MRFF Immediately Ends Plan to Adopt Blatantly Unconstitutional ‘Crusader’ Unit Name/Patch
April 26, 2023
MRFF President/Founder Mikey Weinstein was contacted by several active duty members (all identifying as Christians) of a Special Operations Unit regarding the impending plans by their Team Leader to change the Unit’s Name & Patch to highly offensive symbols historically associated with blatant sectarian religious nationalism. In an email on April 26, 2023, one Special Operator and active duty MRFF client in this matter described their Team Leader’s desire to have their unit “…put fear into the hearts of our enemies…” by adopting an obvious Christian Nationalist name supported by obnoxious imagery clearly based on historic religious warfare:
From: (Active Duty Special Operations Military Member’s E-mail Address withheld)
Subject: After Action Report & Shout Out to the MRFF
Date: April 26, 2023 at 8:16:37 AM MDT
To: Mikey Weinstein <[email protected]>Hello.
I am one of the several military special operators who came to the MRFF for help about our Team Leader trying to change the name of our unit to The Crusaders. First off I am a Christian and all of the others who joined me in asking for the MRFF’s help are also.
Our Team Leader also wanted a new patch for the new Crusader name. He had 3 of them drawn up and we voted on the best. Let me say that many of us including our (Senior NCO’s title withheld) were totally against this FUBAR idea of the new name and patch. But in our world defying such a “suggestion” by the guy in charge of our war fighting unit can get you jacked up and shitcanned forever. And this is why we called for the MRFF.
The patch drawing that got the most votes was the least offensive one and yet it still sucked big time. I can’t send a photo of it w/o getting ID’ed but I will describe it.
It shows a picture of a crusader in his armor with a cross on the front in red color holding up his sword in one hand while standing on a mountain top. The sky was a big American flag with 2 lighting bolts forming a Christian cross. In his other hand was the severed head of his enemy. Dripping with blood and with black hair and a long hook nose. Our boss said this was supposed to be the head of Satan but how would anyone even know that? He said it would put fear into the hearts of our enemies. And this one was the least gross and obnoxious of the three we voted on.
Look all of this is just so f-ed up we can’t even believe it. Even though the MRFF came in to stop this almost right away the damage has been done in our unit because of our Team Leader’s selfish attempt to change our name and use this f’ed up uniform patch. Making us out to be Christian warriors. We have plenty of folks in the Spec Ops community who are not everyday Christians. But this whole thing even shocked many of us who are like me and the others who came with me to ask the MRFF to stop it. The negative consequences of this had it gone through would have been hugely bad!
Our serious thanks to Mr. Weinstein and the whole of MRFF who all jumped into this shit at our request and dealt with our chain of command. Our local MRFF (installation name withheld) representative set this up for us to get to Mr. Weinstein directly and we also thank her. The MRFF fixed this so fast it left our heads spinning. Cannot thank y’all enough! Please don’t use any of our ID info but as we don’t want others to have to ever go thru this it’s fine to use everything else.
(Active Duty Special Operations Military Member’s name, rank, unit. and installation all withheld)
The actions described in this email depicts the exact type of historic religious warfare our founding fathers found so offensive, and rightfully so. The repugnant nature of religious animosities in mankind’s history were a basic reason for our unique constitutional provisions establishing the separation of church and state while also prohibiting all religious tests for government service. The 1stGeneral of the Armies of these United States clearly realized the truly abhorrent thought of these historic religious animosities being carried forward:
“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. [emphasis added] I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
~George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792
Immediately after verifying the details with our clients, Mikey called the Commander of the Special Operations Unit in this matter. This conversation was quickly followed by an email detailing MRFF’s experience and prior successes in dealing with this same type of unit moral destroying activity within other U.S. Military elements. Mikey also provided specific historical context of the obnoxiously sectarian religious ‘Crusader’ imagery as well as the extremely unconstitutional nature of the Unit/Team Leader’s actions and planned Name/Patch change:
From: Michael L Weinstein <[email protected]>
Subject: New “Crusaders” Name for SPEC OPS Combat Unit and New “Crusaders” Patch
Date: April 25, 2023 at 5:21:46 PM MDT
To: (U.S. Active Duty Special Operations Military Commander’s E-mail Address Withheld)RE: New “Crusaders” Name for SPEC OPS Combat Unit and New “Crusaders” Patch
Dear (Commander’s Name and Rank Withheld),
Thank you for the several phone calls we had today regarding one of the subordinate Special Operations (SPEC OPS) combat units under your command.
As you know, several members of that unit, all of them practicing Christians, have come to MRFF as a result of a decision made by this unit’s “Team Leader” to change the name of the unit from (unit’s current name withheld) to “The Crusaders” with an accompanying new “Crusaders” unit patch to be affixed on their combat attire.
