In looking at images of the SS flags the backgrounds are black in all the Runes Hausfahne Flags.
The SS (lightening bolts) flags the Marines are in front of has a background color the same as the American flag above it which is a dark blue.
I just wonder how many of the Marines are still in the service. It is possible some of their contracts are up and they have gotten out of the service. It is possible not all made it home alive. This picture is not new. Keep in mind the photo was taken in 9/2010.
I also wonder if someone wanted to get the name of their organization out there, and to get their 15 minutes of fame so he distributed photo to news organizations.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation was alerted to the photo by Marines who expressed their concern, said group founder Mikey Weinstein. MRFF then distributed it to news organizations.
The Marine Corps said it became aware of the photo last November and investigated, but found it not to be racially motivated, according to a statement released by a Marine Corps spokesman, Lt. Col. Stewart Upton.
Beliefnet Community Moderator ~ Peace Love Stardove
It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace, and live in peace. -Shenandoah proverb
The display of Nazi regalia by the Marines is a a big FUBAR. The Corps should make it clear to their personnel that this is unacceptable. The United States Army and Navy spent hundreds of thousands of lives to extinguish the malignacy of Naziism.
C'mon, Roo, I understand your patriotism but there were several other countries involved in extinguishing "the malignancy of Naziism" !
As for those responsible for this stupidity, I hope they get a big fat come-uppance from their commanding officers, up to and including dishonourable discharge for the slur on all our fathers and grandfathers who fought against the Nazis.
While it is true that other nations paid a heavier price to suppress the Nazis than the US, the context here is United States military personnel having displayed Naziesque regalia.
An official reprimand or an Article 15 should suffice, I am not sure that the Marines were expressing admiration for the Waffen SS.
For those who have faith, no explanation is neccessary. For those who have no faith, no explanation is possible.
St. Thomas Aquinas
If one turns his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9
SS soldiers were good soldiers. It is understandable that other soldiers admire them.
Ariel, you are right if you mean that other soldiers admired the Waffen SS for their fighting prowess. Americans in the Pacific admired the Japanese for their courage.We admired the Viet Cong and NVA for theirs. We did NOT admire the Iraqis, and neither did my son. He did admire some of the Taliban for their courage, though not for their tactical ability. And none of that relates in any way to what those types of fighting men did off the battlefield, or on it to prisoners, etc. And absolutely none of this 'admiration' in any way affected the determination kill everyone of the named 'bastards' whenever and however possible!
That SS banner may or may no have been known to be such by those marines...I've touched on that enough already on other posts.
And they are not about to get any sort of big court martial...I don't think...and hope not. At worst, they'll get a 'wrist slap' and all marines will be told no to do that sort of thing. It is, in my opinion, a 'small' deal that indeed should be handled firmly in the 'don't ever do that again' way, that became a big deal due to the media getting hold of it.
Ken
Conservative, Libertarian, Life member of the NRA and VFW
The display of Nazi regalia by the Marines is a a big FUBAR. The Corps should make it clear to their personnel that this is unacceptable. The United States Army and Navy spent hundreds of thousands of lives to extinguish the malignacy of Naziism.
C'mon, Roo, I understand your patriotism but there were several other countries involved in extinguishing "the malignancy of Naziism" !
As for those responsible for this stupidity, I hope they get a big fat come-uppance from their commanding officers, up to and including dishonourable discharge for the slur on all our fathers and grandfathers who fought against the Nazis.
"God is no captious sophister, eager to trip us up whenever we say amiss, but a courteous tutor, ready to amend what, in our weakness or our ignorance, we say ill, and to make the most of what we say aright." from 'A Learned Discourse on Justification', a sermon by Richard Hooker (1554-1600).
It is quite possible that those marines, probably younger than 30...all of them...had no idea that was a German SS symbol. World war 2 history to include Geman symbols isn't exactly well taught in our schools after all. People my age (68) know because it was taught when I went to school.
