The Gangs of Fort Bragg, or, Where Did All Those Supremacists Come From?

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Street gangs in the Army

When I was a young U.S. Army enlisted man in the late 1990s, the Army openly acknowledged it had “a gang problem.”

No, street gangs were not causing a problem for the Army.  They were sending their best recruits to the Army to learn discipline, leadership, firearms, and perhaps (depending on the job) some basic tactics.

The Army estimated there were 5000 “active” gang members in its active-duty (not the “reserve component”—Guard and Reserve) force.  At that time, its active strength had dipped to 495,000 personnel.  In other words, just a hair over one percent of the active force were street gang members.  That’s 5000 in the Army alone—I don’t know about the other branches.  Across both active and reserve components of all branches, it could have been well over 10,000 gangbangers in the military, training for management careers in the processing and distribution of consumer goods such as crack cocaine.

What did the Army do about it?  One time, my platoon did a tattoo check.  We had to take off our shirts.  All of us, no discrimination.  It turned out, our African-American platoon sergeant—who led the check—had a bunch of tattoos.  Were they gang tattoos?  I don’t know.  I assume he did not turn himself in.  It was just a silly drill.

Has the problem gotten better?  I imagine it’s worse.  Recruitment standards crashed through the floor in 2005 and stayed that way through at least 2010, as the Army struggled to fill its ranks during the Iraq war.  Perhaps the street gangs were too smart to send their own into that meat grinder, but I don’t know.  Being a gang member is not a safe job, either, and management may have thought Iraq would make for some real tough gangbangers.

Granted, since then, the Army has rebuilt itself, and gang members supposedly don’t stick around; they’re in for one term and then back to the streets.  But again, we don’t know.  The Army doesn’t talk about it anymore.  It’s not fashionable.  And who cares?  It may have been (or still is) a problem for some local cops, rival gangs, civilians.  It never remotely threatened—not even conceptually—the powers in Washington, the wars, or the foreign policy agenda.

White extremists in uniform!  Oh, the humanity!

Now, our new U.S. Secretary of Defense (SecDef) rails against “white supremacists” and “extremists” in the ranks.  He is on a mission to get them out.  All of a sudden, it’s a huge problem.  It’s a priority for the Biden Administration.  No one knew of this problem last year.  We had no idea these people were running wild in the force.  In fact, we assumed there were not enough bona fide Klansmen left in the USA (let alone the military) to fill a college lecture hall.  But now, he’s gonna investigate and he’s gonna bounce them all, throw them out like dogs.  They don’t belong in our force!

How does he know they’re in the force?  It turns out, one female Army captain from Fort Bragg, on her time off, attended the Trump rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC on January 6^th.  She is the only active-duty service member known to have been in that half-million-strong crowd.  Several reservists and perhaps a dozen veterans—veteran implies “no longer serving”, and we have 18 million veterans—got near the Capitol.  A few got inside and took selfies.  One of the veterans was shot dead—a harmless little lady, no threat to anyone.  Some cops and firemen also caused trouble; they were added to the “military” total by the Fake News.

Are they “white supremacists”?  There is no proof.  But it doesn’t matter.  It’s just a mindless label.  Like Stalin in 1937, the Democrats are concerned with the loyalty of the military.  Not of the three or four-star generals—who will lick any boots to retire in glory and go on to make fortunes in defense contracting and on corporate boards—but of those down the chain.

As shockingly discussed in the Fake News prior to his coronation (I’m only “going there” because they talked about it), the Democrats fear a security detailee pulling a gun on Squinting Joe Biden.  They fear some munity somewhere, or a SEAL team refusing to go on a mission, or (God forbid) some Air Force major taking off on his own and dropping a bomb on a Kamala Harris photo-op.  They think those are real possibilities, but in fact, it is their own paranoia, offensive distrust, and raw, blind hatred that are making it all potentially real.

In short, the Democrats perceive a regime security threat originating within the military, as if the U.S. is another Turkey, Bolivia, or Sudan.  And if they stay as bold and ruthless as they have been lately, they may take the opportunity to intimidate and purge—not hugely, but enough to spoil the climate and get the point across—our majority-Republican/conservative Armed Forces.

How bad could it get?

Look, we know the Armed Forces—our last national institution not in the grasp of the Left—vote mostly Republican.  About 75 percent of “white” male Americans vote Republican, and the military hosts a lot of white males, and many conservative Hispanics and others.  For most, the day-to-day job is far from political, but this is the age of Facebook and email trails.  Anyone can slip up; many have already.  And those at the top will lick the polish off any boot—that’s how they got there, don’t expect any sympathy.

