In January of last year the Air Force changed their restrictions on visible tattoos, removing the 25% of exposed skin verbiage. Essentially AFI 36-2203, Dress and Personal Appearance only restricts tattoos visible in service dress now, as long as the tattoos are not offensive, racist, etc. Sleeves and other large tattoos may now be visible in short sleeve uniforms, etc in the Air Force.
Since the CAP standards roughly mirrored the Air Force standards and directly reference the AFI in 39-1, it would stand to reason that we would follow suit. How would one go about submitting a suggestion through channels for a change to 39-1 to allow members with body art to wear short sleeve uniforms with their tattoos visible?
I know other members with extensive tattooing and plan on sleeving out at least one arm in the near future. If and until the regulation is changed I will of course wear long sleeve uniforms in accordance with the current standard.
Somewhere in 39-1 there is the recommended accepted procedure for uniform changes. Believe it is in the back. Look for it. Basically it is: prepare a narrative and submit through channels - that is, squadron, Group, Wing, Region - to the National Uniform Committee. If any level disagrees, this idea is far too early.
Thanks, Luis! I'll check 39-1 more carefully.
Chapter 13, Paragraph 13.2.