Extremism in the U.S. military isn't a problem or on the rise
The panic after January 6th might suggest otherwise but the numbers don't support it
I’ve never been convinced that the U.S. military is a hotbed of domestic extremism, though that has been the assumption after January 6th because veterans and other military connected individuals were amongst the mob. The news media coverage of this has been pathetic, not only affirming this false picture but then also suggesting that because these men and women received military training somehow they were a more able adversary of law enforcement and part of a larger conspiracy.
A Pentagon IG report published this week again perks my interest because it concludes that the number of extremists in the military is negligible. A total of 133 people were found over the past year of violating military rules relating to white supremacist and extremist activity (another 78 were found connected to gangs or international terrorism). It is a tiny percentage of those serving, and though numbers lie because these numbers are incomplete and they don’t reflect attitudes (just violations of the rules), still three doesn’t seem to be a major problem.
So what provoked the news media (and then the Washington generals and decision-makers) to conclude that there was any connection between January 6th and the military? The answer is bad reporting and even worse assumptions. First there was Ashli Babbitt, a former Air Force enlisted woman who raised the specter. Then when five Proud Boys protestors were indicted, four of them former military, more assumptions were made. A military operation. Military training. Dominated by the military and law enforcement. The narrative was formed.
But look at the numbers: There are 16.5 million veterans in America, seven percent of the adult population and 16 percent of the male adult population. CBS reported at the end of last year that some 80 of those charged with crimes relating to January 6th “have ties to the military.” That’s a little less than 10 percent of those charged (more than 850 to date). In other words, the percent of former military in the number of those arrested is lower than the percent of veterans in the population at large.
And yet Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (a retired Army general) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army general Mark Milley were so out of touch with the rank and file, and so oblivious to the facts that they jumped on the prevailing bandwagon. Austin ordered a one-day stand down in the armed forces focused on extremism, created a Counter Extremism Working Group, changed regulations, and directed the services to scrutinize everything from tattoos to private activities despite no real sign of insurrectionist behavior. Yes the military had been caught up in the political turmoil of the nation – over Covid vaccines, about accommodations for trans individuals, and with a toxic sexual assault environment – but overall, it seems no worse than when I served in the late 1970s or any time since.
I don’t know about you, but I know a lot of people in uniform and spend a lot of time hanging around the military in my reporting. Though there’s more than Washington or New York’s share of conservatives and basically militaristic people (shocking!), the military is and remains one of the most integrated and eclectic employers in society, with an LGBT population estimated to be three times that of civilian society. Is the military any kind of driving factor in Trumpism? The answer is no. If there’s any crisis, it’s the widespread contempt for Washington (which used to be a prized American view), including the brass. In other words, there’s no problem.
We as a society revere the armed services but three are many too many who imagine that somehow it can be populated by people who aren’t hyper patriotic, conservative, and militaristic, a testament more to our illiteracy about the military, especially an all-volunteer force. Don’t get me wrong, there is crisis in the military – in addition to the fact that no one wants to join it – but much of what ails is a reflection of our society and its sicknesses.
Why adhere to the narrative that political extremism in the military is rampant? It seems that this is grasping at understanding what happened on January 6th, of trying to place it all at the feet of Donald Trump, or blaming a radical military and law enforcement community for leading an otherwise passive crowd. The alternative of this narrative would be to look at our country without partisan prejudice, to admit to outselves that the split in our society that elected Donald Trump in the first place was already strong in 2016, and not only that, but also that it will continue long after he leaves the scene.