Why do special forces operatives have an identifying tattoo when they are supposed to be covert?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “billy waugh knife“
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Written by: Bea44
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Why do special forces operatives have an identifying tattoo when they are supposed to be covert?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “billy waugh knife“
About Bea44
I was attached to the Intelligence Corps during my army service. In this setting, I met a number of soldiers whom I know for a fact were genuinely SAS or SBS. It was not unusual for them to have tattoos relating to their previous units (most often Airborne for SAS and Royal Marines for SBS) but I have never encountered a person whom I knew to be special forces who had a tattoo indicating their status as such.
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There are tattoo regulations within each service branch that must be adhered to. Within the SOF community, there was a time when tattoos were frowned upon because they were considered VDMs (Visually Distinguishing Marks). And while they were common, most who had them only had one or two that could be easily concealed under clothing. The most secretive groups would have a general understanding to not add any new tattoos or similar elective marks while assigned to an operational team.
Then in the 2000s, there was a renaissance in tattooing and it became highly prolific in the US population as a whole, particularly in the combat arms branches of the military services. Does that mean they are still forbidden? No, but the regulations still must be adhered to. And still the most secretive groups that require a cover story for the individual to operate under will just incorporate the existing tattoos.
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Why do special forces operatives have an identifying tattoo when they are supposed to be covert?
Because having a tattoo doesn’t affect your ability to be covert, if you actually need to be. Note that most of the time, SF isn’t actually doing tons of covert missions anyway.
If a guy has some ink on his arm, so what? That doesn’t affect his ability to do his mission.
Note: US military regulations already require that tattoos not be visible in the dress uniform, so even if you have them it’s usually pretty easy to cover them up. Also, lots of tattoos are only really identifying to those “in the know”. I haven’t actually seen many people with “US ARMY SPECIAL FORCES” tatted on their arm, but they may use symbology that is recognizable within the community.
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Ummm … so what you usually see is Arm or Leg tattoos, usually when you are younger and just get to a team, 1–2 years in, remember guys switch ODA’s often, HALO to Scuba to MAROPs from a mountain team etc, it really just depends … that said each ODA has a “logo” if you will, sort of like any professional team or company has some animal (panther, shark etc) that usually is apart of the DNA of said ODA. Some guys get that tat, on their leg / arm or what not, it is fairy common. As for the actual skull / green beret, Ethos etc … I have never seen it. At least my years with 1st Group … never once.
Even the guys that tat jump wings after airborne school on their chest … is a bit over the top … more common to see a specific unit logo mixed in with something else. All that said, tattoos are common, as a young solider sitting in the barracks, it just seems like a good idea, especially if your buddies are doing it lol! That said, Army you must adhere to AR 670–1 and command / unit policies as well.
What I mean by that is AR 670–1 has policies, but a commander can modify or add to them. If your group commander says no new tats 6 months out from a deployment and no unit designations etc … you better adhere to it .. or you can get slapped in the dick. SF standards are more relaxed by conventional standards though, plus prior service and older recruits can get waivers for certain tattoos is some locations when they join.
Anyway, TLDR, I have never seen anyone with an actual green beret tattoo’d on them, just team, company mascots and and shit. I myself got a Chinese Kanji Tattoo after Kiss of the Dragon came out with my friend Kenny in Seattle (1st group is in Ft. Lewis, WA about an hour away) … I still have this tattoo .. they said it meant honor … but I don’t know … I have always been too scared to every ask hahahaha!
Eventually I will get a full sleeve cover it up with some dope shit. I’m 38 and have been out of the Army Since 2005, so some stuff as probably changed. When I do get my tattoo .. might be a ranger school class or some fucked up saying I used to hear at SFAS (maybe some of the very awesome art on those latrine doors at Camp Mackall 🙂 – (if anyone has been to SERE or selection (at least late 90’s early 2000s) you know what I am talking about! Could be a roster number … just something intimate detailed that means something … and it is this thinking that most guys adapt when they get their ink. But if a guy made it thru selection and the Q course and served on a team … and gets one .. so be it … but if he’s in the pool and his Team Sergeant sees that shit … he’s getting made fun of and hazed for a bit most definitely! (I say the pool … so it’s common to do Delta Queens from a CH-47 and you train in the pool leading up (how to jump in the water without fucking up your neck for example) or could be pre-scuba etc … or hell even just working out downrange … shirt usually comes off so you can’t really hide that shit.
