits home for me, at least, because it perfectly captures the essence of the clash of perspectives between what is and what was. Can you imagine the reaction today to tats that appeared on sailors and Marines during WW II and prior? Many would be labeled sexist and disqualify men from service. How about the illustrations and writings on the noses of a B-17 or two? Today, I suppose, an official inquiry would follow the immediate over painting of the messages to determine the mental fitness of the party responsible. PC is the new law, the latest social norm. Those who violate it are outcasts. Something is said to be wrong with them. For instance, it is now automatic that if one displays the Confederate Battle Flag, he is racist, treasonous, or twisted. Rules and regs are certainly rules and regs but it’s interesting to see how they have been altered over the years to accommodate political correctness. We are told today that trensgenders, gays, lesbians– what have you–are to be treated as normal, that the test is whether they can do their military job, that the majority view must change to accommodate them. Okay. But what of this would-be recruit and others? Does a tattoo preclude them from doing their jobs? Or do we employ a different standard for them? Indeed, as Ex-Garbage asked, what has happened to America? I think I know, but I don’t like the answer.
If, by over the years, you mean going back to 2008, that’s about where it really starts. Otherwise, the PC BS carries the simmering, sleazy undercurrent of pure hypocrisy.
Toe the line or else – that sort of thing. There are oodles of it. The most prejudicial behavior is coming from people who yell and shout the loudest and jump up & down about it, and point fingers away from themselves.
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