By Staff Writer
AN HONOUR OF CULTURE : First US military soldier allowed to keep her traditional tattoos.
A US army captain with Samoan heritage claimed an historic first by winning the approval of the most powerful military in the world to keep her traditional Samoan tattoos.
Woman army captain, Isis Sake, 38, won the ‘go ahead’ nod in February from the military, to keep her hands and legs tattoos in recognition of her Samoan culture.
US media reports confirmed the tattooed soldier to be the first…” to receive Army approval to possess such tattoos, a mark of recognition of the diverse communities that comprise the force and carry a calling for service.”
US Army regulations dictate markings from the neck up and the wrists down are not authorised.
Capt. Sake, however, requested a religious accommodation.
“Unless you ask for something, it’s never going to be done, you know, the door will never be opened,” she told the US media.
Originally from Apia, Samoa — Sake moved to the United States with her family as a child the US media reported.
Following in the footsteps of her older sisters, she enlisted in the Army in 2008, quickly moving up the ranks before commissioning in June 2019.
““This is such a huge part of the Samoan culture. So, it’s just educating and then really sharing the symbolism behind it,” captain Sake was quoted.
Now an operations officer in support of the Army’s office of the deputy chief of staff for personnel, Sake emphasised the many similarities between Army service and Samoan culture: Loyalty, duty, respect and courage.
Seeking to visualize that commitment to selfless service, and inspired by a reverence for her culture, in 2017 Sake obtained the Samoan tatau for women — known as “malu” — on her legs before adding the traditional tattoos to her hands in 2022.
The women equivalent of the ‘malu’ to the traditional tattoo or ‘tatau’ for the Samoan men is ‘pea.’
Having a ‘tatau’ is an honoured passage of rite respected highly in the Samoan culture.
It is often underlined by the generally accepted tradition where a chief with no tattoo has to do errands directed by an untitled but tattooed male.