Eighteen sailors and officers assigned to the Guam-based Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 were informed days after Trump's Memorial Day address on the amphibious assault ship Wasp that they were suspected of violating Pentagon policy. Nine of them had attended the speech sporting flight suits with red patches that said, "Make Aircrew Great Again."
Journalists attending the speech posted photos of the patches on Twitter, prompting questions about whether the uniform devices violated Defense Department policy requiring troops to remain apolitical while in uniform. The patches featured the president's likeness, along with the riff on Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
Military.com obtained a copy of the 103-page investigation into the incident, which was launched just days after Trump's speech, through a Freedom of Information Act request. It found that, while the sailors didn't intend for the patches to make a political statement, they still broke the rules.