“It’s a real stretch to compare it to a Nazi flag.”
Not true. See post 11.
I was initially horrified when I heard this story, but after seeing the photo you posted, I can certainly understand that these young men did not know this was a Nazi flag. Those just look like stylized letters to most people. For young people who have received a public-school education and haven’t seen a lot of Nazi graphic art, it wouldn’t have registered as anything but a cool way of using the letters for “sniper scouts.”