As we discussed, sir, MRFF has encountered this very same situation a number of times through the years and has always been able to justly stop it almost immediately in its tracks. These successes include forcing a U.S. Marine Corps fighter squadron and a U.S. Air Force fighter squadron to abandon the use of the “Crusaders” name and accompanying “Crusaders” iconography on their fighter jets, uniform patches, and signs placed in their units’ HQ buildings, et al.
MRFF also forced Company C-1 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to drop its use of the same “Crusaders” name and visual iconography to include a West Point cadet dressed up as a Crusader and running up and down the sidelines at West Point football games.
MRFF also stopped an Army aviation unit at Fort Rucker, Alabama, from doing the very same thing with its unit name, et al. There have been a number of other similar attempts through the years by U.S. military units to employ the “Crusader” name and accompanying “Crusader” visuals for uniforms and building signs, etc., and MRFF has been able to stop all of these.
You asked me to explain why the use of this “Crusader” name and uniform patches is wrong. Sir, let me make this very simple for you, please:
(1) Please recall that the actual Crusaders murdered countless Jews and Muslims during their many years of bloody, sectarian foreign conquest specifically engineered to conquer their enemies in the name of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and their Christian faith. The use of their name and iconography by the U.S. armed forces is as wretched as any similar use by our American military of the Nazi swastika or associated Nazi paraphernalia and/or Confederate States “Stars and Bars” from the American Civil War. MRFF has battled the use of both in our nearly two decades of civil rights activism, by the way.
(2) The use of the “Crusaders” name and accompanying visuals, such as uniform patches and unit building signs, is completely violative of (A) the “No Establishment” Clause of the U.S. Constitution; (B) its construing Federal caselaw; (C) a slew of DoD EEO/IG and related Directives, Regulations, and Instructions; the Uniform Code of Military Justice; and the foundational core values of the United States (military branch name withheld).
Sir, MRFF is NOT going to lay out any more key legal or even practical facts for you. If you do NOT immediately stop this subordinate unit under your command from changing its name to “The Crusaders” and using “Crusader” visual iconography for unit uniform patches and building signs, I swear to you that MRFF will both expeditiously and aggressively sue you and the (military branch name withheld) in Federal District Court in (U.S. State name withheld) to stop you from doing so!
(Commander’s Name and Rank Withheld), I want you to think VERY HARD about how you might try to explain this Federal litigation you caused not merely to your immediate chain of command but, especially, to the Secretary of the (military branch name withheld) and the Chief of Staff of the U.S. (military branch name withheld). Oh, and please be prepared to also explain your prospective failure to stop this “Crusader” insanity to DoD Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is already well ON THE RECORD FROM DAY 1 OF HIS TENURE as wanting to be the “lodestar” (his words not mine) for racial and religious diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Defense Department.
*BOTTOM LINE, sir: Stop your subordinate Spec OPS Combat Unit from renaming itself as “The Crusaders” and using the most repulsive and Christian Nationalist graphic possible as their new logo and uniform patch. (Have you even LOOKED at that new proposed “Crusader” art yet?!) Failure to immediately do so will land you and your command not only directly in Federal Court but also all over the national and international media with the names, ranks, titles, and installations of those responsible for this disgrace justly on full display.
Standing by for your earliest decision here, sir.
Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.
Founder and President
Military ReligiousFreedom Foundation (MRFF)
Mikey received the following reply in less than 2 hours from the Commander of the Team Leader with Christian Nationalist inspirations:
From: (E-mail Address of Active Duty Special Operations Commander withheld)
Subject: MRFF Complaint Decision
Date: April 25, 2023 at 6:55:47 PM MDT
To: Information Weinstein <[email protected]>Dear Mr. Weinstein,
Thank you for alerting me and my staff to the relevant issues involving the Crusader name change proposal and Crusader uniform patch proposal for (Special Operations unit name and nomenclature withheld). After careful review of all of the issues involved I have instructed (name and title of subordinate Spec Ops commander withheld) to keep the current name and patch of the unit intact with no changes approved for the foreseeable future.
I am sending this from my personal email address and asking you to please honor your pledge for the MRFF to keep all personal identities and unit designations of the parties involved here confidential as agreed in our calls today. The (military branch name withheld) is dedicated to its mission and oath to support the United States constitution.
We appreciate the MRFF’s help in this situation to provide subject matter expertise in order to analyze the constitutional implications had the new Crusader name and patch eventually been approved. Which it has not.
Thank you and the MRFF for supporting our troops, Mr. Weinstein.
V/R
(Name, rank, title, phone number and installation of Active Duty Special Operations Commander withheld)
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