Pathetic.
Via Army Times:
A sign outside an Army training center at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, that featured a knight with crosses on his breastplate and shield was taken down Monday afternoon, hours after the head of a religious-freedom advocacy group called for the image’s removal.
The image represented the “Fighting Knights” of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 8th Special Troops Battalion. Members of the unit recently transformed an unused motor pool area into a warrior training center, 8th Theater Sustainment Command spokeswoman Sgt. 1st Class Mary Ferguson told Army Times. A news release detailing the offerings of the center went out Friday at Army.mil and other locations and included an image of the sign.
The knight with red crosses is “not an approved logo,” Ferguson said. She said she wasn’t sure how long the sign had been up or who approved the design, noting that the center had opened recently. A photo of the sign hosted by the U.S. Pacific Command website is dated Oct. 23.
“Ultimately, this was human error and not representative of the unit or the Army,” Ferguson said in a follow-up email after the sign’s removal.
The image was pulled from Army.mil and other locations Monday morning while officials looked into the matter, she said. The sign came down shortly before 4 p.m. Monday.
“We commend the Army for doing the right thing, but why did it happen in the first place?” said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who earlier Monday demanded the removal of the sign in an email to Maj. Gen. Edward Dorman, head of 8th TSC. “Who’s asleep at the switch when it comes to these issues?”
HT: TAH