Tatoos and the USMC
Hello everyone,
I was wondering if someone could help me out with a bit of a problem. I have a friend who very badly wants to enlist in the Marines. What I mean by this is that she called me today in tears because she had been refused due to the fact that she has a tatoo that covers her entire arm.
Apparently, in the last 4 months or so, a new regulation had been imposed restricting recruitment to anyone who has a tatoo covering more than 25% of any exposed body part. She's absolutely crushed, especially because she had originally hoped to enlist several months ago, but delayed because of personal reasons. She had originally tried to join several months ago and fell just short of one section of the test.
She's been to every recruiter for the armed forces in town (she very much wants to be a marine though) and they've all pretty much said "there's nothing we can do for you without a waiver" although they universally praised her requisitites as being the qualities of a great soldier.
Does anybody have any suggestions, ideas, opinions, or comments on any way she could enlist? I would hope very strongly that her choice of body art (which was done over 8 years ago) would not prevent the United States Armed Forces from accepting a qualified applicant.
I'd certainly appreciate any advice anyone has. Thanks for your time.