No one has ever been foolish enough to tell me to get over my son's death. If they did, I would point to this story nearly 10 year later and say "combat death, the gift that keeps giving" The hard part about grieving is the unexpected reminders of your loved one's death and blood splattered anything is a reminder of mine.
Yesterday, Under Armour proudly announced on their
Facebook page "More than 35,000 empowered Warriors inspired the Northwestern Uniforms. On November 16, 2013, Northwestern will take the field to pay special tribute to more than 35,000 empowered Warriors." 18 of these blood splattered unis, gloves, helmets were boastfully displayed.
I'll not address the breach of flag etiquette here, others will handle that quite nicely. For me this is personal. When my son,
1Lt Ken Ballard deployed to Iraq in May 2003, I imagined how terrible it would be for him to be wounded or killed while deployed. I didn't think about the graphic details of the possible blood splatter, I just prayed every day for his safety. Then, as happened to 4485 other US families, I received that knock on the door and my son came home in a flag covered casket.
My comment on the Under Armour Facebook page "Please
tell me what is honorable about these blood spattered uniforms? How
does this honor the wounded warriors and the fallen of our country? As
the mother of a fallen soldier, I am sick to my stomach. You tout your
"product" to " make all athletes better through passion, design, and the
relentless pursuit of innovation". This product is none of these! You
should be ashamed!" I guess this product is okay, as long as the blood splatter is on our flag or some other reasonable facsimile. This show of faux patriotism, that wrapping ones self in a flag gives cover to any statement, got old real fast. It is neither honorable or patriotic.
To cover their insensitive, crass commercialism, Northwestern states on their website that 10% of proceeds from the sales of replica jerseys will go to the Wounded Warrior Project-
"The Wildcats will be wearing this jersey against Michigan November 16.
Under Armour designed this jersey honoring the men and women of our
armed services. Now you can support the Wounded Warrior Project and
your favorite team with this replica jersey designed to match those that
the Wildcats will wear on the field. The uniform incorporates a custom
stars & stripes design on the shoulders & sleeves and includes a
core value embellishment, "Freedom," printed on the back."Believe in
Heroes" lettering is embroidered at the bottom hem. WWP is a nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization that aims to honor and empower wounded
soldiers. 10% of the proceeds from the sale of this jersey will be
donated to the WWP."
I am sure there will be approval from the 99% of Americans who carried none of the burdens of these wars, but I wonder about the military families who now care for their wounded warriors, and the friends and families of the fallen. I also wonder if this will trigger any symptoms of PTS to those troops who had to see and clean up the actual blood of their wounded and fallen brothers and sisters.
It will be interesting to see how Under Armour and Northwestern University handle the backlash that this campaign has caused. Deadspin's headline was aptly titled Northwestern Honors Wounded Troops With Gore-Porn Football Uniforms stating "isn't "flag covered in blood" a little on-the-nose for something honoring a group that operates programs for injured veterans?" Porn, it is.war porn, gore porn, you decide.
If you feel inclined to share your feelings about this supposed tribute, please share them here or contact Northwest Head of Athletics at NU j-phillips@northwestern.edu, or call the UnderArmour Company at 888.727.6687. Don't forget to contact them on Facebookand Twitter +Under Armour, too.
