Originally published at: U.S. military vows to cleanse armed forces of white supremacists | Boing Boing
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When I was six or seven, I probably vowed to eat ice cream for dinner every day as an adult, or to never go to bed before midnight.
I’m not holding out hope that an industrial machine that’s still figuring out how to accept trans/female/gay/non-male soliders can differentiate between white supremacists and “patriots” but I’ve been wrong plenty of times.
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Hide and watch the outrage on the Right. “If we carry through on this, the impact on our readiness will be incalculable! You can’t eliminate the white supremacists! That’s our whole base! Wait, that was the quiet part. OK, strike that last line. What?!!!”
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About time, though there are too many active and retired military personnel with far-right views to say “better late than never”.
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I’ll believe it when I see it.
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The most racist / bigot scum I have ever been exposed to, YES, in the military. If they can succeed in this, I guess I’ll have to eat my hat.
P.S. I also met some of the greatest human beings while serving my country, just not often enough if you ask me…
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So…they’re going to fire most of their recruits? Then they will get jobs as 5.0’s?
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In my experience, it’s been the police (sadly, because they were also family members). That’s an organization that will also need a thorough review and hardcore sacking at all levels.
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The problem isn’t just telling them to go away… It’s not like neo-nazis and racists will suddenly say “Oh, this isn’t the right place for me?” and leave - they’ll lie to stay in. Back in the 90s and early 00s, there was a significant problem with street gang members enlisting in the military specifically for the combat training, and then bailing after their enlistment (or just going AWOL) and taking those skills back to their hoods. Militia members are using the same ideas.
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Is this going to be Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for bigots? The shoe really is on the other foot.
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Seconded. This is long overdue. What they really need to do is have a secret reporting mode (out side of the chain of command) that is overseen by an independent panel. Immediate discharge.
Hmm, now that I think about it, I wonder if they’d find a higher ratio among the enlisted or officer corps? 
Only one way to find out!
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There is a direct pipeline from the military to police departments. Many PDs actively recruit on bases and IIRC, part of your pre-discharge paperwork includes contact info for all manner of LEO recruitment agencies.
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Good point, Biden should cancel that pipeline as well.
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The Trousers XL pipeline?
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As a Chief Cook, I was able to weed out the real racist nut cases, we found they were unilaterally lazy and that don’t cut it in my galley.
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While I wouldn’t doubt that Austin is sincere, I also wouldn’t hold my breath for a successful outcome. Every decade or so some massive scandal causes a crackdown on white supremacists in the armed forces. We saw the same thing after Oklahoma City. The combination of a large number of current white supremacists in the forces and a strong push among white supremacists to enroll, especially if they are still undercover makes it a Sisyphean task.
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This. They’ll get quiet for a while, things will die down, and everything will probably go back to the way it was. No one WANTS to do this, they are being forced to by the reality of what happened in the last few years, and especially the last month.
Also, plus up to you for using Sisyphean. Excellent word, not seen enough.
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So, uh, good luck with that.
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What about if, like other countries, we just enacted obligatory military service after Highschool, with an allowance for civil service for conscientious objectors? I think in Germany it’s something like 12-18 months.
It wouldn’t get rid of the white supremacists, but it would dilute the concentration. It would lend some kind of shared experience to being part of the country, too.
I wish we had that, some sense of a shared service and responsibility, that we’re all in this together.
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