Anyway, all they have to say is that they just thought it was a 'neat' banner that they could use to show they were scout snipers, and had no idea it was a Nazi thing, and that is that.
In fact, that pretty much is 'that' now.
In my ranger company in Vietnam we had a 'Gook of the month Club'. Whomever had the most confirmed kills in a month got a 3 day pass to Saigon for some R & R...Rest and Recreation. We called it I & I, for Intoxication and Intercourse. I won twice! This could never be done today...a combination of political correct crap in the army, and the ease of the media finding out about it would make it impossible.
By the time I was an officer and became a company commander we were no longer openly calling the enemy 'names'...among ourselves of course...same thing today...but no longer did we do whatevers of the month stuff.
I do not feel the slightest bit of guilt about it. I am not the least bit sorry we did it. I'm glad I won. As a then single Staff Sergeant I thoroughly enjoyed the I & I.
In other words, I can and do easily empathyze with those marines! My lieutenant colonel US Army (retired) wife does also. My honorably discharged former US Army staff Sergeant son does. I expect lots of civilians do not.
Words cannot express how much I do NOT give a damn about that!
Ken
Ken, I call the Secret Service "the SS" not only because of their initials but literally they are the President's "schutzstaffel" or "defense group". It also is a slam against any given President whose critics see him as Hitleresque.
For those who have faith, no explanation is neccessary. For those who have no faith, no explanation is possible.
St. Thomas Aquinas
If one turns his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9
no they aren't---they didnt know what it meant, and it was taken down. It was a mistake. Get over it. The Nazi-ism from the left is what I fear...see my gulag LA thread. Now there is something to get your britches in a twist about.
Ted, I see you as simply wanting your issues addressed at any cost. How is that different from any other tyrrany?
Hmm, it sad when people don't know their political left from their political right.
Jesus had two dads, and he turned out alright.~ Andy Gussert
“Feminism has fought no wars. It has killed no opponents. It has set up no concentration camps, starved no enemies, practiced no cruelties. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions…for safety on the streets…for child care, for social welfare…for rape crisis centers, women’s refuges, reforms in the law.
If someone says, “Oh, I’m not a feminist,” I ask, “Why, what’s your problem?”
Well put, sir. Wingo aporia could not be more perfectly displayed.
A conservative is someone who believes that firefighters, teachers, and police officers are overpaid.
"Wesley told the early Methodists to gain all they could and save all they could so that they could give all they could. It means that I consider my money to belong to God and I see myself as one of the hungry people who needs to get fed with God’s money. If I really have put all my trust in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, then nothing I have is really my own anymore."
Republicans experience suffering the way they experience all their virtues, i.e. vicariously.
According to "just war" standards of Christian theology, if Saddam Hussein killed 30,000 Iraqis, and the Iraq War killed 120,00, how was the War "just"?
So in a nutshell, lack of education and a good deal of indifference make you a qualified soldier. The generic you, in this case these soldiers. Not you personally, Ken.
You couldn't be more wrong, Chari. The education level of all the srvies...and I'm talking about just the enlisted men...is much, much higher than that of the entire country. As for indifference, well, if you mean negating the humanity of whomever you happen to be fighting, of course! Soldiers have been doing that since...hmmmmm...centuries before the siege of Troy maybe? And I expect they will keep on doing it...all soldiers...all armies...it's both a defense mechanism and a way to make it easier to do the necessary job, which is killing other human beings.
Those marines, being scout snipers, have to be superior in every way. So I hope nothing bad happens to any of them. In my opinion it just is not a big deal. Now a swastika would be...but not the letters SS, in the Rune format...which as I wrote earlier they may not have known was the symbol for the German Schutzstaffel.
Ken
Conservative, Libertarian, Life member of the NRA and VFW
So in a nutshell, lack of education and a good deal of indifference make you a qualified soldier. The generic you, in this case these soldiers. Not you personally, Ken.
“The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity” - Abraham Lincoln.
