Navy Pilot Spotted With Patch Depicting Houthis As ‘Star Wars’ Sand People

Hilarious

The since-pulled photo signifies Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 74’s time in the Red Sea with “Houthi Hunting Club Red Sea 2023-2024.”
A recent publicly released Navy photo showed a member of a helicopter squadron sporting a patch that says “Houthi Hunting Club Red Sea 2023-2024,” with an image of the Tusken Raiders from “Star Wars.” The image has since been removed from the military’s imagery and video database where it was first published. Tusken Raiders are better known — in and out of universe — as “sand people.” The patch shows two Tusken Raiders, one wielding a “gaffi stick,” inside a crosshair.
The photo of the patch was included in a Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, or DVIDS, news release about members of Helicopter Maritime Squadron (HSM)-74 visiting Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida on Monday, Oct. 28. The images were posted online that day. As of Friday, Nov. 1 that post has been taken down by DVIDS. The service has not publicly stated why the images were posted only to be deleted.
“A close-up view of Lt. Kyle Festa’s uniform patch, which commemorates his deployment with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 74 embarked aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Red Sea, captured during a demonstration onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, on Oct. 28, 2024,” reads the caption for the since-deleted post. “The patch signifies the squadron’s operational achievements and heritage.”
Operation and unit patches are common in the military. Many are authorized, such as the U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) patch depicting a vertical sword piercing two lightning bolts. However, units and service members often make and wear informal patches. That same Army PSYOP unit has a famous informal patch with a dancing ghost on it, a nod to the “ghost in the machine.” Many of the informal ones can be privately commissioned, either off-base or purchased online.

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