{"id":34024,"date":"2018-03-08T19:31:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T19:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/08\/light-insignia-tacking-is-still-ok-for-promotions-jag-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:00:09","slug":"light-insignia-tacking-is-still-ok-for-promotions-jag-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/03\/08\/light-insignia-tacking-is-still-ok-for-promotions-jag-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Light insignia ‘tacking’ is still OK for promotions, JAG says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new Defense Department policy banning hazing<\/a> \u2015 and specifically \u201ctacking\u201d of insignia such as jump wings \u2015 was not meant to bar the traditional light tap of cloth insignia during Air Force promotion ceremonies, according to the service\u2019s Judge Advocate General\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policy does, however, bar physically striking other people during congratulatory acts, which would encompass more extreme versions of the tacking-on tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon on Feb. 8 released a new policy on Harassment Prevention<\/a> and Response in the Armed Forces, which includes a section on barred hazing<\/a> acts, including \u201cPressing any object into another person\u2019s skin, regardless of whether it pierces the skin, such as \u2018pinning\u2019 or \u2018tacking on\u2019 of rank insignia, aviator wings, jump wings, diver insignia, badges, medals, or any other object.\u201d The policy said that an action could still be considered hazing even if the victim gave actual or implied consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in a message sent to the field Feb. 28 by the Judge Advocate General\u2019s Office, the Air Force\u2019s lawyers said that \u201cThese definitions were not intended to cover the traditional \u2018tacking on\u2019 portion of the enlisted promotion ceremony \u2015 where well-wishers tap the cloth rank insignia on the promotees\u2019 sleeves as a congratulatory gesture during the promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Kate Atanasoff said that the service\u2019s judge advocate consulted with DoD\u2019s general counsel to clarify the policy, before sending that guidance out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new hazing policy created confusion over what it means for the Air Force\u2019s tradition of tacking insignia. In some cases, an airman being promoted has his friends, family, mentors or supervisors ceremonially tap or press his new stripes with their knuckles for good luck and to make sure the new rank stays on his sleeves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, during the 2015 two-grade promotion of Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone \u2015 who, along with his friends, famously helped stop a terrorist attack on a train to Paris \u2015 the airmen who tacked him on feinted a punch before giving him a playful tap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other cases, newly promoted airmen are forcefully punched on the arm, hard enough to bruise or cause the airman to sway. Some videos of tacking ceremonies posted on YouTube show airmen walking between rows of their fellow airmen, taking punches on their upper arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some leaders put a stop to the practice. For example, Col. Mark Weatherington, the former commander of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota said in a 2013 Q&A with airmen that tacking stripes during wing promotion ceremonies took too much time, and sometimes went too far.<\/p>\n\n\n\t