U.S. MILITARY MUST VET ALL THEIR MEMBERS TO REMOVE ANY EXTREMISTS

 

       …Air National Guard being deployed for the U.S. Presidential Inauguration

 

New recruits are now not allowed to have extremist tattoos.

 

It has been well known over these last 5 years, that in those Ruby Red rural states, where the less than affluent Americans live, they also seem to have gravitated to conservative radio and the Fox News channel.  Unfortunately, they also tend to use those more right-wing social networks and some of the new Trump-supporter TV networks such as NEWSMAX.

Many of the youngsters from these families, since they usually do not attend Junior College, or maybe they don’t finish high school, they instead gravitate to signing up for military service.

Well, it has taken much too long for all this to come to a head in the US Military service.  But since the latest growth in supporters of our now former president, and due to the negative effect that the lies from the former president has done to many in those Red states, the US military finally put it all together.

After the US Capitol Riots that could have ended the nation’s democracy, and when it was decided to call on the National Guard to protect the inauguration of the new president and vice president, the Pentagon has decided to start vetting the back-grounds of all those that decided to sign up for any of the American military services.

Initially, they very quickly began vetting those National Guard troops that were called up to protect the inauguration in DC.

The results of that vetting were that Pentagon officials confirmed that a small number of Guard members have been pulled off duty "out of an abundance of caution" after that vetting by law enforcement and the Pentagon

A dozen members of the National Guard were removed from inauguration duty as the federal government screened troops involved for security concerns.  A senior U.S. defense official said, one day before President-elect Joe Biden was set to take over as commander in chief.

The removed troops include at least two with possible sympathies for anti-government groups, said two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity.  Ten were removed for reasons that defense officials declined to detail.

“These are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past, or any potential link to questionable behavior related to extremism,” said Jonathan Rath Hoffman, chief Pentagon spokesman. He said that the Defense Department is proactively removing people “out of an abundance of caution.”

“There is going to be a continued look at this,” Hoffman said. “Whether that is an internal DOD look within their chain of command or an investigation by others is something that is being determined.”

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, declined to provide specifics about the troops alleged to have expressed common cause with anti-government groups, but he said they had made “inappropriate comments.”  One of them was flagged because of concern within his unit, while the other was reported anonymously, defense officials said. The other 10 guardsmen were identified by the FBI, Hokanson said.

The 12 represent a tiny fraction of the 25,000 guardsmen deployed in Washington for the inauguration following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by the mob that sought to stop the certification of Biden as the next president. The group, supporting President Trump, launched an attack that led to the death of a Capitol Police officer, a woman who was shot by police, and three people who suffered medical emergencies.

An additional 2,000 active-duty service members are involved in the inauguration in ceremonial roles, said Army Maj. Gen. Omar Jones, the commander of the Military District of Washington. Those troops are credentialed by the Secret Service and had been reduced in number by about 3,500 over a typical inauguration because of the pandemic, he said.

Democratic lawmakers have sought vetting of National Guard members deployed for the inauguration since the riot.  They cited the arrest of numerous veterans in the mob, including a current member of the Virginia National Guard and an Army reservist.  The names of guardsmen supporting the inauguration were sent to the FBI for screening as an additional precaution.

The scrutiny over extremist group activity within the ranks has helped generate leads from alert citizens, city officials said.

A passerby at the D.C. Armory parking lot noticed a truck bearing a sticker for the Three Percenters, a right-wing anti-government group, and alerted Charles Allen, a District councilman.

Allen referred the matter to city security officials and a senior D.C. Guard official, and it appeared law enforcement was now involved, he said. The Three Percenters “has no home in the District of Columbia,” Allen said.

It is unclear whether the driver, whose truck bears Virginia plates, was one of the troops removed from duty.  Cotton Puryear, a spokesman for the Virginia National Guard, declined to comment, citing cooperation with law enforcement.

For years, defense officials have said that they do not tolerate extremism in the ranks, a point that senior defense officials repeated Tuesday.

After racial justice protests last summer, the Pentagon established a new Department of Defense Board on Diversity and Inclusion, which found in its initial report in December that more research is needed to address the infiltration of extremist ideologies in the U.S. military.

During the inauguration, the guardsmen played a key role in forming a fenced outer security perimeter that stretches for miles and includes the Capitol and White House.

Most of the guardsmen, triple the number deployed during Trump’s inauguration four years ago, are armed with rifles, with magazines of ammunition on hand, but not in the weapon as a safety precaution. Inside the perimeter, the Secret Service and other authorities will serve as additional layers of security.

Guardsmen closer to the inner workings of the inauguration, like those overseeing access points, may receive higher levels of screening, said Michael Taheri, a retired Air Force major general and former director of staff for the National Guard Bureau.

Background checks for service members have broadened in recent years to include social media activity and more frequent monitoring, Taheri said, mirroring how private companies comb online behavior for prospective hires.

“My guess is there is a lot of open stuff out there,” he said.

The removal of the guardsmen comes after some leaders have taken exception to the additional vetting.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.) tweeted Monday that the screening of National Guard members for extremist ties is “the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard.”  And Texas is one of those Ruby Red states that brings us many of those white supremacists and Trump's Proud Boy members.

“I authorized more than 1,000 to go to DC,” Abbott tweeted. “I’ll never do it again if they are disrespected like this.”  Well, that will be up to the Pentagon.

As of the new vetting of new recruits, now no new recruit can enter any U. S. military service if they have any tattoo’s of white supremacists groups, or a swastika or anti-Semite insignia.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said in an interview on CNN that guardsmen who did not vote for Biden are in “the large class of people who might want to do somethin threatening at an inauguration”. Facing a backlash, Cohen said in a statement that he appreciated the assurance the National Guard’s presence “provides that we will have a successful inauguration.”

“There are always risks, and there is always the potential for individuals to make terrible choices,” he said. “But I’m confident members of the National Guard are taking their duties seriously and doing all they can to mitigate potential risks.”

As it turned out, all went just fine for the inauguration and the military is changing many of their internal approaches to dealing with their recruits. 

But the Biden administration has a real challenge to take on the stench that has been left by the Trump administration.  And we are not out of the woods for what the nation’s extremists have for the general American Public over the coming months and years.

Copyright  G. Ater 2021