The U.S. Army has announced new regulations for tattoos and hair, adapting March 31 rules that upset some soldiers.
In March, new regulations said that any soldier who violated the tattoo rules, which include no more than four visible tattoos smaller than the soldier’s hand, could not apply for commissions to become officers.
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The
tattoo rule sparked "anger among many soldiers," the Army Times said, and the Army revised the rules to change that restriction, saying officers with tattoos that break current regulations must have their commander’s endorsement. Any soldiers with tattoos that have always been banned, such as those on the face or that are sexist or racist, can’t be grandfathered in, though.
"The updated regulation takes into account that previously authorized tattoos should not prevent a soldier from becoming an officer, but that candidates are to be evaluated based on the whole soldier concept, or all characteristics of a soldier,"
Stripes quoted the Army reasoning behind changing the regulations.
As for the hair rules, the Army recanted its stance taken in the March 31 regulations that said twists, a hairstyle that’s popular with African-American female soldiers, weren’t allowed and that braids and cornrows must be uniformly spaced with no more than 1/8 of an inch of scalp between them.
“Now the only requirement is that braids, cornrows and twists be evenly spaced,” the Army Times said.
Also changed was a rule that soldiers needed to secure such hairstyles with a rubber band; now they must be secured “inconspicuously,” the Times said.
Despite the unhappy soldiers who protested those March regulations, many went on the Army Times website to decry the fact that the Army backtracked.
“That's how it is in the new Army. NCOs can't even correct soldiers without fear of being racist, sexist, both, or just a big meany. Don't know what happened to the Army I joined,” another wrote.
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