Thank you! That is a deep dive into a perspective I never imagined. Nor do I see those issues discussed - probably on sites I never knew existed or thought to seek out. I follow several vets' SubStacks but that is not their focus. One line you wrote stood out to me especially: 'The discharge process is set up in a way that the new vet cares more about the hour/day of discharge than their own well-being.' That is an indictment of the whole military experience; the failure (?) all along to address each individual's well-being instead of only inculcating the ability to mindlessly kill. How many of these soldiers even realize the damage, unconscious (?), that has been done? PTSD is an obvious result, but I am assuming this is a factor in homelessness, inability to acclimate to civilian life, domestic violence, suicide, over-policing - not just the public terrorism some resort to. I have read that right wing propaganda is rife in the military. Is this supposed to instill patriotism - of a sort? Or just a background for comradeship? a common thread to bind. Will these public actions and radical manifestos change the mindset of military training? You mentioned those exposed to combat vs those who weren't - will expanding drone warfare change the dynamic? Fewer troops on the ground in combat situations? I am opposed to war in all iterations - but the military/industrial/congressional complex drives the agenda. And their holy grail is their bottom line - only.
Mil service is rarely looked at from a holistic perspective due to the over emphasis on service time/type. So, the front end involving recruitment is an afterthought much like the back end of post-discharge and the VA. Toss in how the service academies are not on the same page (chuckle at their all for show cross exchange program) and the same with college/university reserve officer programs. Both are producing checklist and playbook JOs stifling their young, quick, clever, improvisational minds. Said another way they are taught the nature of war never changes. If there is a distinction w/a difference between evolves and changes, someone please educate me on what it is.
All the infrastructure exists to produce and result in a 21st-C but there remains too many stovepipe minds at the top. There have been exceptions, Gen. Milley being one.
The same applies to weapons. Congress and civs in DoD are enamored w/the latest, greatest widgets whereas DARPA is focused more on force protection and non-lethal weaponry. The former are big ticket items, the latter much less so and much more useful in 4thGEN warfare (the era the world is in).
Drones: no weapon system best captures the US mil approach than drones. US went and expensive while the thinking world world went smaller and smaller, cheaper and cheaper. Drone future is miniaturization to mimic animals and insects right down to their sounds and tendencies.
Large drone "pilots" work in teams. The weapons wo/man is the killah. Yet all see the result of a strike. Optics on those drones are beyond normal hooman comprehension because they are often modeled after insect (compound) eyes so there are many views of the same area right down to the brand of cig someone is lighting up. They too "feel" destruction w/o all the senses being heightened. But it comes w/a down side because drone kills understandably weigh on the mind because there is a period of time leading up to the strike on people or things that have no warning. Yes, some involve strikes on combatants yet it's the strikes on those not engaged in combat that weigh heavily on drone teams. Pilots of fixed wing and helos face some mental dilemmas however they rarely have the same visibility at the same detail as drone teams. Plus some are taking fire which triggers the brain's self-defense mechanism of kill or be killed. FTR: The first recorded drone was circa 1840, a type of hot air balloons.
There is way too much focus on the lethality of a mil including the term the tip if the spear. Both signal something has gone terribly wrong and a decision to try to right the wrong comes with extreme violence as the default. Also reject peace through strength because strength is a euphemism for "we can put a hurt on you and your country at will".
Closing with there are methods and changes that can be made to the US mil that are more people oriented to minimize MI issues. However if there isn't a similar look at the impact on the locals it would in the long term increase the temptation to engage in war due to a reduction in "negative mental side effects" to our own. No matter how fuq'd up our wo/men return the impact on the local civs in war zones are far greater for far longer and impact more generations.
American culture has short memories. The same is NOT true globally.
