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Tattooed Leaders


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Didn't think the thread should continue where it was as there may be lot of Leaders over their twenties with Tattoos who might not look at the thread this was spun off of....

 

Of course, there is always the odd man out as far as judging people with tattoo's as having a character defect.

One of the pastors at a local semi-mega church has "Ambassador of Christ" tattooed in Aramaic on the inside of his right forearm as a reminder of who he is representing each time he shakes someones hand, it's in Aramaic and rather small so it's a reminder to him, not to advertise it to anyone else who sees it.

 

I've always thought about getting one but haven't felt a compulsion to spend any cash doing it. Would definitely have to be the right thing and meet some need to do it - not getting ink just to have it.

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I guess it's my personal feeling that if I wanted to advertise something it would be a lot easier to get a sandwich board than get a tattoo. It kinda goes hand-in-hand with the drawer full of white t-shirts I have rather than those with writing on them.

 

Stosh

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The BSA has no membership policies regarding tatoos, that being said, it has been pointed out before that the responsibility of selecting and approving adult leaders at the unit level is in the hands of the charter organization representative and the committtee chair for each unit. They can use whatever criteria they want as long as it does not conflict with the policies of the BSA.

 

As far as the BSA program is concerned tattoos are a non-issue.

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I've seen COs who have refuse to have leaders with facial hair and COs who refuse to allow women to be leaders in a troop. But I haven't ever run across one who even took a dim view on tattoos.

 

Given the number of ex-military leaders I've run across, I'd say chances are slim, but I don't recall seeing too many adult leaders with tattoos that were visible or distracting in a field uniform.

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This Marine went shopping on Court St. In Jacksonville, NC for a tattoo. In those days Court St. was the place to be for wayward idiots or those who liked watching wayward idiots.

 

Well the tatoo I wanted was $85. When you make $550 monthy, Uncle Sam takes like $80 and you send home $200 to save for a car,and you stash $100 for College. Phone bill to call your girl is about $40.

 

Lets just say $85 was a heck of a lot for a pretty scar on your arm.

 

No leader or parent currently has a tattoo in my Troop.

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A few years back I went to Camp School to be a Shooting Sports Director. There were quite a few under 25 year olds running around and many had tattoos, one guy had flames starting at his wrist runnning up both arms. He was to be a Program Director.

 

The tats are comming, whether they are liked or not

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I'm not particularly impressed by a tattoo, but I don't have a huge problem with them. I've encountered good folks with tattoos. That said a few years back, I saw a boy's club coach with a swastika tattoo on his forearm. I always thought that the boys club should have given the coach the option - cover it up and coach, or get lost. Just my opinion...(This message has been edited by Rooster7)

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I don't have a problem with tattoos, but I've told my kids that many people think those who get them probably don't have much respect for their own bodies so why should they have any respect for them.

 

Even if I wanted to get one, it would probably have to be instructional. DNR across my chest. Or a meaningful traffic sign on my derriere.

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Hmm, I've heard that some branches of the military prohibit (?) tattoos that are visible when in uniform. Maybe some of you kind folks here can clarify that for me.

 

As for leaders - well there's appropriate and inappropriate tattoos, I suppose. Honestly I don't think it would bug me a lot unless it got to a point of being a huge distraction(I had a student once who had tattoo'd just about every visible inch of herself, face included. It was just so...odd...sometimes it was hard to have a conversation without being distracted. I hope she was planning to work in the art world or something.). But I can see where some CO *could* claim that excessive tats are not in keeping with the expectation that a scout is "clean?" And I can also imagine some parents who wouldn't be too gung ho about their kid joining a troop where the SM was fully adorned - just the wrong role model for some folks I guess.

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The only military prohibition on tatoos that is directed service-wide is in the Marine Corps. The previous Commandant issued an ALMAR (All Marines) bulletin that stated there could not be excessively large tatoos on a Marine. It was issued with an implemention date that led to many Marines rushing out and getting excessively large tatoos before that date.

 

I believe LE discourages them, particularly with detective branches as they compromise a detective's ability to work on undercover assignments.

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Having once seen one of our council committee chairmen/board members wearing a little less than Scout uniform, I referred to her a couple of times as Lydia. She laughed and understood. Groucho Marx fans will too.

 

She is a 3 bead Wood Badger, Silver Beaver holder and grandmother.

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For years our family only had one individual with a tatto. My grandfather. He was a real character. A MD, surgeon, actually a flight surgeon with the 8th Army Air Corps. He got the bit of body art in England about 1942. He came back and ran a practice in Michigan until the late 60's. When I saw it as a kid it was faded and didn't know what it was.

 

He told me some storys but I feel that he saw much worse. It used to be a "tat was reserved to those who served"...not so much any more.

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