Saturday, July 10, 2010

Joe Stremph and a historical perspective on VMFA-122.

The photo and narrative are from Joe Stremph's Flickr Page.

Mine eyes have seen the glory...

For those not familiar with the story of VMFA-122, they're a Marine Corps F/A-18 squadron that was known for decades as the "Crusaders." A few years back, they deployed to Iraq, and it was felt that, given the sensitivity of our Muslim hosts in that country, it might not be good to conjure up images of knights of Christendom if we're serious about all that hearts-and-minds stuff that is so essential to nation-building and counterinsurgency. So they changed the name to the "Werewolves," which was actually what -122 was called during WWII, so there a legacy there worth preserving. While I'm not as upset about the name change as many others, it is kind of a bummer, as I loved the old shield/cross emblem they used to wear on their tails. While I've photographed several Werewolves' F/A-18s since the change, I never noticed until today that the eyes of the Werewolf on the tail have crosses for pupils, discretely keeping the Crusader legacy alive.
Bravo Zulu, Semper Fi, etc. etc.
Oh, and for the Brits and the Dutch, this was BuNo 164268/DC-14 @ Phoenix-Mesa Gateway.

1 comment:

  1. VMAQ-2 did that when the went from the "Playboys" to the "Panthers". They put little bunnies in the panthers eyes.
    Now they're the "Death Jesters". Which I find strange.

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