Your closing sentences reflect why we are globally feared, but not globally admired. Other cultures revere and remember the past for multiple generations - many (many) here don't know the history of their parents/grandparents. Or their struggles. We are not hard-wired anymore to hold the past in esteem; we are too anxious to acquire the latest tech, fashion, phone, stock. Look forward, not back. We are a shallow society. And can't be bothered to research what our media passes off as the 'truth'; realize why we are encouraged to be at each others' throats; investigate how our dollars finance global violence, regime change, ad infinitum. Against this backdrop, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that our military complex is not the storied edifice it is shown to be. I was aware, marginally, that drone operators experience as much trauma due to their objectives. And I understand now why it could potentially be more personally damaging due to the anticipation of their actions and the time they have to contemplate them. Those are operations I could not agree to perform. Is there not a way to maintain military readiness without the prime directive being lethality? We are not geographically located where we could be invaded and conquered. So, military readiness in our definition is empire building, conquests, fear mongering? Offensive vs defensive? I have read we have a thousand bases scattered throughout the world. Not for peaceful endeavors, I'm afraid. The trillions of dollars spent over the last few decades alone would have rebuilt the failing infrastructure at home, provided healthcare and housing, education. But at a cost corporations/politicians are not willing to pay. I guess my seminal question is how much longer can the US afford the huge sums directed to 'defense' and how long is the rest of the world willing to accede to our violent dominance?
The richest of the Arab/Gulf states' rulers luv luv that the US mil has a heavy footprint in their dirt and/or water. Locals not so much.
Yesteryears' tip of the spear needs to be replaced by the tip of the spoon, i.e. Army CoE and Navy Seabees to supplement and compliment the do gooders-NGOs. Food, water, shelter, medical care,and other basic human/animal needs is the path to better relationships and cultural understanding. Must shout out to those type engineers who go in-country to construct rather to d-struct. Yet because they know how to contruct they are very capable to defend themselves and d-struct bad situations. They are very more curious and far better listeners than their civ equivalents. And have known to cry like babies when the locals honor them for helping them out of their situation.
Dudes in full kit come off as alien invaders to locals, even the most friendly, the children. No matter the culture the keystones are the wimmin and children. US Special Forces are now over used because the regular forces are still fighting past wars. That said, politics is creeping into SF as well. So too is a growing focus on killing rather than protecting and training others (aka force multipliers). Now they are becoming the multiplier all by themselves, mostly by necessity. That change in mission is how one ends up w/the Las Vegas suicide bomber's look at me I am special and know much more than you and you and you.
The world does tire of our uniformed wo/men on their dirt but rarely tire of the Made In the USA weapons and weapon systems. And it doesn't matter to them how they acquire them and from who. There never will be a shortage of intermediaries to figure out how to trade in weapons. Other than food and fuel, weapons are the next most traded commodity. Unlike food and fuel weapon trade doesn't come w/loyalty.
Our DoD budget is out of control even though by historical standards it's on the low side. It's worse than most think because supplemental add-ons happen way to frequently. Congress is no help since the defense industry is quite political savvy. Defense plants are scattered about to maximize influence from the local level up. And there isn't a member of Congress that doesn't know a project in their state or district will go far beyond in dollars and time than original plan and schedule. And once that capacity exists they don't want it to be under utilized or one and done. That includes the most "peace loving" members. Many learned the hard way when major defense contractors were made to feel unwelcome so they scrammed to other states.
So, you were spot on in bringing in the 2nd ring, the defense industry. They don't want to see the repurposing of anything. they want new orders for new more expensive things. They also luv the SEALs because the SEALs demand very specialized stuff that due to the small quantities fetch a super-sized price. After all, one concept that drives so much is NOT INVENTED HERE so we must reinvent a new wheel.
It just seems so incestuous - and we are the losers. Yes, there are jobs created in home districts to reward the pols, but in terms of the cost??? Our federal debt grows disproportionately to what the average citizen contributes to it. Tax breaks for the wealthy and tax reductions for corporations (the majority of which pay 0 anyway). And we flood the world with weapons. Are the only commodities made in America anymore weapons systems? It's not a good look. Why are the Arab/Gulf states so welcoming to the US mil? Is that why Kushner was gifted 2 bil when he had no experience in investing? Buying loyalty? or state secrets? The Gulf states are wealthy, of what use are we? I am saddened that over the last decades we are more militarily engaged than less. More wars, more saber rattling, more d**k measuring contests -- why can't we try getting along instead? At least more of the NGO aid you mentioned - rehabilitate our reputation? And now the threats of tariffs, invading allies, warring with Mexico, deporting millions. These actions are going to create more strife and more hatred of US and our policies. Most of the rest of the world thinks we are crazy already. I'm not very optimistic about the next administration - but they may be more Keystone cops than effecting trump's desire of creative destruction. The Sec Def nominee alone, though, seems especially irresponsible considering the state of global relations. (big sigh...)
In the recent past the defense industry was the most influential. Now it's joined by Big Tech and a collection of Corporatists representing different industries 4eg, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Insurance, Wall Street.
