From a young age I always wanted tattoos. I saw them on my uncles when I was growing up in the Philippines and thought they looked cool. When I was finally old enough to get one, I got my first tattoo when I graduated from Basic Training. It was the Serenity Prayer. My mom wrote it to me in one of the letters I received from her in boot camp.

I’ve acquired a lot of tattoos since then, but the one I love to show people is the full sleeve on my right arm dedicated to my wife and kids. It’s in Trash Polka style, heavy contrast with splashes of red.  

Below my wife’s portrait is a silhouette of one of our first dates. My children’s portraits incorporate anime elements, from “Naruto” to “Solo Leveling,” that we’ve grown to love throughout the years. Apart from God, my family is the most important part of my life. 

The center piece and main highlight of this sleeve is the “Kazoku no Kizuna” (家族の絆), or “family bond” or “family ties” in English. 

I’ve been stationed in Japan for almost 10 years. From the culture, food and sites to the politeness of the people we meet, my family and I love living here.  It’s truly been a blessing to be able to experience it all and so the phrase was sort of an all-encompassing acknowledgment of that sentiment.

I got my tattoo in two parts, with a lifetime in between. The first was done in my 20s on the Lower East Side of New York City after the bars closed. I had no plan to get a tattoo that night. My buddy and I stumbled past a tattoo shop and, powered by a night of drinking Jack Daniels, thought, “Why not?” Inside, the lights were dim and the first thing they did was slide a form at me swearing I hadn’t been drinking. I could barely balance myself, so when they asked if I’d been drinking, I just laughed and signed the paper.

After a few minutes of deliberation, I picked a turtle from the flash art on the wall. My choice was inspired by my first swim in tropical waters just a few days earlier. I watched a sea turtle glide past me on that swim, something I’d always hoped to see.

 For years, that basic turtle design sat there on my leg, raw and unfinished, a symbol of youthful recklessness and the impulsive, unplanned choices that come with it. Two decades later, I completed the tattoo with an island-inspired pattern encircling the turtle. Planned and intentional, a reflection of my adulthood. What started recklessly now feels balanced and complete to me.

I got this tattoo right after the regulation changed for getting a neck tattoo while I was on TDY at Fort Bliss, Texas. I am an indigenous person of the Nahua people, and my tattoo is of symbol of my ancestors, called Nahui Ollin. The symbol represents the flow of life, and through that, universal balance. I got the tattoo because I really admired that concept, and having a symbol from my culture on my skin makes me feel closer to the Nahua people that came before me. They, as a people, survived multiple struggles and that is the reason why I’m here today. Having the tattoo feels like, in a way, they’re with me as I move through life.

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