This might sound nitpicky, but it's not to veterans who game. And those who served in Vietnam might wonder why Call of Duty: Black Ops personnel in "denied" areas would want to advertise an American military unit on their forearm.
That's the point behind Aaron Schol's interesting research into the unit insignia tattooed on the protagonists depicted in the Call of Duty: Black Ops trailer. (Schol, a contributor to Off Duty Gamers, has previously written about Medal of Honor and why it should enable firing from a prone position.)
Schol found that the tattoo is a logo for the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, which had the Department of Defense's secret authorization to infiltrate the entire Cambodian border and operate up to 20 kilometers inside it. Publicly, the United States wasn't supposed to be there, so such operations in denied areas would mean any personnel and their gear had to be "sterile" - which means not identifiably American in origin. A big ol' U.S. military tattoo would seem to be a disqualification.
Though Treyarch, the game's studio, has a consultant from the SOG advising this project, "This leads me to believe that the main character in Call of Duty: Black Ops is pure Hollywood," writes Off Duty Gamers contributor BaTs. "A SOG tattoo just wouldn't be worn and visible by an operator during those operations. But this leads to speculation that maybe these missions in the game are after Vietnam and the operator in the game has already been separated from SOG."
Or, maybe the guy's so badass his command knows he'll kill everyone and never get captured, so he could tattoo Abe Lincoln on his neck and still be of critical importance to these missions.
Let's Discuss Video Game Tattoos [Off Duty Gamers]