When former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin galumphed into office in 2021, one of his first priorities was rooting out extremism in the ranks.
In an April 9, 2021, memo, Austin inaugurated his “Immediate Actions to Counter Extremism in the Department and the Establishment of the Countering Extremism Working Group (CEWG).”
One of its four requirements was commissioning a study on extremist behavior within the Total Force.
This was driven by media reports of veterans involved in the January 6 protests on Capitol Hill, which gave the impression that the protests featured a large number of military personnel and veterans.
The report, which I think had the subliminal effect of telling white, heterosexual men and women that there was no longer a place for them in the military, was a dud.
But there were inklings that there was an extremist problem in the military, it just didn’t have a rifle rack in its pickup and fly the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.
The murder of Charlie Kirk on Wednesday brought to the surface the real extremist element in the U.S. military.
Unsurprisingly, it is composed of men and women, some of senior rank, who deeply internalized the DEI culture and the radical left politics forced upon them by the Obama and Biden administrations.
The reactions have been so over the top that all service secretaries have issued warnings.
Take, for instance, this Army colonel.
According to reports, he’s already commanded a battalion, so imagine the command climate in that unit and the people he chose to rate highly.
There is the now-fired USMC major who was charged with recruiting prospective Marine officers in the Chicago area.
My favorite is the Army Reserve major who advocated the murder of President Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller.
In this one, his “f*** Mike Johnson” comment qualifies him for a rendezvous with Article 88, UCMJ.
Perhaps the epitome of this extremism is a USAF master sergeant stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida.
This guy is awesome.
Not only does he display pictures of himself, in uniform, alongside his invective, his avatar is a U.S. flag flying upside down, and, as the pièce de résistance, he displays a silhouette of President Trump with the slogan, “I can’t respect people who respect him.”
It looks like the fun times for the intolerant, violent left in the military are over.
The case of the USAF noncommissioned officer was brought to the attention of Air Force Undersecretary Matt Lohmeier.
This morning, it was brought to my attention what appears to me to be explicit (repeated) violations of the oath to defend the constitution coming from a uniformed service member, the public criticism of our commander-in-chief, and overt partisan behavior.
“There will be swift accountability. What I have seen is, at a minimum, a violation of Article 134 of the UCMJ. Of course, the veracity of the accounts and this conduct must be confirmed.”
“I’ve asked our senior military leaders to read the member his rights, and place him and his entire chain of command under investigation. Zero tolerance for this. Men and women who are guilty of this kind of behavior will not serve in uniform.”
His tweet drew this response from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“Thank you Matt; exactly the swift action that must be taken.”
The fact that the military has people who have these opinions is not unusual.
The military is huge.
What is remarkable is the cultural rot and drift from sanity and ethical moorings that led people to think it was acceptable to express those opinions while identifying themselves as members of the Armed Forces.
The scary part is that hundreds of these people crawled out of the slime shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination and made it clear that not only were they fine with the death of a young husband and father who said things they didn’t like, but they are perfectly happy to cheer for more.
I’m sorry, you can’t swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” on one hand while encouraging political violence on the other.
You can’t pledge to defend the nation against “all enemies, foreign and domestic,” if you are one of the domestic enemies.
The uniformed service members celebrating Kirk’s assassination represent a fundamental betrayal of their sworn duties.
These individuals took an oath to defend the Constitution, which includes protecting the free speech rights Kirk died exercising.
Instead, they celebrate his murder and call for more violence against conservatives.
The DEI indoctrination forced on military personnel during the Obama and Biden years created this toxic environment.
Service members were taught to view conservative Americans as enemies rather than fellow citizens they swore to protect.
Now we see the poisonous fruits of that radical indoctrination campaign.
High-ranking officers openly violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice while advocating political violence.
The military’s focus on rooting out imaginary right-wing extremists allowed real left-wing extremists to flourish unchecked.
Secretary Hegseth and Undersecretary Lohmeier’s swift action signals the end of tolerance for this behavior.
Every service member who celebrated Kirk’s assassination should face court-martial and dishonorable discharge.
The American people cannot trust their military to defend the nation when uniformed personnel celebrate domestic terrorism.
This purge of radical extremists from the ranks is long overdue and essential for military readiness.
The Constitution these service members swore to defend protects the very rights they now attack.
Their betrayal of that oath makes them unfit to wear the uniform of the United States.