# The Army Sells The Big Red One to Sears **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474 "2008-09-13T20:04:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/1 "2008-09-13T20:04:41Z")
[Sears will start selling clothes with the famed insignia this fall.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13276.html) As Firesign Theatre said nearly forty years ago, in _Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers_: > [@Surrogate General Klein](#): > > Are you impugning, sir, that this uniform might be for sale? This uniform that bears the three stars that indicate my ratings? Bedecked with ribbons that represent every theatre of war? Who wore it last in our proud company? This full-dress uniform, W dash 2565, seen in Our Finest Hours, in Ruthless Combat, in Dogfights Over Broadway, and worn out finally, here on this spot, in Parallel Hell. What is it worth? How much do I hear? As the article says, “the full scope of the royalties to be earned has yet to be disclosed.” ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/2 "2008-09-13T20:33:46Z")
Disgusting. It’s interesting, in a very sick way, what some people find theirs to sell. I thought the Clintons were disgusting for selling nights in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House to their large political contributors. I guess the buyers, 'scuse me, contributors, thought perhaps they might experience a faint brush with Lincoln’s towering resolve and integrity. As for the Clinton’s, they sold something held in trust, i.e. it fucking wasn’t theirs to sell in the first place. Whored-out history, no two ways about it. Whoring out a famed infantry division, in which so many soldiers died for their country? I wonder how much thought buyers of Sears’s casual wear will give to the emblem in the first place? If it’s to ‘show respect’, they they sure as shit must be aware they didn’t earn the right to wear it. Courage, tradition and devotion aren’t transmitted by clothing. As for the sellers…nauseating. Whoever approved this particular sale on behalf of the Army deserves all the contempt the public and military vets can pour out. This pisses on a public trust again but it seems even worse to me. Probably because so many men died under that emblem. This sucks in so many ways. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/3 "2008-09-13T20:42:59Z")
Don’t be surprised if some colonel or general, or high-ranking Pentagon civilian is soon announced as the new VP of Marketing for Sears. If you’re interested in how this sort of thing works, Google “Darleen Druyun”. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/4 "2008-09-13T20:54:20Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Disgusting. It’s interesting, in a very sick way, what some people find theirs to sell. I thought the Clintons were disgusting for selling nights in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House to their large political contributors. I guess the buyers, 'scuse me, contributors, thought perhaps they might experience a faint brush with Lincoln’s towering resolve and integrity. As for the Clinton’s, they sold something held in trust, i.e. it fucking wasn’t theirs to sell in the first place. Whored-out history, no two ways about it. > > Whoring out a famed infantry division, in which so many soldiers died for their country? I wonder how much thought buyers of Sears’s casual wear will give to the emblem in the first place? If it’s to ‘show respect’, they they sure as shit must be aware they didn’t earn the right to wear it. Courage, tradition and devotion aren’t transmitted by clothing. As for the sellers…nauseating. Whoever approved this particular sale on behalf of the Army deserves all the contempt the public and military vets can pour out. This pisses on a public trust again but it seems even worse to me. Probably because so many men died under that emblem. > > This sucks in so many ways. Surprisingly, amazingly, astonishingly, frighteningly, I agree wholeheartedly. Well said. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/5 "2008-09-13T21:01:11Z")
Can selling naming rights to the Pentagon be far behind? Or maybe our tanks could be like NASCAR and have sponsorship decals all over them. Army uniforms with a Nike swoosh? I think its time to privatize the military and cut the taxpayers out of the burden. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/6 "2008-09-13T21:08:32Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Surprisingly, amazingly, astonishingly, frighteningly, I agree wholeheartedly. Well said. Yeah agreed. I can see it in the future: The Screaming Eagles deodorant Soaring protection! Tropic Lightning the official vodka of the US Army! Welcome to the Hell On Wheels 400! The Bloody Bucket basketball shoes, stomp your opponents on the court! Cheapening of the soldiers. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/7 "2008-09-13T21:10:21Z")
That’s utterly hilarious in a beyond-satire, “decline and fall of American society” kind of way. > [@](#): > > “The U.S. Army launches an all-out fashion offensive,” reads the headline on [stylelist.com](http://stylelist.com). Maybe the Army will get more dignified-looking uniforms now that they shop at Sears. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/8 "2008-09-13T21:10:51Z")
> [@RyJae](#): > > Yeah agreed. I can see it in the future: > > The Screaming Eagles deodorant Soaring protection! > > Tropic Lightning the official vodka of the US Army! > > Welcome to the Hell On Wheels 400! > > The Bloody Bucket basketball shoes, stomp your opponents on the court! > Cheapening of the soldiers. ☹ This truly is disgusting. I wish I shopped a lot at Sears—or at all—so I cold stop. You know, given there particular target market, I think this is a mistake they will soon regret. I hope so. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/9 "2008-09-13T21:12:00Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Disgusting. It’s interesting, in a very sick way, what some people find theirs to sell. I thought the Clintons were disgusting for selling nights in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House to their large political contributors. I guess the buyers, 'scuse me, contributors, thought perhaps they might experience a faint brush with Lincoln’s towering resolve and integrity. As for the Clinton’s, they sold something held in trust, i.e. it fucking wasn’t theirs to sell in the first place. Whored-out history, no two ways about it. > > Whoring out a famed infantry division, in which so many soldiers died for their country? I wonder how much thought buyers of Sears’s casual wear will give to the emblem in the first place? If it’s to ‘show respect’, they they sure as shit must be aware they didn’t earn the right to wear it. Courage, tradition and devotion aren’t transmitted by clothing. As for the sellers…nauseating. Whoever approved this particular sale on behalf of the Army deserves all the contempt the public and military vets can pour out. This pisses on a public trust again but it seems even worse to me. Probably because so many men died under that emblem. > > This sucks in so many ways. Damn, this depresses me. I totally agree with you, Tveblen. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/10 "2008-09-13T21:36:15Z")
