The Marine tattoo policy is the strictest in all the armed forces. Marine tattoos must be entirely covered by the standard physical training uniform, and no tattoos may appear on the head, neck, wrists, knees, elbows, or hands, although one ring tattoo under 3/8 of an inch in width is allowed.
Read our full article on the Navy Tattoo Policy here. The Navy has one of the most relaxed tattoo policies of all the military branches. If you have loads of tattoos, big tattoos, loud tattoos, and pretty much anything in-between, the US Navy might be your best bet.
The U.S. Army first began allowing soldiers to have tattoos in 2015. It noted how tattoos have grown in popularity among younger people, citing research by the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) showing that 41% of those between the ages of 18 and 34 have at least one or more.
Making sense of waiver rules
According to GAO, every service except the Navy allows recruits and current service members to request waivers for certain tattoo restrictions. However, the watchdog organization said, the services don't consistently lay out the possibility of such waivers or the process for getting them.
New regulations allow for unlimited tattoos on the legs, arms, neck, and even on the hands and behind the ears. The only places on the body that are off limits are the head, face, and scalp. Tattoos on the torso are also allowed, but they must not be visible underneath whites.
There are no size or area limitations for authorized tattoos on the chest (below an open collar), back, arms, and legs. Tattoos, brands, and body markings are prohibited on the head, neck, face, tongue, lips, and scalp. Hand tattoos are limited to one single-band ring tattoo, on one finger, on one hand.
Here are the key takeaways for the Marine Corps tattoo policy: You CAN have tattoos anywhere on your chest, back, torso, upper arms, upper thighs, and groin. There are no restrictions as to the size, shape, colors, or number of tattoos. There ARE restrictions on tattoos that are visible outside of a PT uniform.
The Marine tattoo policy is the strictest in all the armed forces. Marine tattoos must be entirely covered by the standard physical training uniform, and no tattoos may appear on the head, neck, wrists, knees, elbows, or hands, although one ring tattoo under 3/8 of an inch in width is allowed.
The best tattoo policy in the military easily belongs to the US Navy. In the Navy, you can get hand, finger, and neck tattoos with waivers. They also allow tattoos to extend past the collar line.
While the armed forces have content prohibitions for tattoos, the policies have evolved and become less restrictive regarding size and location. The current policies permit tattoos almost anywhere on the body except for on the head and face.
The Navy's tattoo content restrictions remain the same: no tattoo located anywhere on the body can be prejudicial to good order, discipline, and morale, or be of a nature that brings discredit upon the naval service. 4.
The United States Air Force updated its policy in 2022 to allow for recruits to get waivers to enter the Air Force if hand tattoos were smaller than 25% of the surface of the hand. Other than that the policy remains the same and is pretty standard when it comes to other branch policies.
The US National Guard does not limit the number of tattoos you can have. Recruits cannot have tattoos on their wrists, hands, neck, or face. The singular exception to the hand rule is allowing one ring tattoo per hand.
Prohibited tattoos include designs that may be racist or sexist. They may also include any tattoo that is extremist or supremacist or depicts any messages of this kind. The Air Force also has a ban on any tattoo that is affiliated or connected to gangs and gang culture.
Colored hair, tattoos and piercings are no problem, although some piercings may have to be removed during your shift.
Kellie: Yeah, they are allowed. Now I would suggest that if you're looking to get a tattoo, be very judicious in where you place it, just because the image of the Academy in the FBI is extremely important. So just be judicious in your placement of your tattoo.
Each branch has slightly different rules when it comes to visible tattoos, and some of that depends on the job you have in the military. As a general rule, as long as the tattoos aren't found to be offensive, then it generally isn't a problem. But you may want to call and talk to a recruiter about it.
Neck: The Navy is the only branch to allow a single neck tattoo. One neck tattoo, no larger than 1-inch in diameter, is permitted. All other branches prohibit neck tattoos visible above a crew neck shirt.
The Secret Service prohibits special agents from having visible body markings (including but not limited to tattoos, body art, and branding) on the head, face, neck, hand, and fingers (any area below the wrist bone). A tattoo of a wedding band is permitted.
If you have been convicted of a felony as an adult or a juvenile for offenses involving violence, domestic violence, illegal drugs, or sexual misconduct, you will be disqualified from serving in the Navy.
If Marines choose pushups, the best they can score is a 70. Men between the ages of 21 and 25 will need 87 pushups to earn max points. Marine women aged 26-30 would need 50 pushups to get the maximum 70 points . In comparison, soldiers need between 71 and 77 for a max score of 100 points on the Army's fitness test.
Men need to complete between 18 and 23 pull-ups on their PFT, depending on their age, to get full marks. Women need between four and 12 pull-ups on their PFT, also depending on age, to get the full 100 points on that event.
But when the service changed policy in 2021 to permit sleeve tattoos in a much-hailed move, security group Marines were included in the change. “Sleeve tattoos will not automatically disqualify Marines from being assigned to the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group (MCESG),” Corps spokesman Capt.
There are age, citizenship, physical, education, height/weight, criminal record, medical, and drug history standards that can exclude you from joining the military.