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 ...
Appreciate your comment.
They won’t get reamed: it’s been in the Marine Corps for a long, long time. The current Commandant is from the air wing, so he may not know: but he will be informed by his staff that it isn’t anything new, and will be briefed on the non-connection with the Waffen SS. We’ll see how it goes.
As for judgment, I guess that depends on where you sit. These men have the mission to go deep into the badlands with little support....and kill. They are rough men in every since of the meaning, so they don’t lose sleep over what others think of them.
They are, however, men of honor never having connected the symbol with Nazism. To them, it means pride being the VERY FEW who attain Scout Sniper as their occupation. They are the best of every Marine infantry battalion: and in this conflict, they are arguably the most prized possesion of a battalion commander. They kill at the cyclic rate.
“—— this will blow over once the facts are stated”
—
It’s a media created kerfuffle,no more,no less.
“First all, those are Marines, not soldiers.”
First, No, they were not all Marines. Read the post to which I replied.
Second, these Marines did not bring dishonor to their fellow Marines. They are Marine snipers and served with honor.
If you think this picture implies they are Nazi’s or sympathizers thereof, as you must to find dishonor in it then you warrant no further time. Go away and live with your shame.
Against a cruel psychopathic enemy that knows no semblance of civilized rules, these men face more than the older types of regular warfare. I believe the German soldier had to follow rudimentary rules of conduct. Now the swines dress as women and use children to kill Nato soldiers. Yet the bogy of political correctness rears its obscene rotten head.
Much Ado About Nothing.
With apologies to William Shakespeare.
The guys in that picture all look to be under 30. Ollie is what? pushing 70?
You’re expecting knowledge of the connotations of a text font with respect to history. Chew on that for just a moment. While I know it, and you know it, I expect we are both closer to Ollie’s age than to these Marines’ age.
I can only agree and seek to deride political correctness with some form of humour. This might be good for a smile.
During WW1 the zealots started on the peaceful mining town in Ontario,called Swastika. They were mollified when the town council changed the name to Winston Churchill. Residents and loyal Canadians tore down the new signs at night. Somebody pointed out that the name was incorporated as Swastika in 1907. Hitler was a youth of 17 years of age. The Nazi Party was not in existence.
Case closed.
I’m guilty too, because that is not the symbol I’ve always associated with the nazi’s.
I’m personally getting tired of assuming the worst about our guys by what the media is reporting. I think of the s like stick figures intersecting as the Nazi symbol, not 2 separate lightening bolts.
We are getting to be a bunch of people looking for something to be offended by. If they had one ounce of evidence it was done to replicate nazi symbols they would have had serious consequences.
My personal estimate is that the proportion of Marines (of whatever age and active duty status) who recognize that logo approaches five out of five. IOW, it was an error of youthful judgement to be photographed with same, despite the image of fierceness it projects (not to mention having the same initials).
It's incumbent on their Commandant to order them not to do it again.
I had quoted Rarestia as your quote- sorry about that. Perhaps I should qualify the swastika. Long used even before the English language came into being, as stated. Perhaps it could be said that Hitler's adaptation of it was evil.
In a foolish moment Prince Harry had a fancy uniform on with a Sanscrit swastika on his arm. Indian style at party time. Prince Charles said he was "incandescent with rage". The lad was photographed swilling out a pig sty as pennance.
What a lot of absolute codswallop!
Furore over Swastika, Ontario was during WW2- 1940's.
No excuses. It is idiotic for people to be upset over symbols. Thought Police suck.
If MC brass defend this, it will be a huge error on their part. I’m sorry, but it’s an indefensible position, and inadvertently adopting the logos of an elite Nazi unit for a USMC unit is mind-boggingly stupid.
How is it that none of these guys notice the obvious, which is that their “SS” flag is a Nazi logo? Had any of them ever cracked a history book? I wonder if you would be defending them if they had chosen a swastika instead...
Sorry, but Harry was dressed as a Nazi, not “Indian style” as you portray it:
http://christianseiersen.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/prince_harry_nazi.jpg
I agree that the NAZI swastika is evil, and that it’s different from the ancient Sanskrit motif.
If you are to be taken at your word (and I have no reason to doubt you), someone neglected context for a reason. Perhaps there is a reason someone wants to portray our Marines as being antisemitic.
“Yet the bogy of political correctness rears its obscene rotten head.”
Using a flag with overt Nazi symbols has absolutely nothing to do with politically correctness. It’s brandishing a flag that represented one of the most evil and wicked regimes that this world has ever seen. A regime which - free history lesson - this country went to war with not too long ago and suffered thousands of casualties fighting. But keep excusing such obnoxious acts. It’s illuminating for the rest of us.
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