People have limits. When I realized that General Petraeus was wearing a medal he did not earn in combat, I noticed that people really didn’t want to hear it. People actually do see The Emperor's New Clothes. They start to act freaky when you question people in uniform. And for some reason, people here felt compelled , to decry my attack on a blood-curdling liberal-hater who claims (or claimed, nothing from him lately) to be a Marine. But what, for example, today's vote on wiretapping suggests is that you cannot hide from these people. You must confront.
To the specifics, I think you'll find that this "Marine unit patch":
Contains elements of the 5th Marine division's heraldry. And the 26th Marines were part of the 5th Division in WW2, but "marinebryant", of whom I wrote, implied that he was a Viet Nam veteran from late in that conflict, many years after the unit switched over. At that juncture, the 26th Marines were part of the 1st and 3rd Marine divisions
Moreover, the Asian arch in the patch and its new manufacture seemed all wrong and not reconcilable with the implicit claims made.
But the 26th Marines in WW2 don't sell. Although there are heroes throughout the armed forces, fakers always want to be part of exciting, storied units. Thus, the purveyors of insignia imply that it is from storied units, such as the Marines at Khe Sahn. The insignia above is a fake VIETNAM unit patch. I should have made that more clear. But it's hard to prove a negative, and I was worried more detail might have added confusion and given the faker an out. There is now no question in my mind that the person in question misrepresented himself and I am confident that he's a liar.
The patch is available on sites with words like "grunts" and "marines" and "px" in their names. So what? I certainly wasn't taken in by that. Here is the huckster pitch on Ebay:
Here’s another one for all you Marines and Marine Corps enthusiasts! This is a FINE example of a unit logo patch for First Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines. You won’t find one of these just anywhere! Not, of course, allowed on the uniform, but worn on all manner of off-duty civilian caps and clothing as novelty items.
1st Bn, 26th Marines had a long, distinguished list of battle honors in WWII, but was deactivated after the war. When the Vietnam War started up, it was reactivated. The unit was officially part of the Fifth Marine Division (explaining the similarity to the 5th MarDiv patch,) but was attached to the 1st Marine Division for operations in Vietnam (as indicated on the patch.) After the war, the unit was again deactivated, and remains inactive to date. Known as "THE PROFESSIONALS"
No need to apologize.....
From the 26th Marines association
This is the official 26th Regiment logo. I receive a lot of requests for where to get battalion level patches - e.g., 1/26 patch, 2/26 patch, 3/26 patch. Fact is, no such thing exists - not officially, anyway.
Anything you may find out there, such as on Sgt. Grit's site is BOGUS, and was created recently (I even spoke with the woman who created a patch to cover all three battalions). The official regimental patch is the one you see here. In our regiment, battalion levels did not have patches, they only had Guideon flags (much like the platoon Guideon you saw in boot camp).
I love my country and I love the Constitution most dearly. I love my country and I love the Constitution most dearly. I love my country and I love the Constitution most dearly. That kind of repetition - as well as strong language - are necessary in a time when people think they have permission to call a patriot a traitor just because they wore - or pretended to wear - a uniform.
There's a list of Kos luminaries who claimed that patch was real or were scared it might be. It wasn't.
Forget it. It macht nicht. Just take another look at this. The person who runs the blog that filth was on met with the President and senior staff. Take a look at these people and these. "Veterans For Freedom" was started from the same address as the racists. Its executive director, Lieutenant Peter Hegseth (whom everyone got so upset I lampooned and insulted) is the executive director of the extremist group as well as VFF. He's literally been trained to lie for the Right since he was a kid.
You don't treat phonies and hacks with kid gloves. These are bullies, people. This is basic Al Franken.
Q: What do you think of NPR apologizing to Bill O'Reilly for his performance on "Fresh Air?"
A: Well, they supposedly were apologizing for Terry Gross asking him difficult questions. He is a guy who can dish it out, but can't take it. He says, You know, you come on my show; it's the no-spin zone. My job's to get the truth; I ask the tough questions. He's a bully. My dad always told me to stand up to bullies. He's a bully on the playground who hits other kids. Finally a kid comes up and hits him, he goes crying to the teacher - "Teacher! Teacher! Sue him!" I think it was a disgraceful thing the ombudsman did. I guess the ombudsman's job is to make judgments like that, but I thought it was ridiculous.
I understand the concern. But I'm just not scared of these people.