The Italian Red Brigades back in the 1970s and 1980s took on the P-38 (if memory serves) as their totem of sorts, and the IRA was well-known for preferring Armalites (AR-15s and M-16s) during the same time frame.

When totems become most dangerous is when they take on a life of their own (like the AF's addition to high tech or the navy's battleship fixation in the 1920s, although to the navy's credit they shook their totem fetish in - for an institution - pretty quick order) and start interfering with clear thinking and operational practices. Your comments on the "airborne" mantra are a good example of this, 120mm. The 173rd was used in the same way in the early stages of Vietnam, pulling off a "combat drop" of questionable value during the early stages of Operation Junction City in 1966. There was also a push in the same time frame to have an entire brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) airborne-qualified. This died under the pressures of combat and keeping the 82nd jump-ready.

Totems can be useful things (and I would call the USMC "globe and anchor" a totem in this sense), but one needs to be careful just the same.

As an aside, it's been my opinion that one of the reasons (aside from its roots) that the AF has become such a technology totem service is the way it constantly casts aside unit lineages. While preserving unit heritage is an obsession with the Marine Corps (and to a lesser degree the Army - I say this because of the wanton reflagging that goes on from time to time), the AF spins up and decommissions squadrons and entire Air Forces with amazing regularity. Many of the units that gained fame during World War 2 or Vietnam can no longer be found, or if they are it's through some convoluted "heritage" system that really provides no real connection to the historical unit.