Tattoos - the latest craze at Guantanamo

Melbourne, Jun 28 : Soldiers in the US now have a new way to rejuvenate - getting tattoos. A new body art parlour has opened at Guantanamo Bay above an Irish bar that offers its services to the country's service members and Department of Defense contractors who're willing to pay on the spot.

The parlour has been opened by four tattoo artists. "I'm kind of addicted to this right now,'' said Petty Officer 3rd Class Tameka Jones, 32, as she winced her way through inked "tribal lines'' - just above her backside. A Navy cop on the base, and mother of three, Jones said the latest was her seventh tattoo, reports The Daily Telegraph.

It was applied by Rich Green, 44, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who arrived a day earlier to set up shop with three fellow tattoo artists and sported his own advertisement - a blue-inked GTMO INK - just above his elbow.

GTMO is the military's acronym for this offshore outpost that is home to 7,500 sailors, other US forces, Defense Department contractors, families and, of course, 270 suspected terrorists.

ANI