By and large they are anti-union, anti-good corporate citizen (working in conjunction w/local communities for the betterment of education, infrastructure etc.).
Their actual tax rate much lower than they claim plus they sure don't mention all the tax breaks they receive when re-locating to any state robbing the state and local governments of a much needed revenue stream. And when they relocate rarely are they required to deal with the mess they leave behind.
Whiplash back to war. Not a fan of posting war porn. Doesn't matter how precise some weapon systems are because the rest are not. Nearly throw-up when ret FOGOs comment on war as if it was a tabletop game, then invoke the rules or laws of warfare as if they are sacrosanct w/a host of zebra striped referees throwing penalty flags for each infraction. There is no group of people tracking each bullet, shell, rocket, missile, or bomb.
War is chaos, carnage, cowardice, and courage all at the same time.
The TN legislature approved a $900 million dollar incentive package for Ford to build Blue Oval City north of Memphis. It took Ford a while to decide on the location, obviously playing one state against the other to see who would pony up the most largesse - TN "won". I believe they also received tax abatements for a number of years too. Now, the company has announced the opening of the plant will be postponed to 2027 from 2025 as the EV trucks to be built there are not selling as expected. It's not quite as bad as the 10 billion dollar Foxconn plant that did not materialize in WI, but still a substantial cost over a decade or more for the taxpayers in TN (of which I am one). It seems any industry now can be influential if it promises numerous jobs for a free ride. War is not a game, but those who only participate financially from the sidelines treat it as such. And when one winds down, it seems there is always another conflict in queue. Can't let a profitable opportunity go to waste. It is a sad indictment of our priorities.
I read an article today stating the most predictive piece of data for a domestic terror attack is military service. I have no base of knowledge that I can draw on that reveals to me the reason behind that particular group's basis for their actions. I have many family members who have military backgrounds, including ME combat service, but I can't envision any taking those actions. Is this service related or was this course of action pre-ordained? I suppose each case is different, but the common background is startling. Is it training, indoctrination, group-think, stress, and why are so many service members right-wing or adjacent? And was that pre- or post service? Is this the fault of the military branches or is it the goal? Does military service lead to a proclivity for radicalization?I hate to be cynical, but these incidents are too numerous to be coincidental, it seems. And the manifestos are becoming more unhinged. It's rather concerning when so many veterans are in law enforcement, security, positions affording them access to weapons, other like-minded individuals and have an air of respectability because of their positions. In any case, this makes me very uncomfortable.
Not going to avoid or evade your question re: mil service and radicalization rather add some context as to a major factor/contributory.
That being the discharge process specific to combat service. Years of training as well as the actual combat experience. It's all they know. It's not the comradeship so many cite. It's the constant stream of training to kill and participating in killing even if one has no confirmed kills. Worth repeating the word: years. Yet the discharge process is about 2weeks.
In civ life criminal inmates often receive months in a halfway house. Granted not all programs on halfway houses are created equal yet the process is what is required to decompress the inmate's mind from the horrors of internment. Combat, even a single incident that involves killings and deaths, gruesome wounds, sounds, sights, smells, and tastes confront the brain in a way unmatched in the hooman experience.
In civ life it's common for all sort of counselors to be made readily available to witnesses and victims of traumatic events. That doesn't happen in combat theaters. The person's brain is left to process the experience. Nor is there any attempt during training to address the horrors or any attempt to teach any methods of de-tachment. The so-called safety net is clergy when available and the surrogate mother, a NCO. Niithah is trained in mental health.
The discharge process is set up in a way that the new vet cares more about the hour/day of discharge than their own well-being. No attempt is made to create a transition beginning with placing value on life over the taking of life. Heck, civ prisons try by introducing inmates to cats and dogs in need. Both represent living things including one's own family. Both address the hooman need to love. In combat theaters it's against the "rules" to keep "pets". Heck for >100 years the MWDs were euthanized rather than returned home. Everyone knew that was their fate, That too gets into the hooman brain of more killing. FTR: All that killing and being depraved of love not only is antithetical to being hooman it leads to hook ups within the ranks as well as w/locals. That's another thing the person must deal with upon discharge. The brain becomes overloaded in ONE direction. Two weeks is not enough to set the person/brain on the right trajectory. Heck, it's not a starting point.
(Note: there are many variables 4eg age, number of enlistments, marital status, deployments, and on and on. They too play a role however not as impactive as an outsider would give it.)