How bad could it get?  We shall see.  If it’s a two-hour “stand down” for a pep talk against racism, and then everyone moves on with their lives, great.  But if they open hotlines to rat on your fellow service members, and guys start losing promotions or security clearances for being Trumpers and saying (on their time off) the election was fraudulent, well, that would be something else.  That could break the military.

We know the Democrats got very, very scared on January 6^th.  Then, they channeled their fear and humiliation into snagging a 26,000-man National Guard detail for Squinting Joe’s coronation, and then they freaked out again when they realized most of those uniforms (the ones that vote) are Republicans, and then they began calling for the military to weed out its most committed Trumpers (“extremists”), and the Fake News ran a heap of stories quoting “terrorism experts” about how ISIS can’t hold a candle to this grave danger, and the new SecDef heard them, and now he is on a mission.

In short, they grossly overreacted to an unarmed, two-hour, looney-tunes flash mob or quasi-riot (real “insurrectionists” bring guns, don’t leave before dinnertime, and face charges more serious than criminal trespass.)  And they may keep overreacting.

If it turns out they really want to flush all unabashed, unrepentant conservatives out of the force, or cow and humiliate them at least, the machine will set itself to make that happen, have no doubt.  It’s a dumb machine, it just follows orders.  If it can send you to die, it can do anything.  As in any country, the career military people—individuals—are mostly solid.  But the Department of Defense can be a monster.

Think twice before you get trampled

I advise the “lifers” to start getting their retirement papers and plans together; to scope out some real estate and put in for a VA mortgage if they haven’t already.  Just in case.  It never hurts to be mentally and financially prepared.

I’d further suggest that anyone from a small-town “redneck” or Christian/traditional/conservative background who thinks of enlisting now is a fool—even by teenage standards, a damn fool.

Why should the hated Deplorables continue to carry the globalist elite’s foreign policy on their shoulders?

I’d say to the kid looking to enlist:  “They” hate you and your parents, they want you to shut up, some of them want you dead.  They want to tear down the wall and open the borders, and they don’t care that your town will be flooded again with opiates, because you are a throwaway person in a throwaway community, and they want to move the country “forward” without people like you.  They say it openly now on CNN.  Even if you’re a minority or an immigrant, they’d gladly import thirty million more immigrants to replace you and your vote.  They don’t need your stupid little town; they may not even need your state.

At the same time, “they” are back in the saddle, and they never gave up their personal and ideological agendas with respect to Russia, Syria, etc.  They need muscle to promote “democracy” abroad, while they shut it down for you at home.  They still need bodies.  At a minimum, they will need another 26,000 (perhaps 52,000) for their next inauguration.  But why oblige?  Let them recruit some wokesters straight out of the line at Starbucks, or better yet, illegal aliens.  No doubt, many illegals would sign up in exchange for amnesty.

If you have a child, relative, friend, or a friend or relative’s child who is thinking of joining, at least try to steer them into a non-combat role.  Indeed, this is where our African-American brothers and sisters are ahead of many conservative servicemembers in practical good sense.

At 13 percent of the U.S. population, African-Americans have for decades constituted 25 to 30 percent of Army support units (oftentimes a “clean” job with little risk), but not more than 10 percent of the combat arms (infantry, armor, etc.)—and even less of elite units.  For example, the 173^rd Airborne Brigade—its combat companies, not the staff and support detachments—is roughly five percent black.  

Evidently, some folks like the uniform but hesitate to kill, die, or be maimed for a system they may feel does not respect or represent them too well.  Your kids should embrace that mindset.

On the other hand, if “management” changes in 2024, it may be possible to retrain and change jobs, going from mechanic to infantryman or what-have-you.  It’s not common, but I’ve seen it done.  In the meantime, all service is equally honorable and confers eligibility for the same veterans’ benefits.

If you think I am wrong and this is a great time to start a military career at the “tip of the spear”, or, if you feel we are under such great threat from Syria etc. that children of Deplorable families should continue to sign up to Defend Democracy despite a stolen election, mass censorship, a military occupation of Washington, DC, and hateful words from the Democrat media about “cleansing” or “reeducating” us subhumans, please write me back.  I’d love to hear from you.  I won’t argue, I just want to hear what you have to say.