As for covert … I mean you aren’t going to see it in a firefight or pulling BDOC at Camp Vance in Bagram lmao … at least by anyone outside the base, and in garrison, I mean you wear tabs and berets on post … pretty easy to tell what unit you’re with. This is not some Jason Bourne / James bond shit ….Now if a team 6 guy or a CAG / ACE (Delta) guy walks around with the JSOC unit patch tattoo’d to his forearm with DELTA FORCE on it … that might be a little too much and sort of defeat the covert nature of those units. Special Forces aren’t ”Covert” per se (hardly every do any clandestine operations) the mission is counter drug, counter insurgency, some QRF / BDOC stuff, training foreign military, Laze targets, some HVT extraction and Red cycle to Advanced Camp, instructor at some school or selection etc … but don’t confuse “Quiet Professional” with .. “Covert action” – only select SMU’s and Tier 1 units (of which there are only two) really operate in that area.
Hope that helps a but – if not, well go get your “303rd Logistical Studies Group” tattoo and “Fire it up!”
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They generally don’t have tattoos. Some may of had tattoos earlier, such as some paratroopers prior to entering SF. Many have them removed. Tattoos identify various special forces is a movie ploy. In real life its seldom seen. Please don’t go according to movies and TV in regards to accuracy about anything military.
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I’ve never heard of this need for an identifying tattoo. Usually, within SOF groups, they are good enough at bookkeeping that they would not need a tattoo to identify you. It is a huge liability if this were true, as if you were caught, you couldn’t hide under a cover story.
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The ink isn’t on their forehead. It’s a permanent identifier to each other should one be required. The wearer will be asked one or two questions which will establish their bone fides if it’s in any doubt.
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Usually we want to put our blood type on our arm. this is helpful when we are getting a transfusion.
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Covert doesn’t mean undercover like some secret agent sort. Often they are identifiable as enemy if spotted. They may be dressed as civilians in a car driving right past the enemy, if for whatever reason they are stopped and hauled out of the car they will be carrying a lot of kit , firearms communications ,medpacks , explosives etc. These things will give up the game before a tattoo will.
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there are no real identifying tattoos ,just some art work on some arms chests backs and legs that’s all ,no identifier is given except for a challage coin which is recognised world wide.when a mission says covert you do not have any paperwork that would id you as a specwar asset tier 1 at all.people know you by face only and prints if mangled up.
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Most likely they were in spec ops and are damn proud. These tats are only recognized by new or past members. I waited until 20 years to put a small SAS DAGGER on my bumper, long with Who Dares Wins ..
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I think you are confusing covert with “undercover.” SF doesn’t typically do that. They do operate behind enemy lines, but do so in some form of a US military uniform (even if sterile-meaning devoid of skill badges and unit patches).
SF and Spec Ops use camouflage, operate at night, sterile uniforms to maintain their ability to be undetected (covert). Tattoos would only come into play if captured, in which case the captors would know they are SF or whatever…but that doesn’t tell them what they were doing and why.
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Well, generally they don’t. I was not allowed to have any tattoos. OK, I got one but I made sure it could not identify me as an American and it absolutely was above my shirt line. When I was in, tattoos were not as common as today. Many tattoos will get you disqualed from even joining the military. It ain’t what you think. Also, soldiers ,as many have stated before, do not generally participate in clandestine operations. There is a big diff between covert and clandestine. Covert means we’re not exactly running around waving a flag and wearing furry green hats and clandestine means we’re not even here, you didn’t see us and if you did it’s a figment of your imagination.
so a guy with a tattoo isn’t a problem, unless it’s a problem. People from all countries have tattoos.
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Who said they do?
I’ve never heard of an “identifying tattoo”.
Some SOF members may have tattoos but I don’t recall ever hearing of one being used for identification purposes.
There are some Special Mission Units that will NOT accept anyone with tattoos. That’s for a reason.
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A buddy of mine with 24 years on the teams says the tats are a problem if they want to be covert. So yes, it’s a problem.
