Afghanistan war veteran pens scathing open letter blasting new Australian Army chief...

Daily Mail (Australia/UK) ^ | 23rd April 2018 | Adam McCleery

[naturalman1975]

An Afghanistan War veteran has savaged the Chief of Army's directive that all 'death iconology' be banned from use in the Australian Army.

Lieutenant General Angus John Campbell said icons like the skull mask and Grim Reaper were 'arrogant and ill-considered' and 'eroded the ethos of the Army'.

However former 2RAR Platoon Sergeant Justin Huggett has written an open letter to General Campbell after learning about the new directive and ban.

Mr Huggett is a veteran of the Afghanistan War where he was awarded the Army's Medal of Gallantry.

'As a soldier that served under you at the 2nd Battalion, it only disappointments me even further to read of this,' he wrote in the open letter.

'Going the next step, the fact you yourself are an Infantry Soldier...my head spins with confusion!'

Mr Huggett said he found the calls 'so left of field and farcical' that he thought it must have been a hoax.

'But now, I am just left wondering as to the levels of stupidity that this order can be interpreted or enforced he wrote.

.....

Mr Huggett then goes on to hammer the most obvious point home.

'The Army, in particular the Infantry (sic), are a fighting force designed to kill!' he states.

'We are not and never should be a reflection of society, we are trained and programmed that way.'

He said that he feels 'every effort' is being made by the 'top levels' to denigrate the combat effectiveness of the army.

[2CAVTrooper]

The “death skulls” used today are pretty much the same concept as painting large snarling tigers on the front of our tanks during the Korean war, or painting sharks teeth on airplanes.

It’s a form of psychological warfare in that it boosts our morale while striking fear in our enemy.

[OKSooner]

True dat, and I do feel my interests are best served by the Thunderbird, which has a history of messing up certain other skull n' crossbones outfits...

Messing 'em up bad, bad, bad...

[DesertRhino]

Not really. The SS death skulls and grim reapers and other satanic crap is different. Sharkteeth and Tigers is basically morale building decoration.

Satanism is a different thing. And when your morale emblem was close to an SS emblem, you are on the wrong track.
An indian hatchet, cool... some three horned satan with glowing red eyes and a scythe, not so much. Looks like something an angsty 14 year old doodles on his book cover.

[DesertRhino]

And did you look at the article. Some of these infantry want to wear full facemasks that look like a human skull grinning. (You see some bikers wear that crap)

Can anyone imagine our men in WWII walking alone with their M1 Rifle, wearing a halloween mask. It’s childish.

[DesertRhino]

Exactly!

[Bulwyf]

3RAR is my sister unit, but 2nd Battalion is a bit close. Either way as infantry, especially for the ops we do, it takes a certain mindset. These do gooders and NWO type generals need to butt the hell out.

My job description was to close with the enemy by day or night over any terrain in any weather and kill them.

No hearts and minds, no humanitarian work, nothing. Eff crap up. Period.

This general is a full on tard, you never go full tard.

Bulwyf 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian light infantry. 2nd Battalion, 2nd to none.

[Bulwyf]

Shut yer lips, and let the men handle things.

[JudgemAll]

In America the boys cannot offend gays, now we are not going to be allowed to offend enemies... How is that for morale!

Who needs Tokyo Rose blasting on speakers when we have generals like these.

[eldoradude]

Maybe they could all wear pink triangles instead.

[Mollypitcher1]

The SS death skulls and grim reapers and other satanic crap is different. Sharkteeth and Tigers is basically morale building decoration.
..............................................................
Seems to me you have deliberately forgotten about the “Jolly Roger” flown from the mast of British submarines when returning from a successful mission. We too have used the Jolly Roger skull and crossbones in our naval history. Since everyone ends up dead in the long run, why the attribution of a skull only to “satanic” culture? A narrow minded point of view in my opinion.

[Mollypitcher1]

Can anyone imagine our men in WWII walking alone with their M1 Rifle, wearing a halloween mask. It’s childish.
..................................................
Childish or not, it was done! I suppose gladiators started the idea.

[2CAVTrooper]

Yeah I read the article.

What’s the logo for the AC-130?

It ain’t Barney, a rainbow farting unicorn, or some care bear.

What’s the insignia for VF-17/VF-5B/VF-61/VF-84/VF-103 “Jolly Rodgers”?

VF-17 BTW, goes back to 1943.

How about VF-101 “Grim Reapers”?

I’ve seen names given to combat vehicles that would give a Navy Master Chief the vapors.

The Punisher skulls is just psychological warfare. Just like Indian braves painting their faces in war paint.... Both intended to strike fear in the enemy.

The Punisher character saw things in absolute black and white.... Kill, be killed. Friend, enemy. With us, against us. He solved problems with utter finality, and when in doubt hit back hard.

[naturalman1975]

As I said, I agree that things can be taken too far at times, and if LTGEN Campbell was just talking about things like that, I'd tend to support him.

But I think he should have made a clear exemption for older symbols with a lot of history behind them, and it doesn't seem that he is.

I do think the comparison with the SS symbology is unreasonable. When Australian units use iconography like this, they aren't drawing from something like that. They are drawing from their historical links to the British Army - to regiments like the 17th Lancers who adopted a skull badge in 1759.

(The skull still appears in the badge of the Royal Lancers who are descended from the 17th Lancers.)

The fact that the Nazis did something should not be allowed to extinguish proud and noble histories of others.

[BBell]

Cool shirt.

[ABN 505]

My Dad’s Unit in WWII 502 ABN PIR http://www.airborne101st.com/images/insignias/502insignia.jpg Too Cool!

[huldah1776]

I read the posts at the source and it seems the Brits are having the same problems.

[elcid1970]

Cue up Monty Python’s soldiers as they camp it up.

Truth is always stranger than fiction.

[huldah1776]

Ha! Made me think of the movie “Jarhead” but point is, when the going gets tough...otherwise they are playing as hard as they fight.

[Mollypitcher1]

My childhood hero was in the 508th. I still have a telegram he sent to me for my birthday. Also have a letter to my parents from Ireland where he trained for D Day. He dropped into St. Mere Eglise D-DAY and came through the war unscathed.