Those Marines Bought an SS Flag Without Knowing What it Was? Seriously? That’s Your Excuse?

i know this topic has it's fair share of threads.

however i feel this article warrents another one.

as it explains exactly how i feel about the topic at hand.

haven't got a whole lot to add except some of you might feel like this:



but anyway here we go

Although this story is getting saturation coverage in the mainstream, and the ’outrage machine’ has kicked into overdrive, it seems an issue worth bringing to attention - not to decide if these Marine were innocent or guilty, good or bad, for using this flag as their emblem, but for the reason that symbols have power, often whether we’re aware of their specific meaning or not.

Of all the really hard to believe excuses the military has made for the actions of military personnel, this one has to take the cake. Those Marines posing with a Nazi SS flag in Afghanistan just didn’t know it was an SS flag!

source

Really? And just how does someone go about buying a Nazi SS flag without realizing that it’s a Nazi SS flag? Well, I spent hours yesterday afternoon and last night trying to do just that, scouring the web for an SS flag that could be bought by mistake. And, big surprise, I couldn’t find a single place where an SS flag wasn’t very clearly being sold as what it is — a Nazi flag.

So Chris Rodda, the man who wrote the article went online and started looking for this particular flag.

this is what he found.

In the course of searching, I found what I’m certain is the exact flag in the Marines’ photo. It’s the only one anywhere on the web with a blue background, and laying the image from the website on top of the Marines’ photo shows that every dimension of the flags are identical, from the size and proportions of every part of the logo to the slightly off-center position of the logo on the flag. You can even see in the Marines’ photo that their flag had the same creases from being folded as the flag for sale on the website.

The description of the flag on the website, Traders of the Lost Surplus, is an “ss double runic flag, a favorite and well know ss flag,” and the entire website is full of Nazi stuff.

compare the above picture to this one



and he might be on to something here.

source for the article

link to his blog for full article

so what do you think ATS?


ETA:

we're going to keep it civil here!

i don't want my thread closed because of insults, generalisations, ad-hominems or otherwise insulting posts.

PLEASE keep it civil!

Well to be fair, I'm a history major specializing in military history and I can honestly say that i've never seen that ss flag. Didn't even know they had their own flag actually, I thought all Nazi's waved the Swastika around. I could certainly understand how they didn't know what it was.

Kinda reminds me more of one of the special forces designs more than anything to do with Nazi's.

Originally posted by Kenrichaed
Well to be fair, I'm a history major specializing in military history and I can honestly say that i've never seen that ss flag. Didn't even know they had their own flag actually, I thought all Nazi's waved the Swastika around. I could certainly understand how they didn't know what it was.

Kinda reminds me more of one of the special forces designs more than anything to do with Nazi's.

I'm 31 years old, and I know what an SS symbol looks like.



Only a fool who didn't pay attention in school wouldn't know.

Oh, wait a minute, they're soldiers.



Maybe they didn't know then.

the brown shirts in nazi germany had 'ss' tattood on their inner arm.
every one in the world knows what the 'ss' means. way to go american racist might!
'we didn't know'! what a stupid dunb ass excuse.

Originally posted by Kenrichaed
Well to be fair, I'm a history major specializing in military history and I can honestly say that i've never seen that ss flag. Didn't even know they had their own flag actually, I thought all Nazi's waved the Swastika around. I could certainly understand how they didn't know what it was.

well to be fair.

so far this argument doesn't hold much water.

please be carefull as i've said, so far...

the only site he has found wich sells this flag, looks like this:



pretty hard to mistake this flag for something else right?

source for this is in my OP.

(link to the full article on his blog)

i'm also searching to see if i can find this flag anywhere else.

Originally posted by reficul
every one in the world knows what the 'ss' means.

simply not true, let's stick to the facts here.

way to go american racist might!

this surely isn't a reflection of american (forces) as a whole now is it?

I'm in no way justifying those guys i'm just saying that its possible it could have been a mistake. Yea if they purchased it through the internet than I guess they knew what it was as it would have a name attached to it.

Only a fool who didn't pay attention in school wouldn't know.
Oh, wait a minute, they're soldiers.

They're just scum who like the idea of killing people.

i'm only going to ask this once.

please keep it civil!

i don't want my thread closed because of posts, insults and ad-hominems like this.

reply to post by kn0wh0w


And like I also said, its not a common symbol associated with the Nazi's. Not easy to find a flag with that on it.

Without trying to be too rude here......they are american soldiers, i wouldn't be too surprised if they really didn't have a clue what it was....even with the obvious nazi connection on the website

reply to post by kn0wh0w


If they really dont know what an SS flag is then I feel sorry for Americans and the level of education they get.

Scouts snipers have been using the same insignia since the 1970s it may not be PC but for them it stands for Scout sniper and nothing more. The swastika is also a Kanji but that would warrant its own thread.

While I agree that this is tasteless, and they should have known better, perhaps these marines were using the "SS" because these marines are Scout Snipers? That would be my guess.

Originally posted by Kenrichaed
Well to be fair, I'm a history major specializing in military history and I can honestly say that i've never seen that ss flag. Didn't even know they had their own flag actually, I thought all Nazi's waved the Swastika around. I could certainly understand how they didn't know what it was.

Kinda reminds me more of one of the special forces designs more than anything to do with Nazi's.

The swastika wasn't even a Nazi symbol. They ripped it off of ancient Sumerian / Egyptian / Indian symbols.

A lot of the Nazi symbols have their roots in civilizations who were around long before Germany and the 3rd Reich.

The SS for example was based on several different groups dating back to the crusades when special military units were created to protect important people / sites.

While im not completely buying the reason (they didn't know) its not out of the realm of possibility.

Secondly I would like to remind people that regardless of feelings, its a freedom of speech issue that is dealt with using the UCMJ and not civilian laws.

Secondly the wing-nut demanding punishment needs to sit down and shut up. While I get the reason he is upset, he needs to realize that punishing people for beliefs / perceived beliefs that he doesn't agree with is one of the MAIN reasons his organization exists in the first place.

Poor choice by the Marines but I doubt they were setting up industrialized killing for Hitler.

Ironic

reply to post by purplemer


If these guys knew it was a Nazi symbol and they were purposefully trying to use that for whatever reason in the picture, why didn't they just use the Swastika? The SS really have nothing to do with their military unit.

Its more likely they didn't know what it was and just thought the lightning bolts looked cool. As I mentioned, this symbol is not really associated with the Nazi's as much as others are and the colors resemble Sweden more than Germany.

Its not a stretch to assume this was a mistake. But since none of us were there I guess its all just theory.

These idiots probably thought it was funny.

Don't forget, and I mean no offence here, but chances these guys ain't the smartest tools in the box to start.

Then they go through training and are made into killing machines.

Along with that they are told they are fighting the enemy that means their country harm (a joke in itself).

So you can understand where they start to be racist.

Don't forget these are the types of guys that piss on corpses, and torture captives.

Think of the idiot bully in school, then give him a gun.

I'm not defending them, what they have done is very wrong.

They are detached from reality totally.

reply to post by kn0wh0w


I agree with the source, and I thought the same thing myself. However, if they bought it in a store/flea market it would be possible.

That said.. they knew exactly what it was.

reply to post by Kenrichaed


Yesterday your field was political science.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Anyway, I will say it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to be a history major with a focus on military and not know what SS bolts are. Someone that isn't in that field should know what that is.

reply to post by Kenrichaed


Again.. military focus?
They are Scout Snipers. They were knowingly using SS bolts to identify them as Scout Snipers. Look at their weapons.