Military Tattoos

More About Military Tattoo Designs

The military tattoo originated with the United States Navy. Sailors developed an appreciation for the art form on voyages to the Far East. When they returned home with tattoos of anchors, mermaids, particulars about their sailing vessels and other symbols related to sailing, other military branches began to develop their own novel styles of tattoo. This started in the early 1900's, and the art of military tattoos has grown steadily ever since.

The military tattoo came from sailors adventures in the Far East. When their voyages took them around the world, they discovered the art of the tattoo as a beneficial way to memorialize their service and to show their dedication to their cause. The tattoos were often of things that were notable to them, or that would readily denote them as sailors. That's why anchors, mermaids, and sea creatures are still fashionable images in tattoos today.

The Army soon noticed the practices of the Navy. Many Army tattoos currently employ some variation of the American Flag. Whether the flag is integrated into an eagle's wing or into the shape of a heart, the red, white and blue generally plays a notable role. Another subject sometimes found in military tattoos, especially in the Army, is that of the POW-MIA theme. These tattoos pay respect to the prisoners of war who are missing in action.

The United States Marine Corps has it own versions of the military tattoo. Though not as wildly celebrated in this branch of the service as in the Navy and Army, the Marines still have a lengthy history of tattooing within specific regiments and brigades. One of the most fashionable Marine Corps tattoos is of a bulldog. Marines are typically the first strike in a United States Military operation, and they pride themselves on tenacity, strength, and stubbornness. The bulldog is an ideal symbol for what they portray.

Those who serve in the Air Force usually wear tattoos with wings incorporated in them. Pilots may include numbers or particulars of a certain fighter. The history of Air Force tattoos is still being written, but as the practice of tattooing becomes more fashionable, it is growing within the ranks.

A particular connection exists between persons who have fought together in warfare. They have endured the most trying circumstances and may have even watched their friends die. It is a bond that most people cannot conceive and one that ties people together long after their terms of service are done. At any time and in any place, people who served together can be united, even if their terms of service were years apart from each other, by the mere recognition of a tattoo.

When people stand together in war, they develop a bond that is stronger than the normal ties of friendship that most of us are acquainted with. As they fulfill their term of military service, a new tattoo can help to consolidate those bonds. Military tattoos function as a memorial each time they see it, of the soldiers that they fought with, and laughed with, and others that died along the way.

Amongst persons who have fought side by side, tattoos are much more than just ink and pictures. Military tattoos are an unwavering reminder of the hardships and struggles that were endured as a team, and of those who may have been left behind. Even after some people have left the military, they choose to get a new tattoo in order to recall upon a fallen companion or other notable event.

Military tattoos show loyalty to unit and fatherland and employ the respective symbols of military organizations, teams, and even events, as well as more generic images, such as military equipment and weapons. View more Military Tattoos right here.