Mr. Mike Weinstein

This message is for Mr. Weinstein,
First off, I assume that because of my lack of political affiliation, or magnitude of campaign donations that I will receive either a no response or a generic response to this message. I have one question in lieu of his position on recent matters in the press: Has Mr. Weinstein ever killed any one person on the line of duty?

Hope to hear from him soon! Thanks!

(name withheld)

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Dear (name withheld),

Thanks for your E.

First, to clear up one obvious misconception, a “lack of political affiliation or magnitude of campaign donations” have absolutely no impact on anything the MRFF or Mr.Weinstein does. He is not a politician, and the MRFF is non-profit organization dedicated mainly to helping service members whose Constitutional right to religious freedom has been violated.

Mr. Weinstein personally read your letter. He tried to read and respond to all letters personally, but in times when we receive a heavy influx,sometimes delegates replies to volunteers like me. However, he personally asked me to write to you on his behalf from my perspective –as a retired Marine SNCO with close personal ground combat service.

First, I assume that your inquiry is based on the Marine sniper logo which has been in the news of late. Correct me if I’m wrong.

To address your question (though I am unsure what it is apropos of), Mr. Weinstein have never killed anyone in line of duty. His ten years of distinguished service to this nation was as a USAF JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer, including a tour in the Reagan White House as Special Counsel.

However, I (and many other members and clients of the MRFF) have — not that it is something I take any pride in, as any fool can kill another human being.

My source of “pride” was not how many I killed, but that (to the best of my knowledge) I never killed or caused to be killed any innocents or non-combatants.
My opponents were well-trained, well-armed soldiers of the NVA (aka PAVN) which Jane’s “Fighting Men” for 1968 described as being “among the best light infantry in the world.” And so they were. I also encountered some Main Force VC. (Not to be confused with the “local yokels” who were not as well trained or armed.) They were also good fighters, in my experience.

I took much greater pride in being involved in the Combined Action Program, a “hearts and minds” program that combined providing local security for the villages in our AOR with training the local forces to defend themselves and their villages, and civic action work designed to improve their standard of living.

You can see some of that work here:

http://sites.google.com/site/usmccaposcar

Please allow me to provide you with some background about the MRFF to clear up any misconceptions.

Most of the MRFF members, staff, and volunteers are veterans. Our numbers include active duty, reserve, or retired, from all branches, holding ranks from enlisted through Flag officer, with MOSs in all fields, and representing service eras from WW II, Korea, Viet Nam, and on through Gulf I, OEF, OIF, and the present GWOT. Many have been in close combat, and have been decorated for wounds received in action and / or for valor, with medals ranging from the Purple Heart, Bronze Star w/V, Silver Star, the various service Crosses, and a Medal of Honor recipient.

Mr. Weinstein is also a veteran. An Honor Graduate of the USAF Academy, he served for 10 years a JAG officer, including service in the Reagan White House as a Special Counsel. His family has over three generations of service, and a number of distinguished members of the US Armed Forces. Mr. Weinstein’s nephew is a GYSGT in the USMC in a combat MOS. He recently returned from his fourth tour in the Iraq. He is also member and strong supporter of the MRFF.

We currently have well over 27,000 cases. ALL of our cases are initiated at the request of service members (active, reserve, and / or retired / former) or employees of the DoD.

Most of our work concerns religious freedom. 96% of our cases are brought on behalf of Christians who are considered “not Christian enough” or not the “right kind” of Christian, who have been harassed or persecuted by the radical religious zealots we often oppose, known variously as Dominionists or Reconstructionists.

The 4% balance of our cases includes Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and others, as well as Pagans, atheists, agnostics, and other free-thinkers.

The great preponderance of our cases involve abuses of authority and violations of the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience by a specific sub-set of aggressive radicals who style themselves “Christians” and who are becoming increasingly entrenched and powerful in the military in all braches and MOSs at ranks up to and including flag officer ranks.

Some personal history:

My own family has a long history of military service dating back to the Revolutionary War and Civil War, including five generations of Marines spanning WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf I.

My own service included close personal ground combat in several of the major operations in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, at Khe Sanh (before, during, and after the Tet 1968 assault and the Siege), and later in the Hue-Phu Bai area, during the mopping-up after Tet. I have served in various infantry and artillery units, and in 1st and 3rd Recon (in capacities through platoon commander), as well as in Combined Action, and as an MSG at MARDET CINCLNTFLT.

I later lost a limb, which ended my active career, but I subsequently went on to teach in the USMC JROTC program for several years, using my GI Bill to attain a BA, and later a Master’s degree, and became a teacher.

