More stupid U.S. Marines

[ShadoWarrior]

Picture was on Knight's Armament's company blog. (I live in the same town as KAC, but I don't work there.) The full report by AP can be read on yahoo news here.

I don't buy, at all, that none of the ten guys in the pic, nor the photographer, knew that those jagged letters were the Nazi emblem. No one could be that ignorant. Not even Americans. Come on, get real. None of these dickheads ever played a WW2 FPS game while they were growing up

[Legbreaker]

I'm not at all convinced none of them knew about the German SS, but I can easily believe most don't know the full story behind them.
It's also quite possible (unfortunately) that at least one of them (probably at least the owner of it) has some fairly solid (and misguided) links to some of the more extreme groups to be found around the world.
The original SS were supposed to have been an elite force, if somewhat morally "bent". Snipers and recon troops tend to think they're also elite (warranted or not) and therefore above the laws and regulations the grunts have to live by (just like the Germans)...

[/rambling]

[Raellus]

It's been a really bad few weeks PR-wise for the USMC. I, for one, don't buy for a second that the scout snipers in the photo didn't understand the significance of the SS runes. Is it just a coincidence that all of the men in the photo are white There's a mystique attached to the SS (more specifically the Waffen SS) that a lot of people are attracted to, even if they don't espouse Hitler's racial beliefs. Someone in that group had to have known what the SS was all about, though. Their lame excuse is almost as insulting to the thinking public as the image itself is.

It's really rather unfortunate because the vast majority of Marines are decent and courageous people. A few bad apples get 99% of the publicity and drag the Corps' reputation through the mud.

[Fusilier]

All a misunderstanding guys. Here is the real pic...

[Schone23666]

All a misunderstanding guys. Here is the real pic...

Please tell me that IS in fact the real pic...

[ShadoWarrior]

Please tell me that IS in fact the real pic...

'Fraid not. It's clearly been photoshopped. The KISS letters do not conform to the wavy fabric of the flag. They're a foreground object superimposed on the image. It's a nicely done amateur photo edit.

[Bullet Magnet]

None of these dickheads ever played a WW2 FPS game while they were growing up

Or watched a movie set in Europe during the 1940s
Or hell! Caught the right rerun of Hogan's Heroes
My point being, even here in the States, with an educational system I rate as "could work its way up to piss poor, if we could get the political/bureaucratic bullshit out of the way", it is still easy enough to learn the more prominent symbols of the nations we went to war against. Especially when it's that particular nation, and that particular war.

And now, we reap the rewards of decades of hailing ignorance as a desirable trait.

[waiting4something]

There is nothing wrong with these Marines doing this. This is not something new people. Scout Snipers have been using sig rune style letters for a long time. SS- Scout Snipers. If this offends people, then to bad.

[Tegyrius]

Yeah, too bad when some of those people sit on appropriations committees. Too bad when some of those people control the media channels that shape public opinion of the military.

- C.

[Legbreaker]

It is however in extremely bad taste, especially if the practise was taken up post WWII.
The swastika itself isn't inherently and solely a nazi symbol, but rather the badge of a defunct (can't imagine why ) German car manufacturer which in turn was borrowed from an ancient fertility/sun symbol and comes in both male and female (mirror image).
Unfortunately for the symbol, it's now associated almost without exception to a very short space of time in the first half of the twentieth century.

The SS insignia as displayed in the photo has likewise come to be associated with evil and so it's use should be avoided.

[waiting4something]

Yeah, too bad when some of those people sit on appropriations committees. Too bad when some of those people control the media channels that shape public opinion of the military.

- C.

Yeah it is to bad isn't. It's to bad outsiders have so much say in stuff they know so little about.

[waiting4something]

When are people going start bitching about Jolly Roger flags and symbols. That's pirate shit....... we don't want people to think we rape, pillage, and plunder places. Or Spartan symbols.... oh no we don't want people to think we all get together and have gay orgies.

[simonmark6]

So if symbols mean nothing, why get angry when people burn the American Flag If it means nothing why get upset There is a power in symbols, one we shouldn't take lightly and one that can't easily be dismissed.

As for people that don't know much about a subject sticking their noses in, that's called oversight. It's the bane of every closed shop or profession or body, it can be a pain in the ass but its also what keeps us all honest.

Go figure...

[Targan]

Or Spartan symbols.... oh no we don't want people to think we all get together and have gay orgies.

That's more of an Athenian thing than Spartan.

Scout Snipers have been using sig rune style letters for a long time. SS- Scout Snipers.

No one's suggesting that SS isn't a perfectly reasonable abbreviation for Scout Snipers. That some Scout Snipers choose to render those 2 letters in exactly the same style as the Nazi SS used, well that's bound to be offensive to some people.

If this offends people, then to bad.

Now we get to the crux of it. It's an easy thing to say, but it shows a distinct lack of empathy. If someone said something to you that you found offensive, are you saying that "then to (sic) bad" would apply to you, too Or would you say or do something to make it known that you were offended

[Raellus]

There is nothing wrong with these Marines doing this. This is not something new people. Scout Snipers have been using sig rune style letters for a long time. SS- Scout Snipers. If this offends people, then to bad.

Really This ef-the-rest-of-the-world attitude is why so many foreign people have such a low opinion of Americans. My grandfather fought in a war against the Nazis and their SS and now we're celebrating them by adopted their symbols It's OK because the scout snipers have been using this symbol for a long time What's your source for this This is the first I've seen or heard anything about it.

I'm offended, but I guess that's just too bad.