These come courtesy of tattoo artist Erik Kipperman, owner of Swallowtail Tattoo in San Diego, CA.

this is a knuckle tattoo on a customer of mine named brett….he is in the navy; a deck seamen, and he is out to sea. this is a traditional navy tattoo. “Tattooing HOLD, on the knuckles of one hand and FAST, on the other is said to help the seaman hold on to the riggings better.”

in submitting this photo, i am hoping that the tattoo will help him get home safely, so that i can tattoo him some more…

Erik, we are all hoping for the safe return of your friend and all the rest of our troops. To all our pals in the armed forces, be careful out there.