I think that from my experience, I have some small understanding of the Marine Corps, including its “elite” units, and of the nature and exigencies of personal ground combat.

As to the use of SS runic symbol and flag by the Marine Scout-snipers, which I assume may be at the root of your inquiry;

These “Sig” runes (as they are known) and this flag are of the Nazi Schutzstaffel – SS – Hitler’s personal thugs and bodyguards, who rounded up the Jews and other “undesirables” for transportation to their death camps.

The runes come from the so-called “Armanen Futharkh” which are 18 runes supposedly “revealed” to the Austrian occult mystic and Germanic revivalist Guido von List in 1902 while he was blinded after a cataract operation. The Sig rune was later used by Karl Maria Wiligut (Himmler’s official occultist) in his own runic row (Wiligut runes) in the bizarre Nazi mysticism rituals.

In 1931, Walter Heck, a Sturmführer in the SS (and also a Nazi occultist), drew two reversed and inverted Sig runes side by side. He noticed the similarity to the SS initials, and sold the rights to his rendition to the SS, which were then adopted as their official insignia.

However, these runes and their other meanings have nothing to do with our concerns. Hitler’s misbegotten regime permanently tarred them, along with the swastika and the term “Aryan” — all formerly quite innocuous terms and emblems, the province of scholars, linguists, and anthropologists

While it may seem an over-reaction to you, Mr. Weinstein’s personal experiences growing up as a Jew and that of his family in the Holocaust necessarily induces a strong reaction in him about these matters.

In addition, one of our Jewish veteran members was in the infamous Lodz Ghetto, and later sent to Auschwitz as a child. Both of his parents were brutally murdered by the SS. His mother was gassed the day they arrived, and he later saw his father beaten to death with a shovel by an SS guard. Somehow, he survived until the liberation, when he became a “mascot” of the US Army, and later emigrated to the US and joined our armed forces, later fighting in Korea. Needless to say, his memories of that logo are none too happy.

Some people have tried to justify this emblem as a “tradition.” Even if it were true, it in no way makes it any more acceptable.

I never encountered it during my time in (I retired in 1977), and I often worked right alongside snipers. At Khe Sanh, for example, we had one assigned to our corner of the lines, and no Nazi logos were to be seen anywhere on his person or equipment.

This “tradition” dates to 1979-80. It was well known to be anti-semitic and neo-Nazi from the start, and was selected for that reason, because those originally responsible for its adoption were members of a vicious neo-Nazi cult led by the notorious Metzgers at Fallbrook near Camp Pendleton.

I attach a letter by a former Marine Scout-sniper officer who describes the time, place, and details of when this emblem was adopted.

So, this is not some old Marine tradition, but a fairly recent deliberate move on the part of neo-Nazis in the Marines to stealthily impose their warped symbology on the Scout-snipers under the guise of the unit’s initials.

However, again, length of use is not the issue. If it had been used since WW II (unthinkable for any of us who grew up in that era or the years immediately after the war), it would STILL be wrong.

As to the nature of the emblem and flag itself, and whether those Marines knew what they were getting — there can be no doubt that at least some of them knew this was a Nazi Schutzstaffel flag, since they obtained it from a web-site called “Traders of the Lost Surplus” (which one waggish reporter has dubbed “Nazis ‘R’ Us”), a site that specializes in Nazi replicas and memorabilia. Have a look for yourself:

http://www.totls.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16:close-out-corner&catid=1:home&Itemid=30

For your convenience, I attach a picture of the identical flag from that site, and the accompanying description:

7180. ss double runic flag, a favorite and well know (sic) ss flag, 3′ x 5′ $7.50

You (along with me and many others) would have liked to believe that these Marines somehow chose this flag by accident, without at least one of them noticing that it was a Nazi SS flag, or its history or origins. However, that would have entailed believing that these carefully selected, highly trained individuals are all somewhat dumber than the average box of rocks.

(And yes, I know that members of other services sometimes suggest that about us — usually when there are no Marines present — but I like to think that not all Marines are quite THAT stupid.)

As Exhibit 2, I would like to attach the text of a letter we recently received from an active duty Marine scout-sniper. I have redacted his name and E to protect his privacy (not that he deserves it), but his name shows that he is obviously of Germanic origin.

From: K******@***.com
Date: February 10, 2012 1:48:36 AM MST
To: [email protected]
Subject: Waffen SS Flag

Mr. Michael Weinstein,
Yes, we knew what that flag meant. We are mainly composed of white people of European descent (blacks can’t swim and it is too tough for jews). We have always acknowledged true fighters and the Waffen SS are an elite brotherhood of warriors, much like we are. More than 99% never saw a concentration camp or participated in Einsaztgruppen actions, much like the vast majority of the USMC has never perpetrated any war crimes. Many of our members are of German descent and not a few have ancestors who were in the Waffen SS. We certainly do not have the combat distinction of your Israeli Commandos (if I were a 12 year old Palestinian boy throwing rocks I may be scared) or the Air Farce. You are correct; we knew what that flag meant.

