Yes, it is necessary to study war. If you fail to study Caesar's commentaries, that is your loss. Likewise one may learn much from the strategy and tactics of Lee without honoring his cause or Rommel without honoring Nazism. However, incorporating their symbols as an 'homage' to their military prowess, or even their valor, courage and individual accomplishments, is an entirely different thing.
The French know this full well as they failed to pay attention to Hans Guderian and his pre-war book Achtung - Panzer! and the Maginot Line was proven to be useless. However, after the war the Allies certainly did not reward Guderian for his prophetic and strategic brilliance. He wasn't treated as a war criminal, but he was not glorified either.
Symbols are powerful objects. For example, to pay homage to the flag of the Confederacy as a modern symbol sends a message which is none too subtle. You may not see it as such, but to millions of Americans it is still seen as the flag of a nation dedicated to the preservation of the ownership of human beings by other human beings when you get to its core values.
To incorporate the symbology of the Waffen SS, even if unintentionally, into a modern sharp shooters' unit is to dishonor the valiant Allied men and women who gave their lives to stamp out the cancer which was National Socialism. Thousands of them and their widows, as well as hundreds of thousands of their direct descendants, are still living among us today. You have to know what you are playing with when you use symbols. Yes, the enemies foot soldiers were just boys caught up by forces beyond their control. You can make peace with them, but never with the evil cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion. That is the Marine Corps' point in this matter. That is why the knowledge of history is important in the formation of a reasoning adult. Here's a bit more on that:
"SAN DIEGO — The Marine Corps on Thursday once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi SS — a special unit that murdered millions of Jews, gypsies and others.
The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable. However, it was a naïve mistake made by Marines who believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to associate themselves with a racist organization, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a spokeswoman at Camp Pendleton. (My note: That's why HISTORY is important!)
The Marines in the image will not be disciplined because investigators determined there was no malicious intent, Chapin said. Instead, the Corps used the incident as a training tool to talk to troops about what symbols are acceptable after it became aware of the photograph last November."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...anistan/2012/02/09/gIQArU3j1Q_story.htmlFor that matter, Hitler 'stole' the swastika from other, older cultures and turned it into a worldwide symbol of pure evil. Using it today under the excuse that you are paying honor to its pre-Hitler meaning is either incredibly stupid and insensitive or demonically disingenuous. Take your pick, but it is not political correctness which calls out such behavior.
All too often today we hear people, particularly from the political right, throw back the canard of 'political correctness' to those who bring up harsh facts. Yes, there is such a thing as PC, but this "ain't" one of them.
