When the Army reversed its much-hated tattoo policy, many cheered Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey, who was a driving force behind the decision.
But Dailey, who became the Army's top senior enlisted soldier on Jan. 30, doesn't have any ink of his own — for now.
Your SMA has recently given some serious thought about getting a tattoo, and he had an inspired idea:
What if he asked soldiers to pick some ideas for a tattoo, and then put the best up for an Army-wide vote?
"I'm a big morale guy. I'm a positive person," Dailey said. "We're always trying to raise morale, so I said one day, 'let's set up a website and the soldiers get to pick my tattoo, they vote on it.' Could you imagine?"
Dailey's staff quickly warned him of the potential pratfalls of putting it up to a public vote. SMA himself joked that soldiers could make him get a My Little Pony tattoo, and that would be no good.
All that said, Dailey isn't ruling out the idea. He even encouraged Army Times to write this story as a trial balloon.
So, with that in mind, what should SMA's tattoo look like? Send your ideas, sketches or photos to mtan@armytimes.com. Here's his official bio if you need some inspiration.
Just remember, Mrs. Dailey probably will have a bigger say on the matter than you will.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