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It’s not a universal thing. I didn’t have any tattoos, and I’d say most of the other SF operatives I knew didn’t. Or if they had tattoos, they didn’t specifically identify them as SF, and they were usually concealed under clothing anyway.
Of course, body art is a generational thing. Tattoos proliferated under generation X and beyond, so they would be far more likely to be found today than in my day.
Most SF operations are not covert in the sense that they are trying to avoid being identified as US operatives anyway. When they are, growing beards and wearing local clothing covers the issue about 99% of the time.
Nonetheless, the military has regulations regarding tattoos and where they can be worn.
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Command is never happy. In the early 80s I hade a friend who was a A team member. His face and name tag showed up on a news magazine. He was removed from the team for safety reasons and sent to Korea. He was screwed by the press and very bitter.
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I have two uncles, one who is a retired member of 5th SFG, and the other who is a retired Recon Marine. Neither of them bears any form of tattoo that would be considered an identifying mark. My dad is the oldest of the three brothers, and has no tattoos. The middle brother (the Green Beret) has one tattoo and it’s the “Coat of Arms” of the family name. The youngest, (the Marine) has several, but they’re all pretty run of the mill. He has a “Eagle, Globe, and Anchor”, the crest of 2nd Recon Battalion, and finally the Iwo Jima Memorial.
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So long as you keep the tattoos somewhere that can be easily hidden it’s not that hard. Also keep in mind the way military members dress, speak, hold themselves, and act generally tends to give them away before you can even see their tattoos. Most of the covertness comes from keeping their identities hidden, which is really easy when they have to wear long sleeved shirts and gloves all day anyways.
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Not all special forces / special operation units are born equal
In the U.S military for instance , this days the green berets no longer act as covert agents behind enemy lines.
I mean they would be used behind enemy lines to train groups to fight against a regime etc but they will not blend into the population like in the cold war
They would probably set a camp in a remote area and use their skills to train the locals but they won’t run around in the middle of the enemy’s city in civilian clothing
In this types of missions ,a tattoo is less of an issue
Seals and Rangers are also not top secret so this units should not have any problems showing off their tattoos
The ones that still do the whole undercover types of missions are DELTA and DEVGRU
This are the units that go through avoidance training , avoiding the FBI while they try to hunt them down inside the United states and stuff like that
In those units
They have support specialists that help them conceal their identity
This include prop specialists to change their facial features (Even their nose , ears) with masks beards and makeup – this is done to avoid pattern recognition and facial recognition software in other countries
They can also add specialized makeup to add or hide tattoos
and other accessories to change their look
From what i heard , if the Tattoo is a real problem , they can have it removed and unit will participate in the bill (but that is just a rumor , i have no proof of that)
One thing to remember , even if a soldier has tattoos , if they are in places he / she can easily hide under a shirt or pants , they are not considered a problem at all
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I see tattoos on a lot of police officers and military men and they are very masculine looking in nature. A sign of power. But I would agree that if you are an operative that not having any would be best because your opponent may know which operative is wearing a certain tattoo.
Remember all the SS men who were trying to blend in to the masses after world war two? They all had thier blood type tattooed under thier arm. A dead giveaway.
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Special Forces Soldiers are not called”Operatives” nor do they sport an “Identifying Tattoo”. Some SF Soldiers do have tattoos, but there is no official tattoo. Many SF Soldiers go on to work at other Departments and Agencies within the Federal Government, and some of those organizations frown upon ink.
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I can not answer this question with any real information.
On the one hand seeing tattoos on operator’s in Hollywood, like in the movie the American. Well that is Hollywood, they can and do add tattoo’s so that people can identify them as “operators” from their past. As there is no regulation on tattooing yourself AFTER you have served.
AS far as having non military like tattoos before hand, well that is fine. yes they are identifying marks, but tattoos ARE NOT registered in ones service file, or in the medical record.
Finally, there are only about 500 people in all the military who operate in an environment where anonymity is 100% necessary, and these guys probably do not have any type of military tattoo. But even then, who is going to see said tattoo?
Once you are captured, well they know who you are already at that point.
I have heard that having tattoos can prevent you form becoming DEVGRU or DELTA; I don’t know if it is true or not, their is a lot of MYTH in the military.
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