So, there are two groups that are susceptible to being radicalized, one is the combat vet and the other is someone who in their mind desperately wanted to be in combat yet never was. Yes there is an in between group however they are least likely to become radicalized because they joined for other reasons whether education, trade, specific high value skill, escape from poverty, etc. They have a focus going in and going out.
A final note: other than a rather short period of time in Ir, western combat vets haven't faced off against uniformed fighters. Seems small to some however contributes to blurring the line between civs and soldiers. Once that happens the next step is all civs can be fighters including at home. Easy to rationalize a new enemy to fight. Too easy in my way of thinking. That's 1 reason am against the thinking of pick a side. It doesn't mean the same to all people as demonstrated in NOLA and LV. Although a gr8 man coined that term he didn't think it through. The goal has nothing to do with being neutral, the goal is to be reasonable under all conditions and circumstances.
The sickness of the cult, that sadly, most will not see. This is the first I’ve seen the entire 2nd flag. Until now, only seen that which the corporate media wanted me to see.
Within less than an hour vids and statements by both attackers were up on the internets/social media. Today's press/media continues to act as if they are the only game in town by relying on 20th-C sources. Their school age children are more apt to uncover pertinent info before an entire news org does.
As far as both events what ties them together is the word betrayal. Not exclusive to their mil background. Betrayal to what they know is right and know what is wrong. Happens often when a person subscribes to an ideology that displaces the most basic and fundamental concepts of life.
What struck me about Block2 when I read it the first time, and again reading it just now, is how I could agree with some sentences taken in isolation: "The top 1% decided long ago they weren’t going to bring everyone else with them. You are cattle to them." "The income inequality in this country and cost-of-living is outrageous." But he goes from there to seeing DEI as "a cancer" and "Trump, Musk, Kennedy" as, apparently, paragons of health and masculinity and the solution to all that ails the country.
Did these men, Matthew Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, have any accomplices, or were they working on their own? I'm thinking of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and of other loners, virtually all men, who decide that everything is hopeless and act accordingly. Livelsberger and Jabbar must have experienced some form of camaraderie in the military -- but plenty of vets have a hard time finding anything comparable in civilian life, where it's mostly do-it-yourself.
Thank you! That is a deep dive into a perspective I never imagined. Nor do I see those issues discussed - probably on sites I never knew existed or thought to seek out. I follow several vets' SubStacks but that is not their focus. One line you wrote stood out to me especially: 'The discharge process is set up in a way that the new vet cares more about the hour/day of discharge than their own well-being.' That is an indictment of the whole military experience; the failure (?) all along to address each individual's well-being instead of only inculcating the ability to mindlessly kill. How many of these soldiers even realize the damage, unconscious (?), that has been done? PTSD is an obvious result, but I am assuming this is a factor in homelessness, inability to acclimate to civilian life, domestic violence, suicide, over-policing - not just the public terrorism some resort to. I have read that right wing propaganda is rife in the military. Is this supposed to instill patriotism - of a sort? Or just a background for comradeship? a common thread to bind. Will these public actions and radical manifestos change the mindset of military training? You mentioned those exposed to combat vs those who weren't - will expanding drone warfare change the dynamic? Fewer troops on the ground in combat situations? I am opposed to war in all iterations - but the military/industrial/congressional complex drives the agenda. And their holy grail is their bottom line - only.
Mil service is rarely looked at from a holistic perspective due to the over emphasis on service time/type. So, the front end involving recruitment is an afterthought much like the back end of post-discharge and the VA. Toss in how the service academies are not on the same page (chuckle at their all for show cross exchange program) and the same with college/university reserve officer programs. Both are producing checklist and playbook JOs stifling their young, quick, clever, improvisational minds. Said another way they are taught the nature of war never changes. If there is a distinction w/a difference between evolves and changes, someone please educate me on what it is.
All the infrastructure exists to produce and result in a 21st-C but there remains too many stovepipe minds at the top. There have been exceptions, Gen. Milley being one.
The same applies to weapons. Congress and civs in DoD are enamored w/the latest, greatest widgets whereas DARPA is focused more on force protection and non-lethal weaponry. The former are big ticket items, the latter much less so and much more useful in 4thGEN warfare (the era the world is in).
Drones: no weapon system best captures the US mil approach than drones. US went and expensive while the thinking world world went smaller and smaller, cheaper and cheaper. Drone future is miniaturization to mimic animals and insects right down to their sounds and tendencies.
