Most of the older Navy guys with tats .... their tats had nothing to do with their service...
More about being young, drunk, and stooopid.
When I was that age .... after a Friday happy hour... a few college buds & I had our ears pierced by one of them's wife (worked in a place) for free. Unplanned, just seemed like the thing to do
. I kept it in about six months. Just as dumb as some of my former Navy buds were ... but much easier to fix than Fread's
.