Brown Shirts in Camouflage

Commentary By Ron Beasley

Last spring the Department of Homeland Security warned law enforcement groups to be on the alert for extremists coming out of military duty or groups trying to recruit susceptible veterans for their combat skills.  The report was blasted by conservatives and some veteran's groups as being anti-military.  Well not so fast:

Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site

It is the Facebook for the fascist set, and the typical online profiles of its members reveal expected tastes.

Favorite book: �Mein Kampf�

Favorite movie: the Nazi propaganda film �Triumph of the Will�

Interests: �white women�

Dislikes: �anyone who opposes the master race�

But there�s one other thing that dozens of members of newsaxon.org, a white supremacist social networking website, have in common: They proudly identify themselves as active-duty members of the U.S. armed forces.

Participation in such a group is a violation of military regulations.

A Stripes reporter searched the user profiles listing their job category as �Military� and found 130 hits out of 7,906 total members.

A Defense Department directive issued in 1996 lays out the guidelines for �dissident� activities by service members, from publishing underground newspapers to organizing demonstrations.

�Military personnel must reject participation in organizations that espouse supremacist causes,� the rule states. �Active participation, such as publicly demonstrating or rallying, fund raising, recruiting and training members, organizing or leading such organizations, or otherwise engaging in activities in relation to such organizations ... that are viewed by command to be detrimental to the good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment of the unit, is incompatible with Military Service, and is, therefore, prohibited.�

Now I don't want to make more of this than it deserves but it only takes one - remember Timothy McVeigh.   Guys like this should be identified and watched:

This week, Stripes e-mailed interview requests to more than a dozen newsaxon.org participants claiming military affiliations. Only one responded.

The user, �clarkpatrick88,� said he would not reveal his real identity for fear of reprisals, but he said he was a 19-year old sailor. His profile includes a picture in which he is holding a Confederate insignia while wearing his blue Navy working uniform with a name patch reading �Clark.� The number 88 is commonly used among neo-Nazis as shorthand to the greeting, �Heil Hitler.�

�As for my political views, I have never once put them before my duty I signed up for,� the sailor said in one of his e-mails. �I didn�t outwardly show my beliefs or cause trouble.�

The sailor said he grew so frustrated at military life and at being closely quartered with servicemembers of other races that he sought psychiatric counseling for suicidal thoughts. He spent three days in the �psych ward,� he said, and is now being separated from the service on its recommendation.

NOTE:

When I was in the military 40 years ago The Stars and Stripes was a propaganda rag.  Well times change and so has Stars and Stripes.  I have it bookmarked and read it regularly.