Large drone "pilots" work in teams. The weapons wo/man is the killah. Yet all see the result of a strike. Optics on those drones are beyond normal hooman comprehension because they are often modeled after insect (compound) eyes so there are many views of the same area right down to the brand of cig someone is lighting up. They too "feel" destruction w/o all the senses being heightened. But it comes w/a down side because drone kills understandably weigh on the mind because there is a period of time leading up to the strike on people or things that have no warning. Yes, some involve strikes on combatants yet it's the strikes on those not engaged in combat that weigh heavily on drone teams. Pilots of fixed wing and helos face some mental dilemmas however they rarely have the same visibility at the same detail as drone teams. Plus some are taking fire which triggers the brain's self-defense mechanism of kill or be killed. FTR: The first recorded drone was circa 1840, a type of hot air balloons.
There is way too much focus on the lethality of a mil including the term the tip if the spear. Both signal something has gone terribly wrong and a decision to try to right the wrong comes with extreme violence as the default. Also reject peace through strength because strength is a euphemism for "we can put a hurt on you and your country at will".
Closing with there are methods and changes that can be made to the US mil that are more people oriented to minimize MI issues. However if there isn't a similar look at the impact on the locals it would in the long term increase the temptation to engage in war due to a reduction in "negative mental side effects" to our own. No matter how fuq'd up our wo/men return the impact on the local civs in war zones are far greater for far longer and impact more generations.
American culture has short memories. The same is NOT true globally.
Your closing sentences reflect why we are globally feared, but not globally admired. Other cultures revere and remember the past for multiple generations - many (many) here don't know the history of their parents/grandparents. Or their struggles. We are not hard-wired anymore to hold the past in esteem; we are too anxious to acquire the latest tech, fashion, phone, stock. Look forward, not back. We are a shallow society. And can't be bothered to research what our media passes off as the 'truth'; realize why we are encouraged to be at each others' throats; investigate how our dollars finance global violence, regime change, ad infinitum. Against this backdrop, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that our military complex is not the storied edifice it is shown to be. I was aware, marginally, that drone operators experience as much trauma due to their objectives. And I understand now why it could potentially be more personally damaging due to the anticipation of their actions and the time they have to contemplate them. Those are operations I could not agree to perform. Is there not a way to maintain military readiness without the prime directive being lethality? We are not geographically located where we could be invaded and conquered. So, military readiness in our definition is empire building, conquests, fear mongering? Offensive vs defensive? I have read we have a thousand bases scattered throughout the world. Not for peaceful endeavors, I'm afraid. The trillions of dollars spent over the last few decades alone would have rebuilt the failing infrastructure at home, provided healthcare and housing, education. But at a cost corporations/politicians are not willing to pay. I guess my seminal question is how much longer can the US afford the huge sums directed to 'defense' and how long is the rest of the world willing to accede to our violent dominance?
Bottom up:
The richest of the Arab/Gulf states' rulers luv luv that the US mil has a heavy footprint in their dirt and/or water. Locals not so much.
Yesteryears' tip of the spear needs to be replaced by the tip of the spoon, i.e. Army CoE and Navy Seabees to supplement and compliment the do gooders-NGOs. Food, water, shelter, medical care,and other basic human/animal needs is the path to better relationships and cultural understanding. Must shout out to those type engineers who go in-country to construct rather to d-struct. Yet because they know how to contruct they are very capable to defend themselves and d-struct bad situations. They are very more curious and far better listeners than their civ equivalents. And have known to cry like babies when the locals honor them for helping them out of their situation.
Dudes in full kit come off as alien invaders to locals, even the most friendly, the children. No matter the culture the keystones are the wimmin and children. US Special Forces are now over used because the regular forces are still fighting past wars. That said, politics is creeping into SF as well. So too is a growing focus on killing rather than protecting and training others (aka force multipliers). Now they are becoming the multiplier all by themselves, mostly by necessity. That change in mission is how one ends up w/the Las Vegas suicide bomber's look at me I am special and know much more than you and you and you.
The world does tire of our uniformed wo/men on their dirt but rarely tire of the Made In the USA weapons and weapon systems. And it doesn't matter to them how they acquire them and from who. There never will be a shortage of intermediaries to figure out how to trade in weapons. Other than food and fuel, weapons are the next most traded commodity. Unlike food and fuel weapon trade doesn't come w/loyalty.
