If I bought a hat like this and wore it to my model club meetings, and you were a member of that club, would you consider it offensive? Even knowing that I do so as a tongue-in-cheek joke and an effort to bring a little levity and character to the group, with no political or otherwise serious message intended?
ushanka1 by theirishavenger, on Flickr
Chris
Not a vet here, but I have a couple pennies.
Well, consider we never really came to blows with the USSR.We rattled sabers at each other, fought proxy wars, and came close to cooking the planet 51 years ago, but we never went full out.
What I think is far more offensive is people tooling around on their mopeds and scooters wearing German WWII helmets or guys showing up in SS 
and other German unit t-shirts 
What he said. But it’s a free country, right?
We never had a shooting war with the Rooskies, thank god.
I have a Soviet Navy belt buckle that I wear from time to time.
Getting a major “Strangelove” flashback…
My father in law didn’t like our BMW, but he had a wall full of Sony stuff. To each their own.
In one of my ancient Zvezda T-60 models, I got a Soviet Guards badge inside of it. I think it was included as a prize. The kit was labeled for sale in the USSR only. I used to keep it on the desk in my office next to my unit coins and name plate that had my former unit crests on it. I had it as more of a souvenir of our winning the Cold War.
Hat wouldn’t bother me as much as the guys who think the Nazis were all that.
I had a sweatshirt with a red star/hammer and sickle with CCCP that I would wear while at work repairing Navy ships and subs. When questioned about it, I would simply state that I was wearing as a symbol of the freedoms we have in the USA (and to be a non-conformist) and would ask my questioner if he thought my Soviet counterpart in in the USSR could get away with wearing a sweatshirt with a bald eagle and USA on it. That always got a nod of approval.
I’m not a vet but personally I don’t have an issue if you’re joking around, it’s the people wearing stuff like AJ posted who are serious about it that bother me.
After bringing a couple of Japanese fighters to our club meeting I wore a headband with a rising sun on it as a joke. Most of the crew understood the humour in how goofy a white guy wearing a Japanese headband looks but one guy really got offended by it. Not sure why, he isn’t a vet and he’s only about 40 or so. Nevertheless I took it off and haven’t worn it since.
If you have to ask, then you already have your answer.
LOL, I have a hat like that one that I’ve considered getting a Rooskyi emblem for.
So, no. I would not be offended in any way unless the person wearing it is yelling like a party apparatchik.
(not a veteran, but a product of the Cold War)
Uncle Buck may have said it best . . .
“It angers a lot of people. Just the sight of it.”
[:)]
As a vet ('83-"07), no I dont find wearing one of those offensive. I actually bought one while I was at Hohenfels Germany while we were training up for deployment to the Balkans. And wore it on a few snowy nights there. I have collected a bit of Soviet militaria, and like Rob, consider it souveniers of “we won that one”. I am in agreement about the SS or Che Guevarra t-shirts and such, wether worn for shock value or because the person believes in those ideologies.
Oh we actually were in a shooting war with the Soviets- at least in the air. It’s just the powers that be on both sides kept it hush hush so that it did not turn in to WWIII. In Korea, the USAF and Soviet VVS rose daily to fight head to head in Mig Alley over North Korea from late 1950 until July 1953.
Personally, I find it highly offensive, but that has nothing to do with me being a vet, but it is a free country.
What I don’t get is why it is perfectly expectable to wear something like this, but wear anything with a swastika on it and you would get lynched.
I agree Bish. The Soviets were just as bad or worse than the Nazis. I find it odd that the hammer and sickle doesn’t evoke the same reactions as the swastika as well. I used to live in area that was very heavily populated by Russian immigrants and most of them would have taken exception to a hat like this.
I personally wouldn’t wear something featuring either of those symbols.
Strange example of what you were saying, Bish I can say Soviet here, but they blanked out “knotsie” in my above post.
I AM a veteran and your hat doesn’t offend me. What DOES offend me is people who wear che guevara (doesn’t deserve caps) shirts…
An explanation for that, bitbite. It’s nothing political.
The auto *** feature, the nannybot, is set up to defuse flame wars. In this case the term nazis is commonly used in fights about obsessive sticklers for accuracy, for instance “rivet nazis”.
Nazi however works
Thanks for the clarification. So if I capitalize it it’s ok? Let’s try. Nazi.
It works! Makes little sense but I guess I understand it. People who lack don’t capitalize should be punished, I suppose. However sometimes, like you, I do it intentionally. [;)]
It dosent offend me a bit ,ihad a very similar hat until my dog chewed it up. (I’m not kidding)
No, no- it’s not the capitalization; it’s singular (acceptable) versus plural (not acceptable).
I’m sure I do not know the reason why this is, but if you think about it in the context of people hurling insults, it kind of makes sense.
test So I can say, “Rivet nazis like you . . .” but not, “You are a rivet nazi.”