Are Right Wing Extremists Trying to Recruit Our Troops?

by Bob Hanafin, Staff Writer 

A few months ago there was a controversy that got just as much a radical reception from the right-wing as the tea parties and Fox news coverage of the never ending Health Care debate.

The controversy I’m really talking about is when the Director of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano was forced by pressure from right-wing talk radio commentators and other conservative mouth pieces like the American Legion to apologize to America’s Veterans and Troops for something that actually is a real threat. The potential threat of right-wing extremists or domestic terrorists attempting to recruit our troops is real as this story will affirm.

The American Legion meant well but takes it for granted our troops are too patriotic to be recruited by right or left wing extremists. WRONG! It is just that patriotism that patriotic extremists play on and manipulate. [See Right-wing extremism memo controversy in comments section. VT. Ed]

We will leave it to the Department of Homeland Security (unless they have been too intimidated by the right wing), Department of Defense, and our readers to decide if what Oath Keepers is doing to attract our troops to take an Oath to potentially disobey orders from their Chain of Command is legitimate or if the Department of Defense and Homeland Security needs to closely monitor such recruitment.

Taking oaths to disobey orders of any Chain of Command is not only illegal under the UCMJ, but it is also illegal under the Hatch Act which most of our troops, including Junior Officers don’t know the meaning of.

Keep in mind, Oath Keepers at this time is only asking our troops to Take an Oath in addition to the one they already took to the U.S. Constitution the only difference is they are asking OUR TROOPS to endorse their unofficial version of the Constitution.

It is an Oath selectively designed to be attractive to Gun Nuts and the Second Amendment over all other amendments in the Constitution. The threat is twofold: (1) how many troops can they reach, and (2) will their oath someday go beyond debating the Constitution to recruiting our troops to keep their weapons at the ready when they come home in order to defend the Constitution as Oath Keepers defines it against our duly elected government.

ROBERT L. HANAFIN
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
Veteran Advocacy Editor
VT News Network &
Our Troops News Ladder

We at VT have been asked to consider posting a story by such a conservative right-wing group that approaches being extremists when it actively recruits our active duty troops. In all fairness Oath Keepers has their selective and narrow view of what the U.S. Constitution means and the document is all about the Second Amendment and nothing else worth mentioning. However, this group is actively trying to recruit our troops into their organization with an emphasis on the Second Amendment and of course First Amendment rights as they apply to the Second Amendment. Don’t they realize that there’s a rational and logic reason why the Second Amendment for Gun Nuts is just that – second and not First Amendment?

This emphasis on the second amendment we can almost live with out of respect for THE FIRST, but recruiting active duty troops for any domestic challenge to the Constitution brings into question too many issues more in the jurisdiction of Homeland Security and DoD. It was just this concept that eventually led to the West Point class of 1861 spitting up to head North, South, East and West to kill one another. It is this concept that gave rise to the Southern militias that would be the backbone of the glorious Confederate Army.

In their own words, "The mission of Oath Keepers is to vastly increase their numbers. We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our own troops." Direct quote from Oath Keepers.

In response to Oath Keepers request to post their story, we will on condition that they change the Oath to the revised one recommended by VT News Network.
Lastly, we want to remind our readers including members of Congress that only the Department of Defense working in cooperation with Homeland Security can determine if groups like Oath Keepers pose a threat to the U.S. Constitution, our legally elected government, and of course Homeland Security. Surely the fact that either left or right-wing extremists groups may be trying to recruit active duty troops can’t be based on but one group thus a closer examination is warranted.

Revised Oath Recommended by VT News Network for taking Oath Takers serious:

We at VT have no problem with our troops taking this revised Oath:

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people or any other people in the world to show serious consideration for the 2nd Amendment. If the 2nd Amendment is good enough for us, it should be an aspect of democracy we export.

2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrant less searches of the American people or any other people in the world.

3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens or any other citizens of the world as "unlawful enemy combatants" or to subject them to military tribunal. This means the immediate closing of GITMO. Once again if detention of U.S. citizens is not good enough for us then it only stands to reason that it is NOT GOOD for the rest of the world.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a "state of emergency" on a state, or any nation in the world meaning an immediate cease and desist from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state or nation that asserts its sovereignty, which means when asked to leave Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else we are not welcome by all the people WE LEAVE!

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American or international cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. [So much for our occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. VT. Ed]

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens or citizens of any other nation into any form of detention camps under any pretext. Thus, GITMO plus any secret detention camps still maintained by our government must go as well as immigration detention centers.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to "keep the peace" or to "maintain control." By the same token we will NOT obey any order to assist or support foreign troops on foreign soil against the people of any nation in the true spirit and meaning of our U.S. Constitution.

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, or any other people in the world, including food and other essential supplies.

10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances. In sincere respect for the First Amendment, we believe that right should be exported as our gallant noble cause to show the world how America really works. Free speech to all – everyone in the world.

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To see the original go to Oath Takers, but until they revise their oath, we don’t take it serious.

http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2009/03/03/declaration-of-orders-we-will-not-obey/

If Oath Takers will make the above revisions, we at VT just might take you serious, it is up to Homeland Security and the Department of Defense to consider you a threat to National Security.

Just don’t dare Tread on my property with your guns, because I too am a Gun Nut.

Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
Veteran Advocacy Editor

Robert L. Hanafin

Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.

My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.

Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.

I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.

I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.