We love SOG Specialty Knives & Tools. However, we don’t love questionable practices in light of military ethics codes. It seems Sergeant Joshua C. Holubz, US Army (Ret) was the winner of the SOG Knives “Friday Faceoff” making him last week’s Face of SOG. Truth be told, his story is harrowing. But that doesn’t justify using his image in uniform to sell knives.
DoD 5500.7R is the Joint Ethics Regulation. Para’s 2-304 and 3-209 cover this issue. Read it and make your own conclusion.
“2-304. Use of Military Title by Retirees or Reserves. Retired military members and members of Reserve Components, not on active duty, may use military titles in connection with commercial enterprises, provided they clearly indicate their retired or inactive Reserve status. However, any use of military titles is prohibited if it in any way casts discredit on DoD or gives the appearance of sponsorship, sanction, endorsement, or approval by DoD. In addition, in overseas areas, commanders may further restrict the use of titles by retired military members and members of Reserve Components.”
“3-209. Endorsement. Endorsement of a non Federal entity, event, product, service, or enterprise may be neither stated nor implied by DoD or DoD employees in their official capacities and titles, positions, or organization names may not be used to suggest official endorsement or preferential treatment of any non Federal entity except those listed in subsection 3 210., below.”
When we saw this photo posted on SOG’s Facebook page, we posted a comment that this looked like an ethics violation. SOG didn’t take the photo down. Instead, they deleted our comment.
So, what do you think? Was SOG right or wrong? Would it have been better to use a photo if he was out of uniform?
Unfortunately, SOG will probably never have anything to do with us again after bringing this to light. If so, we can live with that. If you are a servicemember (active or retired), make sure you know what you are doing when you involve yourself with commercial entities. If you are a company, please don’t put our servicemembers in this situation.
If you want to know more about ethics rules here are some resources:
Office of Government Ethics
U.S. Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office
Office of General Counsel, Department of the Army
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Judge Advocate General, Ethics and Fraud Remedies
Department of the Navy Ethics Program
