I thought the tattoo issues arose after they no longer needed so many people that they were overlooking felonies; I didn’t think these were simultaneous events. I also remember the “blue to green” program, where it seemed they coerced many long-serving Air Force and Navy personnel into switching to Army and Marine units to get more “boots on the ground”.
No, different tattoo issues.
First: perfectly qualified kids who have tattoos that go up a little high on their necks can't join. Eventually (wisely) the standards were changed.
Later: the Sergeant Major of the Army changed the tattoo rules--you can stay in if you have tattoos on the neck or below the elbow, but you're unable to go to OCS (there were other stupid issues later on due to that idiot and his tattoo policies, but that's the one I remember the clearest).