[WASHINGTONTIMES] Veterans aren't happy with a recent op-ed by the Washington Post, which charged that the Apache, Comanche, Chinook, Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa military vehicles were a "greater symbolic injustice" than the NFL's Washington Redskins' name."Even if the NFL and Redskins brass come to their senses and rename the team, a greater symbolic injustice would continue to afflict Indians — an injustice perpetuated not by a football club but by our federal government," Simon Waxman of the Boston Review wrote for the Post on Thursday.
He added that the helicopter names were "propaganda" that needed to end, because Native American life expectancy statistics indicate the "violence is ongoing, even if the guns are silent."
Just to put this silly bitching in context:
- Apache: Fierce, merciless desert warriors;
- Comanche: Gave up agriculture when the horse was introduced into the country because being nomadic warriors was more fun, despoilers of their enemies, perhaps the greatest light cavalry ever
- Chinook: also known as the Flatheads, were a settled people with something like a caste system. Some groups practiced -- gasp! -- slavery.
The helicopter name, I believe, refers not to the Indians but to the warm, dry wind that provides a respite from Montana or Wyoming winters. It was named for the Chinooks. A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. Chinook winds can raise winter temperatures from 20 below to 70 degrees for a few hours or days. Then it's back to freezing. You can't stop a Chinook, which is probably why they chose it
- Lakota and Cheyenne: the quintessential plains Indians, fierce warriors who made General Custer wish he'd studied harder at West Point
That's precisely the double-plus point...
Readers at the popular military news gathering website Doctrine Man reacted Friday.
"I suspect that the author is less unhappy that our choppers have Indian names, and more unhappy that there is a U.S. military," wrote Alex Kuhns.
Kevin Schooler wrote: "What floors me is that for the most part, it isn't American Indians who are offended. It is guilt-ridden white liberals being offended on their behalf. How's that for paternalism?"
Even the website's moderator weighed in, saying that the names the military chooses for weapons platforms "are anything but derogatory, they convey strength, honor, and courage. @SimonWaxman is grossly uninformed."