by William Nadeau

Created on: July 25, 2009

Currently active duty personnel are not allowed to have all the wild tattoos they were way back in the eighties. There has developed a mass difference between outlaw biker tattoos and the ones obtained by disciplined enlisted personnel.

First of all the type of tattoos that bikers get tend to show some wild outlook on life. While on active duty in the early eighties I got myself a repossessed Harley 1000 cc Sportster which got made into a custom cycle. My commanding officer back then wasn't bothered when I got FTW tattooed over my heart. I told him it was a way to flip Russia off as I pledged allegiance.

Einsteins theory of relativity says that as one reaches the speed of light time slows down. In order to show the outlaws I rode with that my Jar-head mind wasn't really very slow I got E = M C squared on my tight hand knuckles and told them it would help my chopper run faster back to base and I'd never have to worry about getting there very late.

Both sides of this story can be a bit superstitious. That is why I got one tattoo that kind of shocked them all. Everyone tends to believe thirteen is bad luck but the tattoo of 13 that is on my left forearm is just an example of math to me no matter what the commanding officer or outlaw biker gang president says about it.

One can get a tattoo that pertains to bikers or the military by itself. That is why the old Harley Eagle surrounded with the lines Live to ride. Ride to live fits in easily with the bikers and a tattoo like USMC fits in with the Marine Corps.

At least if one is stationed where there are several tattoo parlors just off base he or she can get all kinds of other tattoos that fit their feelings as long as they are wild looking. One could just get a flower on his shoulder and tell any woman he meets that he has a rose for her.

On the other shoulder one can get one that is truly nasty. The plain number 69 doesn't look offensive right away until one gets drunk enough to explain it is a form of having sex.

You can even get one that generally insults just about every faithful Christian and defend it by saying it represents a form of faith warriors held. It can crack any young Marine up when he hears Odin has a lot of alcohol to serve dead warriors in Valhalla after they get killed in combat. He can look into that form of faith after learning the Vikings worshipped Odin as the concurred s0o much with their swords.

That last tattoo can fit in with both sides because every active duty Marine was trained to fight and every outlaw biker says he will kill the guy who tries to rip his chopper off from him.

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