Neo-nazis and white supremacists are okay in US military as long as they are not "active"

[laughing dog]

You would think that membership in a white supremacist or Neo-Nazi organization would mean an automatic discharge from the US military, but you would be wrong.

Membership in a white supremacist or neo-Nazi group won't necessarily get a U.S. service member tossed out of the military, defense officials told a House subcommittee Tuesday.

The officials, including representatives of Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, appeared to make a distinction between membership in an extremist organization and "active participation" in deciding on recruitment and retention.

The officials also told a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on personnel that they had no reliable data on how many service members had been administratively discharged for espousing white supremacist ideology or how many potential recruits had been barred from enlisting.

The testimony appeared to stun several members of the committee.


"I am flummoxed by what I've heard today," Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, chair of the Subcommittee, said after questioning Robert Grabosky, deputy director of Law Enforcement at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Grabosky said that membership in a white nationalist group "is not prohibited," but "active participation" in the group could lead to an administrative discharge, at a commander's discretion.

"I find that astonishing," Speier said. "If you're a member, that's an activity. I think we need to take a look at that."

Rep. Trent Kelly, R-Mississippi, an Iraq veteran, brigadier general in the Army National Guard and ranking member of the subcommittee, said the bottom line for white nationalists in the military was, "what can we do better to keep 'em out and what can we do to get 'em out?"

(source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/12/neo-nazi-group-membership-may-not-get-you-booted-military-officials-say.html

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

 

[ZiprHead]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

You want it on your record for the rest of your life you were discharged from the service because you are a nazi?

 

[Keith&Co.]

I wonder if this is a lesson learned from internment of Japanese Americans in WWII. The justification for that included quite a few being members of anti-American groups. But for many, their participation was limited to membership, and that was mostly because their family expected it.
I could believe someone being a member of a white spreemacy group only because his Dad keeps signing him up every year. The real question is if they support the military's Equal Opportunity programs.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

You want it on your record for the rest of your life you were discharged from the service because you are a nazi?

When being gay was an automatic discharge, there were guys willing to have that on their record if it got them out.

If someone wants out that bad, i am willing to forego the pleasure of their company.

 

[Gun Nut]

self-identifying as a member of a group IS participating.

 

[ronburgundy]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

Getting out of the military is already very easy. There are countless easy ways to get a "General discharge", including just telling your CO to fuck off and refusing to fulfill one's duties.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

All KKK members welcome. Active KKK members need not apply.

Seems kinda odd to me.

 

[laughing dog]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

So?

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

Klinger would have been much less endearing on M*A*S*H with that plot line.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If you make it grounds for discharge you just provided anyone who wants out of their enlistment an easy out.

Klinger would have been much less endearing on M*A*S*H with that plot line.

Klinger claims to be a Klansman, waits for the army to kick him out.
During the wait, he rushes into gunfire to save a black soldier. Col. Blake makes a call, delays the panel's decision on his discharge. Klinger bemoans his rash actions, and the delay, but the resued soldier shows him a picture of his baby girl back home. Hawk and Trap buy him beers.

Another episode, he's at Rosie's, hears someone slander a black officer. Comes to the guy's defense. Brawl ensues, hilarious free-for-all, Klinger back-to-back with the officer... who is from the discharge panel, come to interview Max. Damn, damn, damn.

Every time his file comes up for review, he saves someone he's supposed to hate, donates blood to, collects money for, stands up for, gives up liberty for....
His plot line becomes an examination of bigotry, including overt, covet, and unthinking, unintentional. And getting a Letter of Commendation, od Appreciation, Merit, or even a medal, copy sent to the panel.
Kkk in the finale is for Klinger, the Kompassionate Klansman.

Ooh, and one episode where he browbeats a real Klansman into doing 'the right thing' for someone.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

This sounds like a clarification of policy instead of policy itself.

In the US military, there are some lines that civilians aren't aware of. One of them is participating on political activity. You can belong to any political party, but you shouldn't go to party events or political events in uniform lest you either give an impression of military support of one side of the issue or you somehow embarrass the military. This includes even going to Democratic Party meetings. You can go while out of uniform but not while in uniform. If you want to go to a "fight for 15" rally, you may do so on your off time out of uniform, but not in uniform.

I hope I chose examples of activities so innocuous that nobody here would think they are bad things to do. The point is, even things that would be considered good, a service member should not do this in uniform. You can participate as an individual but not as a member of the military.

There are lots of rules about when you can wear the uniform and when you can't. Basically almost any and every civilian function you can't wear the uniform at. I was able to invoke one of the few exceptions when I wore my dress uniform to my Grandfather's funeral to honor his service in WWII.

The point is while the military has rules about how you can get involved in politics, they also recognize the principle that you shouldn't have your right to political opinion infringed simply because you are in the military. So you can go ahead and support Bernie or Biden or Buttigeig while as a military service member, but you can't wear your uniform at campaign events.

Apparently at some point someone said "what about this? huh? what about this?" Well, given the military already has a principle, they figured out how to apply the principle to this particular question. So they did so consistently since they really can't make distinctions of the sort you are asking for. It is kind-of like when Rep. Bob Barr discovered that the military recognized Wicca and allowed Wiccans to use chapel facilities. He was appalled and tried to pass a bill to forbid it, and the military actually fought back against it on the grounds of freedom of religion. The military doesn't want to do anything to infringe on freedom of conscience above and beyond that which is necessary for proper function of the military.