I believe that the leadership knew, and it's the lower enlisted that I believe may not have known. They're relatively young and not far out of high school......not dumb by any means but perhaps unfamiliar with SS symbol. I believe it would be wrong punish the junior Marines for what a generation of officers and senior enlisted have permitted and promoted in their unit. The Corps is the kind of place that if the command says those SS runes are ok then it's "OK, MARINE!" and you can continue to question your CO's judgement at your own peril.


A racist Marine might have introduced this a long time ago but by the time these guys came to 1st Recon they were greeted by senior leadership who saw no issue with practice and were damn proud of that SS symbol. The CO and the senior enlisted are responsible for allowing it to continue, but the men who embedded this into their culture are either gone or promoted.
The most senior enlisted man in the Marine Corps has no alibi and if they start disciplining enlisted men it should start with him.

From Sgt Major of Corps Mike Barrett's bio:
"In September 1987, Sergeant Barrett was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines where he assumed the responsibilities as Platoon Sergeant of the Surveillance Target Acquisition Platoon..................................In January 1995, Gunnery Sergeant Barrett was assigned to Scout Sniper Instructor School, Quantico, Va., as the Chief Instructor."

http://www.marines.mil/unit/hqmc/smmc/Pages/bio.aspx

I never was Recon or Scout Sniper but I saw those runes. There's no way that he served two tours in that community (and once as Chief Instructor of the Schoolhouse!) and did not know about the widespread practice. On his way to the top he also served as Sgt Major of the 1st Marine Division where he could have stopped this in the Sniper community, and when he got promoted to his current job he was in the best position possible to address this but he didn't see a reason to do so.

One of my co-workers (retired Marine Corps O5) said it best: "no adult supervision."

Once upon a time Sgt Maj Barrett was my Company 1st Sgt, he has those SS runes tattooed on his leg. He's one hell of a Marine, a legend long before he became Sgt Major of the Marine Corps. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Semper Fi

If that is true he may be out getting a new ink over on his leg.......

FWIW out there to any Marine scout snipers reading these posts, Carlos Hathcock
had some very, very unkind words to say about this subject in the '90's.

Seem to recall "no excuse at all..." being said among other things. :munchin

What other things? Could you provide a link?

tattooes
 

Tattooes have been the subject of many a post on this board.

Once you got it - you got it.

What's OK today might probably be "Not PC" next year.

With the Military lookin' to downsize what would happen if they cracked down on tattooes?

I re-read my last post and wanted to clarify that I meant no disrespect to the Sgt Major. It's because he has a reputation of being a stand up guy and a great leader that I think this may become an issue.

I can't imagine a man like that punishing Marines for following an example that he helped to set. He's not the only senior Marine to have knowledge of or participation in the SS usage, but his job does put him in the limelight.

At the risk of sounding too touchy-feely, I think that there's too much talk at this point about "punishment." MOO, this undercurrent is generating counterproductive comments on all sides of the issue that may ultimately serve to undermine the institutional legitimacy of the Marines and the intellectual effectiveness of its supporters.

I'd much prefer to see stakeholders do a good job at finding out what happened, how, and why, before making determinations as to what corrective actions should be taken.

During this process, civilian society might benefit some scrutiny. If we civilians are going to hold members of the American armed services accountable for a certain level of historical knowledge, we need to make sure that we also meet that standard. MOO, one should be sufficiently educated to make an informed choice when dealing with matters of historical significance, and to understand the potential consequences of those choices.

This is not to say that all Americans should be indoctrinated to have the exact same view of the past. Our strength as a nation grows in no small part from our capacity for rigorous debate.