You Will Anyway: Attempting to tackle extremism in military ranks

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Attempting to tackle extremism in military ranks

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday ordered a U.S. militarywide “stand-down” to address extremism in the ranks, an issue that has long stumped Pentagon leaders but came to the forefront after the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.

The Defense Department is still scant on details on Austin’s decision, which came after he met with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and the service secretaries and chiefs on Wednesday morning. Leaders are expected to hold “needed discussions” with subordinates about extremism in the next 60 days, top department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon.

Kirby added that more details are coming and that leadership still needs to provide specific guidance on the expectations of the stand-down.

[...]

“One of the reasons the secretary wants to do this stand-down is to see the scope of the problem. ... We don’t want to overestimate or underestimate the number of people it might affect,” he said.

[...]

The move is a direct result of the events of Jan. 6, when supporters loyal to former President Trump — including some active-duty service members and veterans — violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying President Biden's election win.

Following the insurrection, it was discovered that nearly 1 in 5 people charged in connection with the riot have some form of military background.

The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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"Terrorism is the willingness to kill large numbers of people for some presumably good cause.” -- Howard Zinn

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"America: just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable." ~ Hunter S. Thompson

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Life, as Explained in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"

GUILDENSTERN: What a fine persecution---to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

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ROSENCRANTZ : The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute.

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GUILDENSTERN: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?!

PLAYER: Relax. Respond. That's what people do. You can't go through life questioning your situation at every turn.

GUILDENSTERN: But we don't know what's going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don't know how to act.

PLAYER: Act natural. You know why you're here at least.

GUILDENSTERN: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.

PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.

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GUILDENSTERN : We act on scraps of information... sifting half-remembered directions that we can hardly separate from instinct.

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PLAYER: Life is a gamble, at terrible odds-if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.