[OneWingedShark]

Don’t you kinda give up a few rights when you enlist, agree to follow certain military codes and rules?

May I direct your attention to two pieces of information in the article?

• Staff Sgt. Adam C. Thorogood
• under regulations revised in 2011

You don't get to staff sergeant in three years, so the terms he agreed to were different.
The constitution places this regulation on Congress:

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

While the Supreme Court did carve out an exception for civil law, the possibility of retroactive rule-changes impacting punishments was their main argument — so if these revisions are applied to the staff sergeant then he has a pretty valid case. (Incidentally this shows why things likke military regulations, and 'normal' civil law should, at that high a level, be relatively stable.)

[Mr Rogers]

Your ‘constitutional rights’ are limited under the military. There is no good reason why a mustache couldn’t go past the corner of your mouth in the military, but those are the rules.

Further, this rule applies to FUTURE promotions. The guy is not being demoted for the tattoos he has...but yeah, lots of tattoos can limit your upward mobility, even in the civilian world.

Heck, try getting a tattoo with the “N” word on your arm and owning an NBA team at the same time...