US army investigates after young private follows the Base, which has vowed to recruit soldiers for so-called race war
An active-duty serviceman in the US army is openly following a proscribed neo-Nazi terrorist group on social media, one that has vowed to recruit soldiers in preparation for a so-called race war.
Experts say examples like this shows how under Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon is allowing extremism to go unchecked.
On the surface, following a TikTok account might seem like a minor infraction for a young private in the 1st Infantry Division. But not only has that private followed the Base, a violent neo-Nazi terrorist organization once the target of an FBI investigation, there are directives issued under Joe Biden that discourages that kind of social media activity.
But in February, the DoD issued a memo halting a major counter-extremism initiative rooting out white nationalists and far-right influences among servicemen, citing that it was not in line with Donald Trump’s executive orders. Since, the efficacy of rooting out the far right within the ranks remains unclear.
The story is these measures to start having an effect with extremism becoming more visibly prevalent.
I mean, you say more visible, but it’s not like these things haven’t always happened. I personally knew a guy a few years back who was UCMJ’d for being a racist.
I suppose you’re right that he didn’t have an article written in the Guardian about him, so it’s more visible in that sense. But it seems a little tautological to write an article saying things are more visible, if the “more visibility” in question is that you wrote an article about them.
Fair point. I guess we will see how things develop.