Posted on Feb 3, 2021
Secretary of Defense orders all military to pause and review handling of extremism in ranks
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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered a staggered pause of operations across the entire US military so commanders can have "needed discussions" with service members about the issue of extremism over the next 60 days, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby announced on Wednesday.
Austin hopes the pause, known as a stand down, will accomplish two things -- he wants leaders of each branch to be able to communicate their expectations of how their troops should behave, and leaders to "gain insight" from members on the "scope of the problem from their view," Kirby said.
Austin hopes the pause, known as a stand down, will accomplish two things -- he wants leaders of each branch to be able to communicate their expectations of how their troops should behave, and leaders to "gain insight" from members on the "scope of the problem from their view," Kirby said.
Secretary of Defense orders all military to pause and review handling of extremism in ranks
Posted from amp.cnn.com
Racism
DoD
Posted 4 y ago
Responses: 4
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SSG Robert Perrotto
SFC Kelly Fuerhoff - what is the root of this "extremism" stand down, The capitol riot, because the military didn't give a rats ass about any of the other riots. What was reported regarding participants in the rally, and subsequent riot - a large amount of veterans were present, new prez is sworn in, new administration, and all of a sudden, we get a stand down on extremism. Why, because a lot of Vets are angry at how things went down. So , when the current government has pissed a lot of vets off, there is a problem, and it's not extremism. This stand down is nothing more then a public virtue signal.
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SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
SSG Robert Perrotto - That might be what caused it to happen now but racism has been a long time issue in our military. It should have happened last year when the AF IG report came out about the racism in their promotion system. But that was also a different administration that got rid of federal diversity training...
I'm not even gonna with you at all.
A lot of racist vets who drank the orange Koolaid were mad about Trump losing...that's who.
There is a problem and has long been one of extremists in our ranks. The fact you don't acknowledge it means you probably are one of them or you just live in your own bubble.
I'm not even gonna with you at all.
A lot of racist vets who drank the orange Koolaid were mad about Trump losing...that's who.
There is a problem and has long been one of extremists in our ranks. The fact you don't acknowledge it means you probably are one of them or you just live in your own bubble.
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SSG Robert Perrotto
SFC Kelly Fuerhoff - first - do not assume such or apply such idiocy to me. I do believe diversity training as it stands now, causes more division and strife within the ranks then extremists, because the focus is on perceived privilege/oppression dynamics. The enlisted ranks are extremely diverse, and racial division amongst them is not as big an issue as its being portrayed. In 17 and a half years, I never saw an instance where my skin color shielded me from the suck, nor did another Soldiers skin color prevent them from making CSM. We all embrace the suck together, and that bond transcends mere pigment. Stop throwing the racist card at everything, its a cop out and a discussion deflector "racist vets" like wtf Kelly, are 74 million Americans racist? Do you truly believe that 74 million Trump supporters are racist? because that is what you are saying about an awful lot of vets that voted for trump. and that shit causes division. It does nothing to create meaningful dialogue, it lessens the power of the word, and it further entrenches the belief that having a different opinion automatically gets you called racist. And that mindset erases every minority, woman, or non binary person who voted for him as well. These people have their agency, and just because their views and opinions do not line up with the liberal viewpoint does not make them have internalized bullshit. Thats how the liberal progressives work, if you are a minority, you are a race traitor, uncle tom, internalized white supremacist. if you are a woman, it's internalized misogyny, fear of/wanting mens retribution/attention. If you are a man, its toxic masculinity, patriarchy, misogynist, Racist. These words shut down and close dialogue, immediately puts the person you use it against in a defensive position, and prevents reconciliation.
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LTC Marc King
Defense Secretary Orders 60-day Stand-Down to Confront Extremism in the Military
This was the headline in the Military Times yesterday… Defense Secretary Orders 60-day Stand-Down to Confront Extremism in the Military…
Just two weeks in the Biden Administration and one week after he was confirmed the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin has issued an “All Activities” message that all branches of the military are…
“to conduct a 60-day stand-down on the issue of extremism in the military, prompted by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and subsequent reports of both active-duty and former service members attending a rally calling to overturn the 2020 election and the riot that ensued.”
This comes on the heals of a report that the FBI was called in to vet the loyalty of the 25,000 National Guard troops called to duty to provide security for the inauguration of Joe Biden.
So, let us look at what is really happening here by starting with the definition of “Stand Down”.
Marian Webster (On-Line) Definition of stand-down:
: “a relaxation of status of a military unit or force from an alert or operational posture… to go off duty
b: to withdraw from a contest, a position of leadership, or a state of alert or readiness”
Stand downs are ordered somewhat routinely by individual units and their commanders across all branches of the military when that unit has some unusual or unexpected event occur. This is most often driven by an accident due to equipment or a training failure and the Commander calls a halt to all activities until the root cause of the problem can be determined and corrected. This is conducted at the unit level, could be a Company, Battalion or Brigade… a single Ship or a fleet of ships… a single aircraft or an entire squadron of planes… or perhaps a combination of all these types of units who are ready to respond to a call for help from beleaguered US personnel in Benghazi, Libya but are told to “STAND DOWN”.
