Why Are So Many Marines Neo-Nazis?

[Nevilledog]

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https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aqwq5/marines-neo-nazis-military

Last Friday, the Department of Justice released one of the latest in an endless string of indictments involving white men subscribing to the tenets of the far right and planning acts of terror in the U.S. The document also had an all-too-familiar detail: Former American service members using, prosecutors claim, their tradecraft to plan an attack.

And although it has unfortunately become commonplace to see veterans connected to domestic extremism, two of these men were part of a military branch that has repeatedly popped up when it comes to neo-Nazis: The United States Marine Corps (USMC).

In the latest filing, four men were charged with planning a coordinated, armed assault on a power station somewhere in the U.S. Two of the conspirators, Liam Collins, 21, and Jordan Duncan, 26, are ex-Marines who were formerly stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. According to the new charges, both men “discussed using homemade Thermite” to “burn through and destroy power transformers” and also “stole military gear, including magazines for assault-style rifles.”

Another former Marine, Justin Hermanson, 21, was implicated in the same conspiracy and was previously charged; this is the third indictment involving all of the accused, as investigators continue to tack on charges from the original filing in November 2020.

*snip*

[Thomas Hurt]

1. betcha they were already fascists and went into the Marines because they were.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[mopinko]

3. as someone from a military family- it's because torture is the price of admission.

from what i know, as i never served, but from my viet nam vet bil- you have to not just take it, but dish it out to survive boot camp.

i know boot camp is tough in all the services. but...
retired marines here, feel free to refute this.

[Pantagruel]

4. They're trained to solve

with militaristic, simplistic solutions. Jingoistic brainwashing doesn't lead to thoughtful, complex approaches to problems.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

5. I usually agree with many of your posts Nevilledog

But I think we need to be careful denigrating an entire group based on the actions of a few outliers. Yes, the military must investigate and remove the radicals. Perhaps I am naive, but I believe a majority of our service members are decent folks.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215762375

[egduj]

6. I'd guess probably for the same reason so many non-Marines are Neo-nazis.

[Duncan Grant]

7. Great article -- deserves a comprehensive reading before comment.

Last edited Wed Sep 1, 2021, 11:58 PM - Edit history (1)

This isn’t a hit piece on the Marine Corp.

The article acknowledges this is based on anecdotal evidence but the discussion is valid (re: right-wing extremism/white supremacy.) I thought this was insightful:

“I think it has to do with a couple of things. The Marines have the most hardcore culture in in the military, aside from some of the Special Forces teams; they're also centralized on a couple of bases. So they're not as distributed throughout the United States as other forces are.”

-snip-

Still, according to Beirich, the Marines have taken a trailblazing approach to the extremism within its ranks. It was also one of the most proactive branches in the military to recognize it had a problem.