Will the Marine Corps put "Odinist" on my dog tags?

[gideonkain]

Isn't Tor's hammer called Mjölnir? Or is that a different interpretation?

He meant Mjolnir OR a Valknut, not "The Hammer, Valknut"

I was thrown at first, also.

 

[Johnny Reb]

I thought it was called Asatru, not Odinism.

Modernism vs. reconstructionism. Asatru and other sects of Heathendom wish to reconstruct the old Heathen religion, so they can practice it like our ancestors did and bring it into the modern world by studying the Eddas, Sagas, folklore, and books on Norse Myths. Odinists believe that the past is a good place to do research, but Odinism is a religion of the here and now. We do not put as much importance in studying and reconstructing the past. The Gods are living being that are alive today. We can contact the Gods here today, so if we can contact our Gods directly and find out from them what they want today; how is studying books on myths more important than direct contact? So, studying the Vikings, Goths, etc. is more important to Asatru people than to Odinists, albeit Odinists read the Eddas and Sagas too. The Eddas and Sagas are not a Heathen Bible as some Asatru people think. They were written by Christians, not Heathens.

 

[klaynexas3]

For gravestones I know they can do a generic Neo-Pagan pentagram, but I think that's it. As far as I know you can list anything as your religion on your dog tag.

well that's really lame. I'm not some devil worshiping Wiccan.

Devil ... woshiping ... wiccan. Uh-huh. Well, I think I'm pretty much done with this thread after reading that.

ok even i'll admit that when i pressed post, i probably should have worded that differently. my bad

im just a little tired of people confusing Norse Paganism with Satanism or some sort of witch cult. we are normal people. we don't sacrifice humans and we don't use the sacred runes to supposedly tell our futures. once again, my bad.

I feel as insulted from this post as you must feel when one confuses Norse Paganism with other forms of Paganism.

First off, neither Satanism nor Wicca perform human sacrifice. Only the most outlandish and frowned upon forms of Satanism even think it's something okay, but even then they won't do it. I will admit most organized theistic Satanic or Luciferian groups are filled with wack-jobs, but a majority form no alliance with such groups and work alone or with a small group of friends, and at that an even bigger are atheistic, and those are probably the most tolerable of the groups anyway.

Second, Wicca and Satanism are very different. Wicca is about returning to the goddess and becoming one with her again. Satanism(or more so left-hand path religions) are about separating one's self from the universe and attaining godhood. While the goals are slightly similar in the terms of becoming a god, the means are different, as Satanists wish to become their own, but Wiccans wish to come together.

Third, devil worship is hardly excepted by any religions. Satanists hate the term "devil" and also don't worship their gods, just respect them as one would a superior.

Finally, you don't have to be Wiccan or Satanic to perform magic. Magic is a practice of it's own, and there are even Odinist forms of magic, so while you yourself might not practice it, that doesn't color the religion as a whole. Also, just because one practices magic doesn't mean they aren't "normal" either.

ok i also apologize to you. i will confess to being ignorant towards such matters and i was speaking out of my ass. my frustrations got the better of me and in the future i will strive to do my research before i make a fool of myself.

It's alright, now you know more about this, and so hopefully you won't make the same mistake again.

On a brighter note, I do hope they allow you to have Odinism on your dog tag. My girlfriend is Odinist, and I myself believe it to be somewhat true, so I wish you the best of luck my good man.

 

[Johnny Reb]

Are you a white supremacist Odinist, Nordic racial purity Odinist, or are you an anti-racist Odinist?

white supremacist Odinist? heck no!

those vile racist scumbags give the rest of us a bad name. think of the KKK man. they seriously give Christians a bad name.

shit my boyfriend is part Japanese. i am in no way racist. but i do believe that Odinism is a European religion for Europeans. why would an African want to worship Odin and not his own ancestral gods?

 

[Joos]

I thought it was called Asatru, not Odinism.