It was just this week that we heard our military leaders say we are at risk for a nuclear war with China or Russia… North Korea has started to fire missiles again, freedom of navigation exercises in the Taiwan Straits are being challenged by China, Russian fighters are buzzing our ships in the Black Sea … is this really a good time to stand down?
Never in the history of the US military has the entire organization been told to stand down while an official which hunt is conducted to see if there are extremists serving in the military. Now keep in mind that so far no one has offered up a definition of how the military defines “extremism”.
I think it would be fair to say that most people in the military today are extremists when compared to the rest of society. This is an all-volunteer military! It is not driven by mass culture of society of today… It is in fact a culture that is driven by extreme patriotism for the country. Why else would theses patriots intentionally places themselves in harm’s way… to the point of possibly losing their life!
Since the US Military is a microcosm of society in general, men, woman, gay, trans, religious, atheist, clean and drug addicted… it is necessary to anticipate that there will be some members in uniform who hold extreme political positions even as they serve the country and the Constitution. However simply voting for a particular candidate or even making a political position known on social media does not make one an insurrectionist. It simply makes you part of “We the People” … who believe and support the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. As for those few who might standout while serving --- let the unit commanders do their jobs. They know how to deal with any kind of activities that interrupt the “Good Order and Discipline” of their units.
And if the bar is set so low that any deviation in thought or deed from the Administrations radical agenda results in the expulsion of service members for a lack of political conformity then I submit that 1. We need to return to mandatory conscription to keep the ranks filled and 2. We are in a great deal of danger. The US Military’s focus up till now has always been outward --- If we are now looking inward we will not see the danger that world poses… and that will be a catastrophic failure on the part of the Administration.
This was the headline in the Military Times yesterday… Defense Secretary Orders 60-day Stand-Down to Confront Extremism in the Military…
Just two weeks in the Biden Administration and one week after he was confirmed the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin has issued an “All Activities” message that all branches of the military are…
“to conduct a 60-day stand-down on the issue of extremism in the military, prompted by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and subsequent reports of both active-duty and former service members attending a rally calling to overturn the 2020 election and the riot that ensued.”
This comes on the heals of a report that the FBI was called in to vet the loyalty of the 25,000 National Guard troops called to duty to provide security for the inauguration of Joe Biden.
So, let us look at what is really happening here by starting with the definition of “Stand Down”.
Marian Webster (On-Line) Definition of stand-down:
: “a relaxation of status of a military unit or force from an alert or operational posture… to go off duty
b: to withdraw from a contest, a position of leadership, or a state of alert or readiness”
Stand downs are ordered somewhat routinely by individual units and their commanders across all branches of the military when that unit has some unusual or unexpected event occur. This is most often driven by an accident due to equipment or a training failure and the Commander calls a halt to all activities until the root cause of the problem can be determined and corrected. This is conducted at the unit level, could be a Company, Battalion or Brigade… a single Ship or a fleet of ships… a single aircraft or an entire squadron of planes… or perhaps a combination of all these types of units who are ready to respond to a call for help from beleaguered US personnel in Benghazi, Libya but are told to “STAND DOWN”.
It was just this week that we heard our military leaders say we are at risk for a nuclear war with China or Russia… North Korea has started to fire missiles again, freedom of navigation exercises in the Taiwan Straits are being challenged by China, Russian fighters are buzzing our ships in the Black Sea … is this really a good time to stand down?
Never in the history of the US military has the entire organization been told to stand down while an official which hunt is conducted to see if there are extremists serving in the military. Now keep in mind that so far no one has offered up a definition of how the military defines “extremism”.
I think it would be fair to say that most people in the military today are extremists when compared to the rest of society. This is an all-volunteer military! It is not driven by mass culture of society of today… It is in fact a culture that is driven by extreme patriotism for the country. Why else would theses patriots intentionally places themselves in harm’s way… to the point of possibly losing their life!
Since the US Military is a microcosm of society in general, men, woman, gay, trans, religious, atheist, clean and drug addicted… it is necessary to anticipate that there will be some members in uniform who hold extreme political positions even as they serve the country and the Constitution. However simply voting for a particular candidate or even making a political position known on social media does not make one an insurrectionist. It simply makes you part of “We the People” … who believe and support the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. As for those few who might standout while serving --- let the unit commanders do their jobs. They know how to deal with any kind of activities that interrupt the “Good Order and Discipline” of their units.
And if the bar is set so low that any deviation in thought or deed from the Administrations radical agenda results in the expulsion of service members for a lack of political conformity then I submit that 1. We need to return to mandatory conscription to keep the ranks filled and 2. We are in a great deal of danger. The US Military’s focus up till now has always been outward --- If we are now looking inward we will not see the danger that world poses… and that will be a catastrophic failure on the part of the Administration.
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Suspended Profile
“Next slide”
I won’t insult you by reading verbatim so these are our terminal learning objectives, take a minute to look then over
I won’t insult you by reading verbatim so these are our terminal learning objectives, take a minute to look then over
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I do not know him personally but I listened to him many times. He has a very strong personality and a commanding presence.
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