{"id":31158,"date":"2021-09-01T20:07:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T20:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/01\/can-the-military-boost-recruitment-by-allowing-more-tattoos\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:34:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:34:04","slug":"can-the-military-boost-recruitment-by-allowing-more-tattoos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/01\/can-the-military-boost-recruitment-by-allowing-more-tattoos\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the military boost recruitment by allowing more tattoos?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congress wants to know if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2021\/02\/22\/tattooed-vet-competes-for-cover-girl-spot-with-inked-magazine\/\" target=\"_blank\">tattoos<\/a> and piercings are keeping too many potential recruits out of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, during debate over the annual defense authorization bill draft, members of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2021\/08\/31\/lawmakers-to-debate-defense-hike-afghanistan-at-ndaa-markup\/\" target=\"_blank\"> House Armed Services Committee<\/a> unanimously approved language which would mandate a new report on whether \u201ctattoos and body modification for potential enlistees have become a deterrent to meeting recruitment goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The research, which would be due in March 2022, would include \u201cthe exact number of potential enlistees per year that are denied access to the military due to tattoos and body modifications\u201d and comparison of military rules to private-sector policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2020\/09\/23\/the-air-force-now-has-its-own-tattoo-shop\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/170126-F-WW236-183.jpeg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The Air Force now has its own tattoo shop<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Airmen now have the option of getting inked on base at Nellis.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The measure passed without opposition. It still has to survive negotiations with the Senate later this year before it becomes law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the move recognizes \u201cchanging cultural norms and emerging demographics\u201d of the country, and the challenges that presents to recruiters, according to committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2015 Harris poll found that about half of millennials (born between 1980 and 1995) have at least one tattoo, and at least a third of all Americans have gotten one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rules regarding tattoos or piercings vary from service to service, but most prohibit offensive imagery or tattoos on the face, upper neck and hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Military officials have noted in recent years that recruiting has gotten more progressively difficult. Defense Department studies have shown that up to 70 percent of Americans between 17 and 24 are ineligible for military service due to obesity, mental-health issues, past drug use, or insufficient education.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2018\/08\/18\/military-members-have-always-love-tattoos-but-wait-until-you-see-this-jaw-dropping-ink-innovativation\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/39543615_245931272728372_7553139223436460032_n.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The military and tattoos go hand-in-hand, but have you seen this jaw-dropping ink innovation?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Military personnel who want to honor a loved one or carry a good luck charm along on a deployment have a ground-breaking new method at their disposal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials have also pushed to expand their pool of recruits from non-traditional sources as they try to attract individuals with high-tech skills for cyber operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The committee\u2019s language also asks the military to consider \u201cthe benefits of offering tattoo removal as an incentive to meet recruitment goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The provision is one of hundreds of policy issues \u2014 including a 2.7 percent pay raise for troops \u2014 in the annual authorization bill draft, which is expected to come up for a full House chamber vote in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A congressional panel wants Pentagon leaders to look into the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":62287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[69,100,23,93,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3334],"class_list":["post-31158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recruiting","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VU5J7ZTK3ZAN7PJVYVRUOBZANU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/01\/can-the-military-boost-recruitment-by-allowing-more-tattoos\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can the military boost recruitment by allowing more tattoos? - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A congressional panel wants Pentagon leaders to look into the issue.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/09\/01\/can-the-military-boost-recruitment-by-allowing-more-tattoos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can the military boost recruitment by allowing more tattoos?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A congressional panel wants Pentagon leaders to look into the 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