Modernism vs. reconstructionism. Asatru and other sects of Heathendom wish to reconstruct the old Heathen religion, so they can practice it like our ancestors did and bring it into the modern world by studying the Eddas, Sagas, folklore, and books on Norse Myths. Odinists believe that the past is a good place to do research, but Odinism is a religion of the here and now. We do not put as much importance in studying and reconstructing the past. The Gods are living being that are alive today. We can contact the Gods here today, so if we can contact our Gods directly and find out from them what they want today; how is studying books on myths more important than direct contact? So, studying the Vikings, Goths, etc. is more important to Asatru people than to Odinists, albeit Odinists read the Eddas and Sagas too. The Eddas and Sagas are not a Heathen Bible as some Asatru people think. They were written by Christians, not Heathens.

So it's mostly a matter of interpretation then? That's quite interesting.

I'd be quite interested in doing some research in this; do you have any good sources where to start?

And also, you mentioned that you have a wish to do your gods bidding. I've only pretty rudimentary knowledge of Asatru from school in Sweden. But similarly to Greek gods, the old lore of the Norse seem to tell of them as having quite human needs and whims. How do you interpret that into your daily life?

 

[Psychedelic Spartan]

Go for it! If it didn't work, you might at least get on some news site for it.

 

[Johnny Reb]

For gravestones I know they can do a generic Neo-Pagan pentagram, but I think that's it. As far as I know you can list anything as your religion on your dog tag.

well that's really lame. I'm not some devil worshiping Wiccan.

Devil ... woshiping ... wiccan. Uh-huh. Well, I think I'm pretty much done with this thread after reading that.

ok even i'll admit that when i pressed post, i probably should have worded that differently. my bad

im just a little tired of people confusing Norse Paganism with Satanism or some sort of witch cult. we are normal people. we don't sacrifice humans and we don't use the sacred runes to supposedly tell our futures. once again, my bad.

I feel as insulted from this post as you must feel when one confuses Norse Paganism with other forms of Paganism.

First off, neither Satanism nor Wicca perform human sacrifice. Only the most outlandish and frowned upon forms of Satanism even think it's something okay, but even then they won't do it. I will admit most organized theistic Satanic or Luciferian groups are filled with wack-jobs, but a majority form no alliance with such groups and work alone or with a small group of friends, and at that an even bigger are atheistic, and those are probably the most tolerable of the groups anyway.

Second, Wicca and Satanism are very different. Wicca is about returning to the goddess and becoming one with her again. Satanism(or more so left-hand path religions) are about separating one's self from the universe and attaining godhood. While the goals are slightly similar in the terms of becoming a god, the means are different, as Satanists wish to become their own, but Wiccans wish to come together.

Third, devil worship is hardly excepted by any religions. Satanists hate the term "devil" and also don't worship their gods, just respect them as one would a superior.

Finally, you don't have to be Wiccan or Satanic to perform magic. Magic is a practice of it's own, and there are even Odinist forms of magic, so while you yourself might not practice it, that doesn't color the religion as a whole. Also, just because one practices magic doesn't mean they aren't "normal" either.

ok i also apologize to you. i will confess to being ignorant towards such matters and i was speaking out of my ass. my frustrations got the better of me and in the future i will strive to do my research before i make a fool of myself.

It's alright, now you know more about this, and so hopefully you won't make the same mistake again.

On a brighter note, I do hope they allow you to have Odinism on your dog tag. My girlfriend is Odinist, and I myself believe it to be somewhat true, so I wish you the best of luck my good man.

thank you for being understanding and truly i will strive to better inform myself in the future.

 

[Ashannon Blackthorn]

I'm impressed. A topic that touched on misconceptions of Satanism, Paganism, Wicca and Odinism and it's stayed civil for 3 pages...

Well few minor hiccups but they worked themselves out.

Anyways seems like the general consensus is you should be a-ok, but you might wanna play nice with them till you're out of boot camp.

 

[Johnny Reb]

well that's really lame. I'm not some devil worshiping Wiccan. I am a germanic heathen and when I die I would like to be identified as one. But thank you for your answer

Wiccans don't worship the Devil, champ. That's Satanists. Also the only pentagram that refers to the Devil is the inverted pentagram.

For Satanists.

please read up, champ. i already apologized for my obvious ignorance on the matter.

