War Ink Veterans Stories of War and Finding Peace

War Ink: Stories of war veterans “coming all the way home”
Richmond Confidential
Bonnie Chan
December 22, 2014

Jason Deitch has a tattoo on the underside of his forearm that reads, in three parts, “First I served. Then I healed. Now I serve that cause.”

Deitch is an Army veteran, military sociologist and veteran advocate whose tattoo encapsulates his life’s mission to help war veterans readjust to civilian life and “come all the way home.” Last year, along with Contra Costa County Library senior manager Chris Brown, Deitch embarked on a journey that would become his greatest piece of advocacy for veterans yet: a project called War Ink.

War Ink, which launched on Veterans Day, is an online multimedia exhibit that seeks to offer an authentic documentation of veterans’ experiences coming home from war. Using video, still photography, audio and text, the exhibit features Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans from across California – each with their own personal story, spelled out in ink on skin.

“Warfighter culture has become a very different thing than civilian culture, and a lot of the aspects of warfighter culture are antithetical to civilian culture,” Deitch said.

Deitch said a tenet and survival mechanism of military culture is a wariness of expressing pain and emotion – hence the nonverbal expression through body art common among war vets.

Army veteran Noah Bailey, who lost both legs below the knee during an IED attack in Afghanistan in 2005, has a tattoo on his chest of his Chuck Taylor shoes flying up to heaven.
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Kentucky National Guardsman Sues Over Tattoo Rules

Kentucky guardsman sues over Army tattoo rules at Fort Campbell
Associated Press
Written by
Brett Barrouquere
May 1, 2014

LOUISVILLE, KY. — A Kentucky National Guard soldier with aspirations of joining a U.S. Army special operations unit wants a federal judge to overturn the military’s new regulations concerning soldiers with tattoos.

Staff Sgt. Adam C. Thorogood of Nashville, Tennessee, said the tattoos covering his left arm from the elbow to the wrist aren’t harmful, but the Army is using the body art against him and stopping him from fulfilling a dream of joining “The Nightstalkers,” the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Thorogood’s attorneys said the new rules are preventing their client from seeking appointment as a warrant officer.

Thorogood, 28, sued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Paducah, Kentucky, seeking to have the new rules declared unconstitutional. He is seeking $100 million in damages.
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Soldiers told new rules governing tattoos

Soldiers told new rules governing tattoos, grooming standards on the way
Stars and Stripes
By Josh Smith
Published: September 22, 2013

Editor's note: This story has been updated.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — In the works for more than a year, strict new rules governing things like tattoos and grooming for soldiers have been approved by the Secretary of the Army and are only awaiting a final signature, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond Chandler said Saturday.

Speaking to troops at bases in eastern Afghanistan, Chandler said Secretary John McHugh has approved but not yet officially put his name to the changes to Army Regulation 670-1.

“We’re just waiting for the secretary to sign,” Chandler said during a town hall meeting with soldiers from the 4th Combat Brigade Team, 10th Mountain Division, at Forward Operating Base Gamberi. He made similar remarks to troops at FOB Fenty in Jalalabad.

Media reports last year identified potential changes to rules governing things such make-up and fingernail polish, hair styles, body piercings, and the length of sideburns, among other items. Chandler, however, only confirmed changes to the policy on tattoos.

Under the new policy, new recruits will not be allowed to have tattoos that show below the elbows and knees or above the neckline, Chandler told troops. Current soldiers may be grandfathered in, but all soldiers will still be barred from having any tattoos that are racist, sexist or extremist.

Once the rules are implemented, soldiers will sit down with their unit leaders and “self identify” each tattoo. Soldiers will be required to pay for the removal of any tattoo that violates the policy, Chandler said.
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Disabled OEF-OIF veteran told to cover tattoo by Lake Wales Skydiving?

DISABLED PURPLE HEART VETERAN, EMBARASSED AT LOCAL BUSINESS
April 3, 2013

I am a disabled combat veteran. I served in Iraq and worked in Afghanistan. I took an IED because my country asked me too, and I was injured by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. I have a Purple Heart and an ARCOM with Valor. I fully expect to be treated differently when I am visiting another country - when I am in America I expect equality and toleration; but what I experienced today is something that I never would have thought I'd have to go through in my own country. The country I fought for!

I am a skydiver with around 300 jumps under my belt. I've done jumps from 30,000 feet, helicopters, hot air balloons, wingsuit skydives and so forth. So with that being said I travel around doing this sport quite a bit. Today was my second time at a dropzone called "Florida Skydiving Center / Skydive Lake Wales".

Coincidentally there are soldiers from the country of Qatar being trained there.
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Is this America the land of freedom and free speech along with free expression? Then why does this business have the right to tell a veteran, or anyone, to cover up a tattoo?

Tattoo reminds Marine to read the Bible, have faith

Tattoo reminds Marine to read the Bible, have faith
Billings Gazette
By Mary Pickett

Joshua Grisak, 28, estimates that half or more of the U.S. Marines he served with had tattoos.

Grisak was among them.

Before he was deployed to Iraq in 2008, the Polson native got a tattoo of a cross with the word “Jesus” on his right calf.

Stationed at Camp Pendleton, he and several other Marines had tattoos done at the same time in nearby Carlsbad, Calif.

One of group had his son’s name tattooed along his side.

Grisak said his own tattoo is an expression of his faith and a reminder for him to read the Bible and not get caught up in stupid things. Although it represents his own religious beliefs, it also means not force it on others, he said.

When he returned from Iraq, Grisak had a Charlie Russell-style buffalo skull tattooed on his upper right arm, inspired by Marines who had tattooed symbols of their home states, including Texas lone stars, an outline of Alaska and state flags.

Grisak also had an outline of a large cross and comedy and tragedy drama masks tattooed on his back with the phrase “Life is pain” written across the top.
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HEALTH-US: Soldier's Tragic Suicide Just One of Dozens

HEALTH-US: Soldier's Tragic Suicide Just One of Dozens
By Aaron Glantz


Brian Rand

SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 10 (IPS) - Dane and April Somdahl own the Alien Art tattoo parlor on Camp Lejeune Boulevard -- just outside the sprawling Marine Corps base of the same name in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

In an interview from the back of her shop, April talked about how her customers' tastes have changed since George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

As the war approached, she said, "The most popular tattoos were eagles and United States flags. Those were coming in so often and, you know, everybody was like 'I gotta get my flag.'"

Then, a year into the war, the Somdahls noticed a new wave of Marines coming in to get information from their military dog tags tattooed onto their bodies. Most said they wanted so called "meat tags" so their bodies could be identified when they die.

"We went through over a year of meat tags, but then that passed too," she said. "Now we are seeing a lot of memorial tattoos. Even the wives are getting memorial tattoos -- moms and dads in their fifties too. And in a lot of cases they're getting their first tattoos. And they're saying 'We didn't think we would ever get a tattoo, but this one is to remember my son.'"

Because of the changing needs of their clientele, the Somdahls no longer blast rock and roll music inside the shop. Instead, the artists work in silence.

"The mood has died," April told IPS.
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http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39203