A few years ago they'd have probably given him a tattoo waiver. But not these days. In this lousy economy, more and more young (and not so young) people are walking into recruitment offices looking for a job. The Marines, like all the branches of the service, are having no trouble filling quotas and, in fact, are turning people away for disqualifiers that were once previously waived. It's tightening up. The armed forces are becoming very selective on who they enlist (and who they allow to reenlist).
The days of the military being that last "fall-back" option as a guaranteed job are over.
I’m in 100% agreement. A few years ago, this probably would have been overlooked.
But, it appears that people continuously want to push the line - so a line had to be drawn somewhere. How’s the old adage go? Don’t feed the monster. Well, for decades there were either no, or very relaxed tattoo standards; people pushing the envelope have caused the officers to create rules that are very stringent.