One particularly chilling excerpt:
One participant under the username “WhitePride85,” who said he is a 24-year-old staff sergeant from Madison, Wis., wrote: “I have been in the Army for over 5 years now … I am a SSGT … I have been in Iraq and Kuwait … I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching. I have been a skinhead forever.”
Now, who knows if these guys are more “aspirational” than “operational,” but can everyone agree that this guy is not someone we want in the Army? Another problem that the Stripes story highlights is that the discipline for soldiers found with swastikas and other affiliation with hate groups is pretty vague and left to the discretion of the lower-level unit commander, rather than an army-wide or military-wide policy.
Interestingly, there is no blanket policy for hate-group-affiliated members, but there is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell for non-heterosexuals. Tell me, what is more dangerous to unit cohesion, considering the armed forces is 35% non-white — hate-group-affiliated service members or teh gays?
Another painful excerpt:
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.
Remember when the right wing had a huff about the Department of Homeland Security report that warned of recruitment by terror groups of returning veterans? Looks like they’re getting to the service members before they even leave.
In my experience with the military, the policy for hate-group-affiliated service members has been even weaker than “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Soldiers are not directly punished for making it known that they are unrepentant racists. Punishment comes only when they directly insult another person. This punishment can range from losing rank, money, and freedom to simply being moved to another unit or squad and counseled.
Some of my colleagues have likened the “hush up and move the offender” tactic to that used by the Catholic Church to move priests committing crimes against their parishioners. To be fair, though, this tactic is most likely to be used against a soldier who has no authority or position of real responsibility. The more power someone who has over other soldiers possesses, the more likely they are to be hammered with punishment if they engage in hate-speech or demonstrable racism.