Our DoD budget is out of control even though by historical standards it's on the low side. It's worse than most think because supplemental add-ons happen way to frequently. Congress is no help since the defense industry is quite political savvy. Defense plants are scattered about to maximize influence from the local level up. And there isn't a member of Congress that doesn't know a project in their state or district will go far beyond in dollars and time than original plan and schedule. And once that capacity exists they don't want it to be under utilized or one and done. That includes the most "peace loving" members. Many learned the hard way when major defense contractors were made to feel unwelcome so they scrammed to other states.
So, you were spot on in bringing in the 2nd ring, the defense industry. They don't want to see the repurposing of anything. they want new orders for new more expensive things. They also luv the SEALs because the SEALs demand very specialized stuff that due to the small quantities fetch a super-sized price. After all, one concept that drives so much is NOT INVENTED HERE so we must reinvent a new wheel.
It just seems so incestuous - and we are the losers. Yes, there are jobs created in home districts to reward the pols, but in terms of the cost??? Our federal debt grows disproportionately to what the average citizen contributes to it. Tax breaks for the wealthy and tax reductions for corporations (the majority of which pay 0 anyway). And we flood the world with weapons. Are the only commodities made in America anymore weapons systems? It's not a good look. Why are the Arab/Gulf states so welcoming to the US mil? Is that why Kushner was gifted 2 bil when he had no experience in investing? Buying loyalty? or state secrets? The Gulf states are wealthy, of what use are we? I am saddened that over the last decades we are more militarily engaged than less. More wars, more saber rattling, more d**k measuring contests -- why can't we try getting along instead? At least more of the NGO aid you mentioned - rehabilitate our reputation? And now the threats of tariffs, invading allies, warring with Mexico, deporting millions. These actions are going to create more strife and more hatred of US and our policies. Most of the rest of the world thinks we are crazy already. I'm not very optimistic about the next administration - but they may be more Keystone cops than effecting trump's desire of creative destruction. The Sec Def nominee alone, though, seems especially irresponsible considering the state of global relations. (big sigh...)
In the recent past the defense industry was the most influential. Now it's joined by Big Tech and a collection of Corporatists representing different industries 4eg, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Insurance, Wall Street.
By and large they are anti-union, anti-good corporate citizen (working in conjunction w/local communities for the betterment of education, infrastructure etc.).
Their actual tax rate much lower than they claim plus they sure don't mention all the tax breaks they receive when re-locating to any state robbing the state and local governments of a much needed revenue stream. And when they relocate rarely are they required to deal with the mess they leave behind.
Whiplash back to war. Not a fan of posting war porn. Doesn't matter how precise some weapon systems are because the rest are not. Nearly throw-up when ret FOGOs comment on war as if it was a tabletop game, then invoke the rules or laws of warfare as if they are sacrosanct w/a host of zebra striped referees throwing penalty flags for each infraction. There is no group of people tracking each bullet, shell, rocket, missile, or bomb.
War is chaos, carnage, cowardice, and courage all at the same time.
The TN legislature approved a $900 million dollar incentive package for Ford to build Blue Oval City north of Memphis. It took Ford a while to decide on the location, obviously playing one state against the other to see who would pony up the most largesse - TN "won". I believe they also received tax abatements for a number of years too. Now, the company has announced the opening of the plant will be postponed to 2027 from 2025 as the EV trucks to be built there are not selling as expected. It's not quite as bad as the 10 billion dollar Foxconn plant that did not materialize in WI, but still a substantial cost over a decade or more for the taxpayers in TN (of which I am one). It seems any industry now can be influential if it promises numerous jobs for a free ride. War is not a game, but those who only participate financially from the sidelines treat it as such. And when one winds down, it seems there is always another conflict in queue. Can't let a profitable opportunity go to waste. It is a sad indictment of our priorities.
I read an article today stating the most predictive piece of data for a domestic terror attack is military service. I have no base of knowledge that I can draw on that reveals to me the reason behind that particular group's basis for their actions. I have many family members who have military backgrounds, including ME combat service, but I can't envision any taking those actions. Is this service related or was this course of action pre-ordained? I suppose each case is different, but the common background is startling. Is it training, indoctrination, group-think, stress, and why are so many service members right-wing or adjacent? And was that pre- or post service? Is this the fault of the military branches or is it the goal? Does military service lead to a proclivity for radicalization?I hate to be cynical, but these incidents are too numerous to be coincidental, it seems. And the manifestos are becoming more unhinged. It's rather concerning when so many veterans are in law enforcement, security, positions affording them access to weapons, other like-minded individuals and have an air of respectability because of their positions. In any case, this makes me very uncomfortable.
