UW-W Veteran Services Tattoos: Stories of Service Exhibit Preview
Department: UW-W Veterans & Military Services
Department Statement
Veterans & Military Service’s mission is to help make your transition from military culture to academic excellence as smooth as possible while making your college experience rewarding and meaningful. Our dedicated staff and resources are here to help you on your journey. We are here to support service members, veterans, and their families from registration to graduation.
Exhibit Statement:
In honor of Veterans Day 2022, we are proud to present UW-W Veteran Services Tattoos: Stories of Service. It is an opportunity for our military affiliated students to show their tattoos and to tell their story. Tattoos have been a part of military service and culture reaching as far back as antiquity. Throughout the years, service members have used tattoos as a form of celebration of accomplishments and battles won and remembrance for lost comrades. Every tattoo tells a story, and we hope to give our military affiliated students a chance to share theirs with you.
Michael R. Kujawski
I apologize for the blurry state of my tattoo. My tattoo is a combination of these two logos. A skull is wearing the Military Police helmet with the crossed pistols in the background. My nick name is on the ribbon (KUJ pro: Kooj)
It was 1979 and I was stationed in then West Germany, policing the troops that would be the first line of defense should the East Germans attack.
It was summer. Me and my buddies had taken to hanging out in the local park and befriended some locals around our age. Some were West German reservists, eager to teach us their version of football. One day my roommate showed these fellas his sketch. We remarked how it would be “neat” to get a tattoo and they pointed us to a beat-up van parked not too far away. Our comrades assured us that the fella living inside had done tattoos all over Europe and was very good at his craft. Oh, and don’t worry about all the citations under his windshield wipers. They were a scam so the Polizei would leave him alone and besides, they don’t tow cars on weekends.
The fella that inked me was living out of the van. His tool was a metal engraver with a bunch of small sewing needles attached to the carbide tip. This was 1979 and engraving tools, to my knowledge were not commercially available and the only place one might safely get a tattoo was in the Red Light District.
Boy, did we get in trouble when word got out what we had done. First of all, the possibility of Hepatitis made us “non-deployable” for a week or so, which supposedly affected our “Readiness Status” which made the Commander look bad.
Secondly, (and even worse), we were constantly taught never to get into any kind of situation that could be twisted into a means of blackmail. Everyone in this unit had SECRET or TOP SECRET security clearances and our higher-ups would have been very happy had we never interacted with people outside of our unit. Spies, blackmail, secret cameras, informers and so on were the real deal back then.
So, the Commander instructed our Sergeant to make an example of us. That Saturday, with full packs on, we set out at “Double Time” to run till we dropped. Well, this was not our first rodeo. We knew what to expect and had a plan. Thankfully we were to run after lunch, in the heat of the day, with full stomachs, along the usual route. While the Sergeant was out front setting the pace, someone would start to fall behind and pretend to stumble to the ground. As he fumbled to get up, a quick finger down the throat induced vomiting. One down, two to go. This plan worked best in locations that had bushes nearby. Soon enough we all returned to the barracks, “too sick” to continue. But not sick enough to skip a little “Boogie Fever” at the local disco. After all, it was our day off.
Kris McMenamin
I got this tattoo in the spring of 2009 in Aberdeen, Maryland. I was a 19-year-old private who just arrived at my MOS school. At this time, Tattoos were kind of a no go with most units, especially if you were still in student status in the Marine Corps. Knowing that I could get in a little bit of trouble including a company level NJP, I did it anyway.
This was my first tattoo, and I bled a lot do to engaging in some unauthorized beverages the night before. This was my little protest, and I wore it with pride. My NCO’s found out the following Monday morning at PT. SSGT Wolfe saw it and asked me about it. Knowing that honesty was the best policy, I told the truth and he asked to see it again. SSGT Wolfe slapped the new tattoo and called me a few choice things and left it at that. A few weeks later some other students got caught with new tattoos at the schoolhouse, and were placed on restriction. I know that my “Motto” tattoo is basic and cliché, but I wouldn’t do anything different.
Brent Meier USMC
Card Portion - (EGA) Representing the USMC, (F) representing the company I train with, Fox 2/24, (6 of spades) was squad internal where we all decided to draw a card from a deck of cards and whatever card we picked we had to get a tattoo of, representing our comradery towards one another.
Rifle - (M27 IAR) The rifle I carry with the marines
Reaper - Representing death and all those who have given their lives for their country and a greater good.
Crow - Representing all the restless nights that marines and other service members spend keeping watch.
Hourglass - Symbolizing all the time that is given up and spent away from home, friends, and family by members of the military.