 

[trooper6]

Are you a white supremacist Odinist, Nordic racial purity Odinist, or are you an anti-racist Odinist?

white supremacist Odinist? heck no!

those vile racist scumbags give the rest of us a bad name. think of the KKK man. they seriously give Christians a bad name.

shit my boyfriend is part Japanese. i am in no way racist. but i do believe that Odinism is a European religion for Europeans. why would an African want to worship Odin and not his own ancestral gods?

It's a real bummer when some extremist jerks give a whole religion a bad name. It's especially bad with religions that people know little about.

As for why an African would want to worship Odin...no idea, but I'm sure there are Africans who would feel hailed by Norse gods...I mean, I have met a LOT of Europeans and Euro-Americans who follow Native American religious practices--or people who weren't of Celtic ancestry who identify as Druids. African Americans who convert to Judaism. Any of the folks who had different native religious practices who convert to Christianity.

Perhaps some person whose ancestry isn't Nordic comes to see Odinism as Truth? Especially with its noble warrior ethics, I could totally see it happening.

As to your original post...I have no idea about the dog tags...I was in the Army and that was a long time ago. However, I support religious freedom and think you should be allowed to have Odinism on your dog tags...though I imagine they'd just lump it all together under paganism, in the same way that all the myriad different protestant denominations all get lumped under "protestant."

 

[soren7550]

My guess would be no. You might be able to pick 'other' (or whatever the more politically correct term would be), but other than that you're SoL.

I know this has nothing to do with the topic, but I saw a quote today that made me both laugh and cringe.

"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!" - by some American general.

Let's be honest, the USMC are good and all, but there are plenty of other military units the world over who would kick their asses. I hate patriotic jingoistic crap like that, it really hacks me off.

Actually, many militaries and special forces units base their training to some degree to the Marines' training (often from their basic training). So, by that logic they must be damn good and effective if people are copying them.

 

[goose4291]

I'm enlisting in the US Marine Corps in 2 years and I'm an Odinist. I was wondering if the Corps will allow me to put that as my religious preference on my ID tags. Also, will they allow me to have an Odinist symbol on my gravestone

What I would advise is to talk to the recruitment guys themselves or jump on the USMC Forums http://www.leatherneck.com/forums and check with them. Last thing you want to do is take the advise of some arm chair general on these forums who has no idea what they're talking about outside of Call of duty.
As a Ex-Sailor in the Royal Navy I really can't advise you to much further.

 

[Johnny Reb]

I thought it was called Asatru, not Odinism.

Modernism vs. reconstructionism. Asatru and other sects of Heathendom wish to reconstruct the old Heathen religion, so they can practice it like our ancestors did and bring it into the modern world by studying the Eddas, Sagas, folklore, and books on Norse Myths. Odinists believe that the past is a good place to do research, but Odinism is a religion of the here and now. We do not put as much importance in studying and reconstructing the past. The Gods are living being that are alive today. We can contact the Gods here today, so if we can contact our Gods directly and find out from them what they want today; how is studying books on myths more important than direct contact? So, studying the Vikings, Goths, etc. is more important to Asatru people than to Odinists, albeit Odinists read the Eddas and Sagas too. The Eddas and Sagas are not a Heathen Bible as some Asatru people think. They were written by Christians, not Heathens.

So it's mostly a matter of interpretation then? That's quite interesting.

I'd be quite interested in doing some research in this; do you have any good sources where to start?

And also, you mentioned that you have a wish to do your gods bidding. I've only pretty rudimentary knowledge of Asatru from school in Sweden. But similarly to Greek gods, the old lore of the Norse seem to tell of them as having quite human needs and whims. How do you interpret that into your daily life?

you could start with the website of the Odinic Rite. They have some really good articals on there, as well as some cool videos. note: i am not a member but they have the right idea http://www.odinic-rite.org/main/

but over the years i have bought several really good books. there's a lot of really good stuff on amazon. but note that no one Odinist speaks for the rest us. every man is entitled to his opinion. because one man says one offensive thing does not mean we all believe that. we have no commandments so people think that they need to make one themselves.

well most people see the gods as actual human like entities. they see Odin as an old man with a beard and one eye, and Thor as a redheaded buffoon that carries around a hammer smashing things. i see this as silly. I see the gods as unending forever lasting being, as big as the universe itself. They want us to live full, rich lives full of honor and duty to our kin and folk. I see the gods themselves are part of my folk. on a regular basis i pray and sacrifice to them. We live by the law of Gebo. A gift, for a gift. When i sacrifice to them they are bound to give back to me, and vise-versa

 

[Johnny Reb]

please read up, champ. i already apologized for my obvious ignorance on the matter.

