Fighting demons, healing hatred, restoring hope: How to defeat extremism in the US military
Chris Buckley, Myrieme Churchill and Jacob Ware
In June, a U.S. Army private was arrested in Italy, charged with leaking classified information to a neo-Nazi cult. Ethan Melzer, just 22, allegedly plotted to orchestrate a “jihadi attack†on his own unit.
Melzer was not the first. The U.S. military has long struggled with extremism among the ranks of active duty soldiers and veterans — a cancer most painfully felt when a U.S. Army veteran turned his military training against the American public he once swore to protect in his murder of 168 at Oklahoma City in 1995. Over the past several months, as the rise of the “boogaloo movement†and resurgence of anti-government extremism has reared its head, the issue has again garnered widespread attention — from media exposés of extremist groups and movements infiltrated by military veterans to analysis of racial symbolism within military institutions. But few have offered solutions.
A member of the far-right militia Boogaloo Bois walks next to protestors demonstrating in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 29, 2020. Affiliated ervice members and veterans have been recently arrested in connection with violent plots against protestors and law enforcement. (Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images)
Far-right groups like the “Boogaloo†and “O9A†continue to attract troops and veterans
After several year of arrests and investigations of far-right service members and veterans, Congress is calling on the military to track their activity.
Meghann Myers
Parents for Peace, a non-government organization seeking to implement a public health approach to countering violent extremism, has designed a program to help military veterans return to public life. Chris Buckley is a Parents for Peace member, combat veteran, and former KKK member who founded “Trauma Anonymous†as the culmination of his journey of healing and recovery from an addiction to hate. The program is tailored to tackle the main causes behind the issue — most notably the prevalence of post-traumatic stress and stigmas over mental health interventions, isolation from civilian life, and a necessarily radicalizing military culture.
https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/11/28/fighting-demons-healing-hatred-restoring-hope-how-to-defeat-extremism-in-the-us-military/
