Posted on 02/10/2012 4:37:35 AM PST by KantianBurke
SAN DIEGO The Marine Corps on Thursday once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS -- a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others. The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable, but the Marines in the photograph taken in September 2010 will not be disciplined because investigators determined it was a naive mistake. The Marines believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to be associated with a racist organization, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton, where the Marines were based.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, headquartered in Los Angeles, said he does not buy the explanation that posing with the flag was an innocent mistake and insisted the American public has a right to know what happened.
"If you look at any book on the Nazi period, this is the dreaded symbol of the SS, and to have a Marine Corps unit adopt it and put it beside the American flag when 200,000 Americans died to free the world of that dreaded symbol is just beyond the pale," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Or the Gadsden flag.
Wow, that would be confusing as hell. “Terrorists” killing other terrorists? /s
This issue hit the news in Austin this morning and some news organization had a Navy spokesman tell listeners what the ‘SS’ stood for on that flag.
The SS runes are obviously Nazi SS runes, and they were selected by the Scout Snipers precisely because they are shocking and intimidating. Pretending otherwise makes us look stupid.
On the other hand, I'm not particularly bothered by them. These Marines are not out there fighting in a desert s***hole for enlightenment and cultural edification. They are there to kick enemy ass so that we have a free country and a safer world to live in. I don't expect them to be shiny happy paragons of sensitivity, empathy and tactfulness. I expect them to be badasses who kick s***. And I'm willing to cut them a heck of a lot more slack than I'll cut for just about anybody else. The silly, limp milksops and pantywaists who are shouting for these Marine's heads on plates offend me more than any Nazi symbol.
Yes, and the photo at Post #52 makes clear that the double-lightning-bolt “SS” symbol was used by the Marine Corps in the past, and maybe still is being used elsewhere today.
I think it's obvious these ten Marines need to be cut some slack. They didn't know.
The problem is **WHY** they didn't know.
After all, that symbol is already right on the Marine Corps list of inappropriate symbols, linked here: http://www.yuma.usmc.mil/services/eo/documents/tattoos.ppt
Again, it looks like the Marines handled this appropriately. I'm guessing somebody will quickly come up with a “cool looking” Scout Sniper symbol which everybody will like to replace the “SS” symbols now in use or which have been used in the past.
Maybe two S-shaped snakes coiled around a crescent moon, one crushing it and the other eating it, with the words “two centuries of taking the fight to the shores of Tripoli” underneath?
Nah, that would be too politically incorrect and would antagonize too many of our allies...
Chaim Horowitz aka Gene Simmons
The real story, I think, is that too many young Americans are ignorant of the facts and symbols of their own nation's history, thanks to a corrupt educational system and a news media that promotes an ideological agenda through the use of selective facts and intentionally slanted language.
Look at the reply by VoyagerXII.
Thank you for talking to him, and for your tagline! Like my parents, who escaped from both Hitler and Stalin, say, Stalin erased the names of the millions he murdered and he got away with it (largely, other than for some of us who do still remember and know).
And, the Communists running everything today do the “wag the dog” with imaginary items like this Scout Sniper unit.
They study military history so everyone in any branch should know about the symbols. Just about anything can be looked up on the internet. No excuse.
I agree with you.
I'm even more personally offended about this b.s. because my brother is a Marine (not in this unit or anything, but still). Let the PC police go around admonishing KISS and everyone else who has used a similar symbol.
Chaim Horowitz aka Gene SimmonsDo young people today even know who that is? :-)
Yeah right, the Marines was a really dark deep dense blue, not black. How could anybody possibly confuse them?
You can indeed link to Gannett publications, you can’t post content/excerpts.
Maybe not, but they've certainly seen these in the store ...
... and probably thought to themselves, "Gee, that double-S sure looks neat ..."
Much ado about nothing. I certainly hope none of you PC nannyists find out that HMLA-169 has two iron crosses painted on each one of their birds.
I wish your brother all the best. There is no higher calling. Semper Fi!
and probably thought to themselves, “Gee, that double-S sure looks neat…”Yes, something like that seems to be the most likely explanation.
True, that’s a very good point.
And, thank you, jboot, I’ll tell him! Semper Fi!
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