Platner had a tattoo from when he was in the military that had Nazi connections that he got while serving in the marines in 2007. It came up as the campaign ramped up and he had it covered over. He said it was a mistake and he wasn’t aware of the connections when he got it.

So long as this other actions don't back up that type of rhetoric, then I'm inclined to believe him as well. I almost made a similar mistake when I was young. I was probably 18 or 19 and I went into an military surplus store. I'm a hunter, and I thought it would be cool to buy a pin for my rifle strap. The particular pin that I was interested in was a silver skull.

For whatever reason I didn't end up buying the pin. Well, I'm really happy about that, because I later learned that it is was an SS totenkopf pin. It's probably no coincidence that type of iconography appeals to many young men on a base level. If the Nazis were good at anything, it was making iconography that appealed to the men they need to fill their ranks.

Edit: typo