Somehow I managed to edit my post in the right in the short amount of time between you reading it and replying to it

its all good mate. lets bury the hatchet

 

[Johnny Reb]

I'm enlisting in the US Marine Corps in 2 years and I'm an Odinist. I was wondering if the Corps will allow me to put that as my religious preference on my ID tags. Also, will they allow me to have an Odinist symbol on my gravestone

What I would advise is to talk to the recruitment guys themselves or jump on the USMC Forums http://www.leatherneck.com/forums and check with them. Last thing you want to do is take the advise of some arm chair general on these forums who has no idea what they're talking about outside of Call of duty.
As a Ex-Sailor in the Royal Navy I really can't advise you to much further.

thanks mate, i appreciate it

 

[TheMann]

Yeah, there's no hazing in the Marines anymore either

I'm going to assume that any hazing that took place was very homoerotic. I mean the Marines is technically part of the Navy, and we all know what happens In the Navy.

It's funny cause my step-dad would probably kill you for comparing him to someone in the Navy XD

Spoiler: Well, everyone knows what Marine stands for right?

My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment


[small]or Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Expected ...yeah, he'd kill me.[/small]

You would be put to the test surely. Marines have the most violations of religious freedom for our armed services i think. That or the Air force. One of the two, i think Army was trailing behind lately. You would certainly see a great deal of scrutiny. Likely get ordered to sit through a bunch of chapel services. Worst comes to worst they claim you are a cultist, rule it invalid, and they stamp you as christian.

Well, I can't speak for the Corps, but I most certainly can for the Air Force (USAF at least) and this is entirely incorrect. You will not be ordered to sit through a chapel service and will certainly not be labeled a cultist. Worse comes to worst, your tags will be stamped N.R.P., or No Religious Preference, which is an option you can take at any time regardless. A lot of my friends had N.R.P. and nobody gave them shit over it. Of course, I was in from 1998-2002, so I don't what's changed since then.
[small] Other than I think they finally got rid of those goddamn LANTIRN modules in favor of the LITENING and Sniper systems. Fuck, I hated LANTIRN pods. Seriously, those things are $1.5 million of taxpayers' money worth of suck. If you know what I'm talking about, A. you're awesome, and B. you know exactly what I'm talking about. Huh, what was this about? Oh, yeah... [/small]

Here's a Pro-tip, though. If you do go in, go to the chapel services anyway and here's why: A chapel service is something that they are required to allow you to attend. They cannot refuse to let you go to any religious service being held on-base. That means that every Sunday morning you have 2 hours where you can sit around and chill. It's either listen to "blah, blah, Jesus, blah, blah" for a couple of hours, or get stuck at the barracks doing shit duty for the same period of time. I'm Jewish and I still went. I could've gone to the Jewish service instead, but those are traditionally on Friday evening and I had way too much shit to get done on Friday night to prepare for drill on Saturday. So, if it doesn't offend you too much, go and just zone out during that time. Once you're out of BMT, you probably won't want to go to the chapel on Sunday morning, because you'll be way too hung over from Saturday night.

He's super old though, like 30 or something. I'm sure the Marines has come a long way since then. OK, so I'm not so sure on that, but I figure they'd have been sued by now if they didn't allow a decent amount of options.

30? Super old? 30?!! Super old?!!! But... I... Fuuuuuuu- *cry*

 

[Johnny Reb]

its all good mate. lets bury the hatchet

Does that phrase make no sense to anyone else? Why would burying a hatchet signify being friends? Is it meant to be like "I'm not going to murder you with this hatchet now?"

People in the past were weird

Etymology: based on the custom of literally burying a hatchet (cutting tool with a small handle) as a symbol of peace between Native American tribes

silly native Americans and your very literal interpretations of peace.