So I'm thinking about getting some ink done, I'm finally in a place where I can get it done and not have to worry about outside forces fucking it all up (fuckin' submarines, anyways) and as soon as I start getting my check from the gov't I should have enough money to do it too. So now I need to find a place to get it done at, and I need to figure out once and for all just what I want done. I've thought about it a lot, and I know that even though my time in the navy was painful and pretty well miserable, I want at least one sailor tattoo, and the one I'm leaning towards is getting my swallows done. Kinda like this:
only horizontal, and on my chest, like the swallows are normally done. For those that don't know about them, it's an old tradition that if you sail 5,000 miles you get one swallow, 10,000 you get two swallows, etc. Back in the day, 5,000 miles was a pretty long trip, so if you had a swallow you'd been out for a while. Well, anymore 5,000 miles isn't that much, but I figure a deployment is pretty equivocal, and since I've been on two, I can get both swallows and not feel like an ass. Occasionally people have it so that the two swallows are carrying a scroll or banner between them that has a saying on it, Do Well And Doubt Not isn't the saying that they used to use, hell I'm not even sure if there was a standard saying, but while I've been a big fan of that saying, I'm not sure if I'll include it or not. And while a lot of people get their swallows done stylistically, like the Sailor Jerry versions:
I've always striven for realism, so that's why I want realistic looking swallows.
I've also thought about getting the Cock & Swine tattoos. They go on the top of your feet, a rooster on one and a pig on the other. It's an old good luck charm, thinking that if you've got the tattoos then you won't drown because the Cock & Swine almost never drown, the rooster finds a piece of driftwood to perch upon and the pig is such an excellent swimmer that they both are the last creatures to die if a ship were to sink.
only horizontal, and on my chest, like the swallows are normally done. For those that don't know about them, it's an old tradition that if you sail 5,000 miles you get one swallow, 10,000 you get two swallows, etc. Back in the day, 5,000 miles was a pretty long trip, so if you had a swallow you'd been out for a while. Well, anymore 5,000 miles isn't that much, but I figure a deployment is pretty equivocal, and since I've been on two, I can get both swallows and not feel like an ass. Occasionally people have it so that the two swallows are carrying a scroll or banner between them that has a saying on it, Do Well And Doubt Not isn't the saying that they used to use, hell I'm not even sure if there was a standard saying, but while I've been a big fan of that saying, I'm not sure if I'll include it or not. And while a lot of people get their swallows done stylistically, like the Sailor Jerry versions:
I've always striven for realism, so that's why I want realistic looking swallows.
I've also thought about getting the Cock & Swine tattoos. They go on the top of your feet, a rooster on one and a pig on the other. It's an old good luck charm, thinking that if you've got the tattoos then you won't drown because the Cock & Swine almost never drown, the rooster finds a piece of driftwood to perch upon and the pig is such an excellent swimmer that they both are the last creatures to die if a ship were to sink.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
anticus:
Again - we are NOT going to have green of any sort nor cards for that matter. Nothing the INS can mistake for a marriage of convenience.
morgan:
The closest I can come to describing it, if you're coming at it from a psychological standpoint, is very mild disossociation. It happens to me when I play Guitar Hero, too.