Not going to avoid or evade your question re: mil service and radicalization rather add some context as to a major factor/contributory.
That being the discharge process specific to combat service. Years of training as well as the actual combat experience. It's all they know. It's not the comradeship so many cite. It's the constant stream of training to kill and participating in killing even if one has no confirmed kills. Worth repeating the word: years. Yet the discharge process is about 2weeks.
In civ life criminal inmates often receive months in a halfway house. Granted not all programs on halfway houses are created equal yet the process is what is required to decompress the inmate's mind from the horrors of internment. Combat, even a single incident that involves killings and deaths, gruesome wounds, sounds, sights, smells, and tastes confront the brain in a way unmatched in the hooman experience.
In civ life it's common for all sort of counselors to be made readily available to witnesses and victims of traumatic events. That doesn't happen in combat theaters. The person's brain is left to process the experience. Nor is there any attempt during training to address the horrors or any attempt to teach any methods of de-tachment. The so-called safety net is clergy when available and the surrogate mother, a NCO. Niithah is trained in mental health.
The discharge process is set up in a way that the new vet cares more about the hour/day of discharge than their own well-being. No attempt is made to create a transition beginning with placing value on life over the taking of life. Heck, civ prisons try by introducing inmates to cats and dogs in need. Both represent living things including one's own family. Both address the hooman need to love. In combat theaters it's against the "rules" to keep "pets". Heck for >100 years the MWDs were euthanized rather than returned home. Everyone knew that was their fate, That too gets into the hooman brain of more killing. FTR: All that killing and being depraved of love not only is antithetical to being hooman it leads to hook ups within the ranks as well as w/locals. That's another thing the person must deal with upon discharge. The brain becomes overloaded in ONE direction. Two weeks is not enough to set the person/brain on the right trajectory. Heck, it's not a starting point.
(Note: there are many variables 4eg age, number of enlistments, marital status, deployments, and on and on. They too play a role however not as impactive as an outsider would give it.)
So, there are two groups that are susceptible to being radicalized, one is the combat vet and the other is someone who in their mind desperately wanted to be in combat yet never was. Yes there is an in between group however they are least likely to become radicalized because they joined for other reasons whether education, trade, specific high value skill, escape from poverty, etc. They have a focus going in and going out.
A final note: other than a rather short period of time in Ir, western combat vets haven't faced off against uniformed fighters. Seems small to some however contributes to blurring the line between civs and soldiers. Once that happens the next step is all civs can be fighters including at home. Easy to rationalize a new enemy to fight. Too easy in my way of thinking. That's 1 reason am against the thinking of pick a side. It doesn't mean the same to all people as demonstrated in NOLA and LV. Although a gr8 man coined that term he didn't think it through. The goal has nothing to do with being neutral, the goal is to be reasonable under all conditions and circumstances.
The sickness of the cult, that sadly, most will not see. This is the first I’ve seen the entire 2nd flag. Until now, only seen that which the corporate media wanted me to see.
Within less than an hour vids and statements by both attackers were up on the internets/social media. Today's press/media continues to act as if they are the only game in town by relying on 20th-C sources. Their school age children are more apt to uncover pertinent info before an entire news org does.
As far as both events what ties them together is the word betrayal. Not exclusive to their mil background. Betrayal to what they know is right and know what is wrong. Happens often when a person subscribes to an ideology that displaces the most basic and fundamental concepts of life.
What struck me about Block2 when I read it the first time, and again reading it just now, is how I could agree with some sentences taken in isolation: "The top 1% decided long ago they weren’t going to bring everyone else with them. You are cattle to them." "The income inequality in this country and cost-of-living is outrageous." But he goes from there to seeing DEI as "a cancer" and "Trump, Musk, Kennedy" as, apparently, paragons of health and masculinity and the solution to all that ails the country.
Did these men, Matthew Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, have any accomplices, or were they working on their own? I'm thinking of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and of other loners, virtually all men, who decide that everything is hopeless and act accordingly. Livelsberger and Jabbar must have experienced some form of camaraderie in the military -- but plenty of vets have a hard time finding anything comparable in civilian life, where it's mostly do-it-yourself.