Friday, February 10, 2012

Marine Snipers Pose with Nazi SS Logo

The subject photograph depicts some Scout Snipers from Recon posing with an objectionable flag in the background.  The font used is unfortunate, and the fact that all of these Marines claim to not have known what it represents is indeed sad.  In their eyes, SS stands for Scout Sniper.  The logo, however, means something entirely different to those that are moderately informed about world history.

Our Commandant took one for the team and addressed this issue head on, but it's a sorry state of affairs when we're in a situation that requires him to do this (Article Here).

Some have said that our military should take greater steps to educate our personnel about such issues.  I have to ask the stupid question:  What the hell is going on in our (now politically correct) schools?  Is it so out of fashion to teach the truth that our young adults don't know about Nazi Germany, or what they did during WWII?

I worry that one day, we will have to stop using terms such as, "warrior," "war fighter," "kill," "destroy," and the list goes on.  We're in a hard business, and we require hard men (and women) to do this business.  As much as we want to make warfare more pleasant, it never will be.  Will our concern over who we offend affect our readiness?  

I'm certainly not defending the use of the subject flag, but I do question the need for such a high level investigation, and the shaping of operations based on feelings. 

In the mean time, a hearty salute goes out to our CMC for handling this in a professional manner.  The uproar, hopefully, will subside and we can re-focus on the threats ahead.

3 comments:

Mary Margate NJ said...

I am a 63 year old that had the good fortune of gong to a Catholic
school for eight years and a Dad that at the age of 39 enlisted
to fight the very people that carried around that symbol.
So I know first hand how bad Americans feel when they see their
Marines, posing in that picture.
I do not know the men and I take them at their word that they
had no idea what it really stands for.
One picture is worth a thousand words, my Dad always said.
Thanks,
Mary from Margate NJ

Just John said...

Hi Mary, thanks for your input.

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

I have to admit, I am not surprised that the current young warrior generation actually does NOT know what SS connotes.

They probably thought the letters WERE cool looking.

BZ