Is This Something We Should Be P.O.'d About?
Cross-posted from The Stupid Shall Be Punished:Over at Rontini's BBS, Myron (of Myron's Mind Meanderings) brought up a subject I haven't really thought too much about: non-submariners wearing dolphins. In this case, "Kinky" Friedman, who's running for Texas Governor (I really couldn't tell from looking at his website if his campaign is a joke or not, but he apparently is doing well enough to get included in the televised debate), has some pictures on his web site from last month where he was wearing dolphins (along with jump wings.) Here's one of the pictures:
From looking at his biography, it appears Mr. Friedman doesn't have any military experience, let alone being a qualified submariner. I know that SEALS, for one, get very upset when someone who hasn't earned it tries to wear their warfare insignia. So my question remains -- Is this something we need to get mad about, or do we accept it as a compliment from someone intending to show support for us?Because, let's face it -- aside from the question of someone wearing something they haven't earned, the fact remains that as a fashion accessory, dolphins look gooood.
(Please, keep the discussion clean; no mention of how some young ladies may have "earned" the right to wear some submariner's dolphins in some liberty port or local bar.)
posted by Bubblehead @ 10:15 PM
9 Comments:
Obviously I'm in the minority here, but I don't care. Dolphins mean something to me at least, and to my dad, and to all the men on Eternal Patrol. IMHO, nobody has a right to wear uniform insignia that they didn't earn. It's not jewelry. We earned them by our blood sweat, and tears, and those who pin them on their jackets looking for attention need to be educated in having proper respect for the symbols of the military. Just possessing the CMH without having earned it will get you a stint in a federal prison. If Friedman was wearing that, there'd be a lot of guys upset about that - and I'd say it'd be a sure bet no real CMH winner would be saying "Let him wear it, anyway."
You guys, my brother Submarine Sailors, who don't have a problem with Friedman sporting those Dolphins on his jacket, ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You're tarnishing the memory of those who paid the ultimate price in the Submarine Force, and cheapen what the Dolphins mean.
I dare any of you to wear a Green Beret, if you can find one, or if some soldier will part with his. When challenged, say, "Hey I just like the way it looks." I'm sure the Green Beret soldier will politely ask you to take it off.
Get my point? Or perhaps you all belong to the Purple Pen Gang, and that's why you don't care, because you really didn't earn them in the first place.
If what I just said offends or pisses some of you off, then maybe it's because it hits close to home, you think?
I wrote to Kinky's campaign and got the following reply:
QUOTE
Thanks for the email. Submariners are a wonderful group of people - my favorite one being my dad. He has some amazing stories to tell!
The "Jump Wings" were given to Kinky by his father, who was a proud veteran of WWII. Kinky is proud of him too, and wears this as requested.
A very close friend of Kinky's who recently passed away gave the "Dolphins" to him to wear before he died. Kinky is proud of his friend, and was abliged to uphold this wish.
On Kinky's right lapel is a badge that a fan made him in the style of the Texas Ranger's "badge" that instead says "Governor of Texas."
You are free to use this information as you like, and have a great day!
GO KINKY!
Sincerely,
Whitney
Team Kinky
UNQUOTE
Think back in the early half of the
century, wasn't it illegal to wear a military uniform if one wasn't in the military? Yet, you see some now wearing cammies bought from the Army/Navy supply store.
But I wouldn't advocate wearing something that I didn't earn. When we were in Canada, a group of submariners wanted to buy canadian dolphins. We had to prove that we were submariners.
The dolphins that I own I earned. I'm proud of them. And I know others are just as proud as I am of theirs.
The fact that Kinky feels the need to wear Jump wings and submarine dolphins, at his age and with his experiance, is kind of sad and pathetic, don't you think. It's kind of like the old song about the soiled dove,"She's more to be pityed than censored". I think it applies to Kinky in this case.
I feel sorry for him.
I don't see the big deal.
I'm a retired senior chief auxiliaryman with 22 years in the sub force under my belt. One of my collateral duties was running the ship's qual program and yeah, I'd have jumped down the throat of any nonqual I caught passing himself off as fully qualified.
But this is an entirely different kettle of fish. Down here in Texas we all know Kinky is a "character", and accept him as such. There's no intent to pass himself off as sub qualified. Why should we prove how small minded we are by getting our shorts knotted up our butts over this? Let's use it as an opportunity for some positive publicity, God knows the military gets enough of the other kind! Don't believe me? Then just identify yourself in the civilian work force as sub qualified the next time one of our boats goes aground!
We should play this for laughs and let it go. The man means no harm.
Fine, I'll put Master Chief anchors on, walk around a Navy base, claiming I'm just trying to give the Navy Chiefs a good name. Oh, and I won't try to pass myself off as a Chief, either.
Do you you think any of your "initiated brethren" might have a problem with that?
Hey, the anchors are all just for laughs and I don't mean any harm.
I think you're mixing apples and oranges, as a retired sailor you're in an entirely different category than an entertainer who got his start with songs like, "They Just Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore".
Look, I can identify to a degree with the outrage expressed by some over this but we've been presented with an accomplished fact. We can either use it to our advantage or not. The average Joe Civilian won't understand our feelings and all we do by putting up a fuss is give ourselves a bad name. Yes, Kinky is out of line wearing ANY insignia he didn't earn. But for what my own two cents are worth a guy who tries getting his name on the November ballots as "Kinky" is a whole different kettle of fish than some NQP who goes home and puts on a pair of fish to impress his little girlfriends.
Like I said, just my opinion.
My first reaction to seeing a NQP wearing dolphins is he should be keel hauled! There are to many good submariners on eternal patrol who earned the right to wear the insignia for a character who calls himself "Kinky" to try to use them for personal or political gain. Just my 2 cents
subvet, i'm from texas also, and kinky is known as a joke to most educated citizens. no one takes the idiot serious anyway.
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