Make it high and tight, soldier. And lose the tattoos.
The Army is cracking down on Mohawks, the flat-top version of the Rangerhawk — and for women, hair buns that go wide of their heads — along with a host of other edgy style statements, including tattoos, dental bling and tongue bifurcation,
Stars and Stripes reported Thursday.
The official Army website has yet to publish the updated Regulation 670-1 — Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia. But it was signed into effect by Army Secretary John McHugh March 6, and includes a host of new no-no styles from tattoos on the eyelids to matching camouflage patterns, the newspaper reported.
For example, the 57-page document, titled "Uniform Policy Leaders Training," dedicates four pages to female hair-don’ts, including an illustration of one woman's style that "looks like a giant moth at rest," the newspaper noted.
Another regulation forbids women soldiers from wearing hair scrunchies that are not similar to their own hair color — blondes, for instance, will not be able to use black scrunchies.
For male grunts, the document says nothing about the traditional Rangerhawk, but bans its flat-top cousin known as the "horseshoe, the Mohawk, or the "landing strip," the newspaper said.
Also out: mouth and eyelid tattoos.
The new regulations indicate the service is tightening standards that were relaxed to let more people qualify for service at the heights of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the
newspaper said.
The most far-reaching effects may be on body ink.
Soldiers all tatted up will be able to stay in the service, but anyone who hopes to sign up with Uncle Sam won't be allowed in if they have ink on their head, face, neck or wrists — or sport tattoos with content violating strict standards, the newspaper said.
Enlisted soldiers with too much ink showing won't be allowed to become officers, the newspaper said. The rules also prohibit "willful self-mutilation," like tongue bifurcation and ear gauging, the newspaper noted.