A religious-freedom advocacy group has filed its second grievance in as many weeks with the Army, again demanding that imagery featuring a red crucifix be removed from Army signage — and this time, insisting the aviation unit involved change its logo and its nickname.
The logo of Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 212th Aviation Regiment, based at Fort Rucker, Alabama, contains "blatantly unconstitutional Christian Crusader imagery" and should be discontinued immediately, Military Religious Freedom Foundation president and founder Mikey Weinstein wrote Monday
in an email addressed to Maj. Gen. Michael Lundy, commanding general of Fort Rucker and the Army Aviation Center of Excellence.
Weinstein, an Air Force Academy graduate whose MRFF claims more than 40,000 active-duty clients across the military, also demanded the unit cease using the name "Crusaders," which he called "incredibly offensive and unconstitutional."
A certificate appears to display the logo of Echo Company, 1st Battalion, 212th Aviation Regiment, which an advocacy group has demanded be removed on religious-freedom grounds.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation
No details on the logo's use, nor how long the unit has used the name or the imagery, were immediately available.
Weinstein's letter to Lundy asks the general to launch "an aggressive investigation and insure visible and appropriate punishment for any and all individuals (including yourself) who are either directly or indirectly responsible for this unconstitutional injustice."
The Fort Shafter image was not an official logo of the unit involved, according to base officials, and the sign was removed Nov. 16 within hours of the MRFF complaint.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
