General Discussion

It was a drawing of a skull that was similar but not identical to the image the SS used. Many people (including me) who have actually seen what the tattoo looks like have said they never would've connected it with the SS or with Nazis. Also, he was very young and drunk at the time. When he found out what it was, he had it covered (because covering a tattoo is much faster, easier, and cheaper than having one removed). So yes, the tattoo has been blown WAY out of proportion, imo.

As for the Reddit posts, they were also made a long time ago when he was much more immature and also dealing with mental health issues. I can easily believe that a young man could make comments online that are not a reflection of his opinions years later. He has admitted they were wrong.

The Blackwater thing is icky, but he was just out of the service at the time, didn't know what to do with himself, and was attracted to it because it sounded like what he'd been doing for the past few years and felt familiar. Big deal.

The sexting is also icky, but it's private business. It's not criminal as long as everyone involved was a consenting adult, and I'm sure we'd have been told by now if they weren't.

None of this stuff is anything to be proud of, but I think it's been taken out of context and spun to seem much worse than it really is. I expected many people would disagree when I made that post, but that's life.