So you're calling me a criminal Fred?
I actually can't argue as I've been to jail on more than 1 occaision, albeit all for driving at speeds well above the limit. No other type of criminal history for me, unless you count the time the Arvada Bomb Squad had to call me while I was Fort Knox for Basic Training to "disarm" the "bomb" I left behind in my apartment. It was actually a logic probe and alarm setup I had made in my High School Electronics class. I forgot them in the closet and the cleaning lady freaked when she went to clear out the apartment.
I have the same basic conversations with my gradfather. I'll even admit to agreeing with some aspects of it, or at least recognizing their signifigance. Thats why I'll never have tats on my hands or neck. I make sure that I can at least throw on a log sleeve shirt and pants and appear "normal" so as to not allow the stigma of tats to be an issue in job interviews and other such scenarios where my love of body art may be a hinderance. I myself find it distasteful when I see soldiers that have tats visible in their full uniform. It lacks professionalism in my eyes, and I probably have more ink than most of them. Part of it for me too is that I feel tattoos should be a personal thing, not a piece of flashy attention getter jewelery. When people blatantly get tats on their hands, neck, and face (especially when lacking any signifacant tats elsewhere) I feel they only got them there for the "cool" factor and to get attention.
As for the tats I do have, well they all hold (or held) some sort of signifigance to me and who I am, or atleast did at the time frame that I got them. I've never gone out and had one of those spur of the moment tats. All of mine were thought over for months or years prior to actually getting them. I will admit that I have tats now that don't neccessarily mean anything to me anymore, but I don't regret them in any way either. They still continue to represent that part of me, and serve as a reminder to my own evolution as a person. They create a story of who I was and even where I was (as a person and physically) as I've also tried to get a tat at most of the places I've visited. I have a tat I got in Vancouver, its where my wife(girl friend at the time) and I spent 2 wks vacationing upon my return from Iraq; I got a tat in Salina, KS where I completed my last phase of BNCOC; one from a shop just outside of Fort Carson where I was stationed for 1.5yrs; 3 from near Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD where I attended my AIT and later H8 schools; I also got 1 from Black Kat tattoo in Boise, ID where I spent 2wks on TDY supporting the 92 TSB on my first extended recovery support mission. I was going to get one in Iraq but unfortunately my buddy who was doing them got in trouble for it before I could get mine. Cody will now be doing my "deployment" tat here shortly. I've tried getting tats in the various places I've been with the Army, although sometime the timing doesn't work. I've missed Fort McCoy, WI; Grafenwoehr, Germany; Camp Williams, UT; and Fort Hood, TX. Eventually I might make it back out to those areas and get a piece done there to keep it going. Hell, I might just go out a get laser removal on all my ink and go back to being naked. Who knows?