The upside: The Pentagon can surely get a deal and buy their hammers at Sears for less than the $200 each that they’ve been paying. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/11 "2008-09-13T21:45:29Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > Can selling naming rights to the Pentagon be far behind? It’a too bad that Chrysler already has its eponymous skyscraper, or else the Pentagon would make a great Chrysler Building. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/12 "2008-09-13T23:36:35Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] Surprisingly, amazingly, astonishingly, **frighteningly** , I agree wholeheartedly. Well said. [/QUOTE] Uh,thanks. (??) In odd moments I’ve noodled around Google, trying to pin down whether/how military emblems and insignia are controlled, i.e. their images and uses limited by the various arms of the military. And if so, who would have authority over that control. Not having much luck at the moment. I’d assume emblems and insignia used by the military are in fact ‘owned’ by the government. Even if some unusually greedy Pentagon staff retires, rights to the emblems, etc. still wouldn’t change–right? Because individuals might award or bestow them but it’s always on behalf of the arm of the military, I thought, so no individual would ever have the right to whore them out. Ya gotta give our gummint credit for one thing at least: it’s sure wordy. Regulations galore.–Veb ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/13 "2008-09-13T23:44:43Z")
Just a random thought, but: How would you feel if you lost a husband, child or relative in warfare and you had his patch enshrined as a loving reminder, then, you open up the Sears insert in the Sunday paper and see that an exact duplicate is being sold at retail? If it was me, I would want to burn down the local Sears store but then, I’m sometimes too passionate. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/14 "2008-09-13T23:51:21Z")
I just cannot fathom how this can be legal. How can the Army own the copyright and sell it for profit? It just seems impossible. Either it is in the public domain, like all works done by US government agencies, or it cannot be sold. But I just cannot see how the Army could legally make money out of this. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/15 "2008-09-13T23:56:28Z")
In a way, I think it’s sort of adorable that the Army believes it can inspire kids to join up by marketing its insignia at Sears. Things may have changed a lot since I was in high school, but I suspect that the Army may be grossly overestimating the coolness factor of Sears-brand clothing. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/16 "2008-09-14T00:52:32Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > In a way, I think it’s sort of adorable that the Army believes it can inspire kids to join up by marketing its insignia at Sears. Things may have changed a lot since I was in high school, but I suspect that the Army may be grossly overestimating the coolness factor of Sears-brand clothing. Not just that, Sears clothing with a Big Red One on it. I don’t think the kids of today ever watched the movie with Luke Skywalker and the Call of Duty spinoff subtitled “Big Red One” is barely remembered in the face of the much superior Call of Duty 2. Yeah, they’ll just be shirts with ones on them to the vast majority of Sears shoppers. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/17 "2008-09-14T00:54:25Z")
This just doesn’t pass the sniff test for me. I can’t think of any better way to express myself than with the words that **TVeblen** used upthread. The screwy thing is that I have no problem with the various command ball cap retailers out there. Heck - I’ve got a command ball cap to a vessel I never could have seen. But all those things are small scale, and you really have to know what you’re looking for to find someone selling what you want. More than that, I can use an interest in my USS _Akron_ ball cap to educate people about the US Navy’s zeppelin fleet. Which isn’t the worst way to spend a few minutes. I just don’t imagine that most people who would be wearing such sportswear would be able to do the same for the Big Red One. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/18 "2008-09-14T01:00:14Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Uh,thanks. (??) > > In odd moments I’ve noodled around Google, trying to pin down whether/how military emblems and insignia are controlled, i.e. their images and uses limited by the various arms of the military. And if so, who would have authority over that control. Not having much luck at the moment. > > I’d assume emblems and insignia used by the military are in fact ‘owned’ by the government. Even if some unusually greedy Pentagon staff retires, rights to the emblems, etc. still wouldn’t change–right? Because individuals might award or bestow them but it’s always on behalf of the arm of the military, I thought, so no individual would ever have the right to whore them out. > > Ya gotta give our gummint credit for one thing at least: it’s sure wordy. Regulations galore.–Veb The one thing I do know is that I, who was never in the military, can walk into an Army-Navy store and buy a uniform ribbon for any medal there is, with no proof showing I actually earned it. The ONLY one I CANNOT purchase is the one that goes with the Medal of Honor medal. I needed one for a photo shoot one time and we had to dance through hoops and leave a **huge** deposit and all kind of ID. and that, evidently, was not the proper way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/19 "2008-09-14T01:04:27Z")
As a veteran who was formerly stationed at Fort Riley, KS (current home of the Big Red One), I have to say that Sears seems about the right level of class. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474/20 "2008-09-14T01:17:40Z")
I would like to get some Medal of Honor bling. But I think thos come on a cheap ribbon of some kind. I will need solid gold. :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-army-sells-the-big-red-one-to-sears/463474.md?page=2)