(Name Redacted)

As you can clearly see, this Marine sniper not only admits to knowing the history and meaning of the flag, tries to excuse the behavior of the SS (a lie much circulated by modern neo-Nazis), and indeed glorifies those murderous bastards, while simultaneously making racially charged lies about blacks and Jews. He says he knows the meaning of that flag and symbol, and not only doesn’t recant and apologize for its use, but actually glorifies and celebrates these bloody murderers of millions of unarmed men, women, and children. I cannot find any excuse for this, or any way to exonerate him, or any like him. Can you?

Likewise, the recent discovery of a “Camp Aryan” (another highly symbolic term Hitler appropriated and sullied, like the swastika and the runes) makes it clear that there are people in the Marines and other branches of the Armed Forces who are stealthily pursuing a racist neo-Nazi agenda. We had them when I was in — though they didn’t dare display their ugly racism openly in my day — at least not in any units I led!

There is clearly no way this can be excused by saying the men “did not know.” Though doubtless some (perhaps many) individuals in the units did not know, there are obviously also a number who knew very well what they were doing from the start. For at least some of these men, this is the totally unacceptable racial and religious “supremacy” that has plagued our Corps and nation for many years, again raising its despicable head.

Even though this may have gone on for 30 years, it was never acceptable, because it has made use (knowingly or otherwise) of a symbol that was used by the most brutal units of the fascist, totalitarian Nazi regime — sworn enemies of this country, who our fathers and grand-fathers fought a long and tough war to defeat once and for all.

While not Jewish myself, I grew up in the years following WW II, when there were still many who had seen the Holocaust (which, BTW, included communists, Gypsies, political opponents, Poles, Slavs, and other non-Jews) first hand.

A close family friend had been a combat photographer in Europe. He was of German (non-Jewish) descent, and was one of those detailed by General Eisenhower (another German-American) to make a photographic and film record of the death camps, so that nobody could ever deny what had happened. As Eisenhower later wrote to Mamie, “I never dreamed that such cruelty, bestiality, and savagery could really exist in this world.”

Sadly, most of that generation are now gone.

The sight of that logo still causes great pain and revulsion in the hearts and minds of many people who fought against, or who directly suffered under these monsters, and among their families. It pains our dwindling number of WW II veterans, especially POWs and Jews — especially one of our members who was in Auschwitz as a child, where he lost both his mother and father to the SS.

The real question is this; do Marines REALLY want to cause great mental anguish and suffering to the remaining men and women who survived, and to their families and survivors, by continuing to display an emblem of a horrendous regime that murdered millions of innocent men, women and children?

Even if the snipers did not mean to inflict such harm originally by intentionally choosing this logo (and as I have shown you, there are those who did), could anyone attempt to justify the continued use of such an emblem now that they know the truth?

This is a leadership failure, as well as an educational one.

These emblems should never have been selected or allowed. These are NOT official USMC emblems. We have only ONE authorized emblem – the EGA, and our authorized flags are (first and foremost), the Stars and Stripes, followed by the Marine Corps Battle Colors with its centuries of battle streamers, our various Regimental Colors, and our unit guidons – all of the latter bearing the EGA.

As one Marine officer put it, in commenting on this case, these guys are not “special snowflakes” – they are US Marines. These gentlemen need to realize that they are Marines, not the SS. Otherwise, they need to look for a new employer.

It is also a disciplinary issue. Units that seek to insulate themselves from the mainstream of Marine life and discipline, or ignore regulations, (for whatever reasons) are headed down a slippery slope.

The CMC, GEN Amos, agrees with our position, and has issued an order banning all use of this and similar emblems in all Marine units, though it may take a while to purge the Marines of this odious symbol and others. While we may never succeed in purging racial and religious intolerance. Nonetheless, it is a goal we should all be striving for.

Of course, you are free to disagree. If you think their service gives anyone the “right” to fly a flag representing one of the most beastly, cowardly, and murderous regimes in human history, which our fathers’ and grand-fathers’ generation fought to obliterate, then we must agree to disagree, as IMO, that would be disrespecting the Greatest Generation, who gave so unsparingly of themselves to defeat that regime and those symbols.

I remain, sir

Semper Fidelis,

F. J. Taylor
USMC (Ret.)