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Posted By admin on May 18, 2021

As Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has directed all military branches to identify extremismin the ranks, officials with the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces on Fort Bragg say none of its soldiers are known to belong to such groups.

In April, NBC News released an investigation claiming extremist viewsand conspiracy theoriesare shared in anonymous Facebook groups with members who claim to be past or currentmembers of Special Operation Forces.

The NBC report does not name the Facebook users who said they are Special Forces soldier and does not say if their military status was verified.

More: How a Special Forces patch led to charges for former Green Beret related to Capitol riot

A spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg said there are no known soldiers in the commands unitswith connections to extremist organizations.

Soldiers are not permitted to be affiliated with these corrosive organizations and leaders at all levels would be required to investigate allegations and take appropriate action to ensure good order and discipline, said Col. T.J. Rainsford, a spokesman for the command.

Rainsford went on to say that Special Operation Forces leaders work closely withjudge advocates and law enforcement to investigate allegations of wrongdoing and hold offenders accountable.

Rainsford referenced the Armys Article 600-200 policy, which prohibits soldiersfrom participatingin organizations that advocate violence and/or discriminatory behavior.

Rainsford said commanders atall levels have a variety of tools to ensure that soldiers who may have engaged in extremist behavior are held accountable, including punishment under the Uniformed Code ofMilitary Justice or administrative action.

Members of other Facebook groups question the context of NBCs story.

A post shared on a public Facebook group that is not named in the NBC story Guardians of the Green Beretcalled the report ahatchet job from a very bias reporter, and posted a link to another articlewith the headlineNBC Cherry Picks Facebook to Discredit Our Republics Ultimate Defenders.

That articleappears on the conservative blog websiteAmerican Thinker,which the SouthernPoverty Law Center has called a far-right online publication.

The articleis by written by Matt Rowe,who said that he is a Special Forces veteran and part of the groups NBC reported on.

AsRoweexplains the difference between Special Forces soldiers and those who support those soldiers in Special Operations Forces,hesaidthatretired and former Special Forces veterans do most of the posting in the groups, notactive-dutysoldiers.

In the article, Rowe wrote that about 60% of the members in the group regularly post, and only a small amountespousesviews such asbelievinginQAnon.

The FBI haslabeledtheQAnonconspiracy theorya threat.

Its supporters believe a liberal deep stateof politicians, celebrities and business leaders, who are pedophiles, worked againstformer President Donald Trump.

Followers look toonline messages by "Q," whom they believe to be an anonymous whistleblower, for guidance on political events.

Personally, Rowe said in his article, he never paid much attention to QAnonposts because he viewed them as coming from a handful of extremeconspiracytheoristswho others in the groupridiculedor questioned out ofcuriosity.

During the past year, the U.S. Army Special Forces Command has battled rumors associated with some of the conspiracy theories.

In August, the 3rdSpecial Forces Group uploaded a photo to its social media pagesthat depicts a Special Forces soldier signaling to aUH-60 Black Hawk during a training exercise.

Some social media users questioned whether the signal, which appears as a neon ring in thephoto, wasa symbol ofQAnon.

It was tweeted to highlight our 24/7 operational readiness, not as a signal of any kind, said Capt. Richard Dickson, a spokesman for the 3rdSpecial Forces Group.

Following the Jan. 6riotat the Capitol,rumors circulated online thatSpecial Forces soldiers tookSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosislaptop.

The laptop was stolen from her office, her aide, Drew Hammill, Tweeted on Jan. 8.

In a YouTube video, retiredAir Force Lt. Gen. ThomasMcInerneyrepeated the claim that Special Forces soldiers took Pelosis computer, according to USA TODAY.

A spokesman for the U.S. Special Operations Command told USA TODAYin January that the command had notreceivedreports of Special Forces or any other Special Operations Forces entering the Capitol to steal Pelosis laptop.

McInerneyhad also claimed in December that Special Forces seized election-related servers in Germany, according to USA TODAY and the Associated Press.

Rainsford said the claim is a rumor.

Past conspiracy theories, Rowe wrote in the American Thinker article thatextreme language should not be confused with extremist or radical intent and that based on his observations, group membersspeak out against and discourage any comments that are racist.

He said racists wouldn't last long, because much of the Special Forces soldiers work is with different races around the world.

The Department of Defense took a stance afterthe Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.

"DOD policy expressly prohibits military personnel from actively advocating supremacist, extremist or criminal gang doctrine, ideology or causes," according to a Jan. 14 statement from Gary Reed, the director for Defense Intelligence (Counterintelligence, Law Enforcement & Security).

During Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's Jan. 19 confirmation hearing, he said he'd work to rid the military ranks of racists and extremists.

In February, Austin issued a 60-day stand-down directive for commanders to discuss with servicemembers extremism in the ranks.

Rainsford said all soldiers have attended trainings held by commanders, judge advocates and law enforcement about extremism, in accordance with Austins directive.

This stand-down was the first initiative to better educatesoldiers about the problem and how we will eliminate it, Rainsford said. The stand-down event addressed the impacts of extremism and the responsibilities of commands to create an environment free of discrimination, hate, and harassment to prevent harm to the Army and honor the American people's trust.

InAugust, thespecial operationsTrauma3medicalcourse changed its unofficial logo because it resembled one used by an extremist group.

A student in the course reported that it resembled a symbol used by the extremist group the Three Percenters.

According to theAnti DefamationLeague,Three Percenters are part of the militia movement, which supports the idea of a small number of dedicated patriots protecting Americans from government tyranny. The concept is basedaninaccurate historical claim that only three percent of Americans fought in the Revolutionary War against the British, according to theAnti DefamationLeague.

A spokeswoman for theU.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and Schoolat Fort Braggtold military.com that theunofficial logo, which had the Roman numeral III and 13, was used to represent the course and the cadre members part of the course.

The logo was never officially adopted, said Janice Burton, a spokeswoman for the warfare center and school.

The Three Percenters logo wasamong 14 logosincludingQAnonsymbols thatofficialsand the center and school discouraged soldiers from displaying during a presentation in February.

Burton told The Fayetteville Observer that the center and school and Army Special Operation Forces have a culture and history of developing small patriotic unit logos and symbols for esprit-de-corps and unitcohesion.

Because some extremist organizations adopt similar imagery andsymbols, Burton said, the commandtook deliberatesteps to educate and inform the force on symbols and logos used by extremist organizationsto prevent inadvertent use of similar symbols.

The command has made it very clear to its members that there is no place for extremism and racism in our formation in stride with broader efforts by the DoD and Army, Burton said.

Burton said the center and schoolhasa history of self-identifying and correcting the use of symbols and logos that can be misinterpreted as being affiliated with extremist organizations.

She said commanders at each unit within the center and school have emphasizedthat extremist organization objectives are inconsistent with the Armys values, goals and beliefs.

Our leadership discussed this information with theirsoldiers to better educate them on current offensive symbols and logos, she said. Commanders further remindedsoldiers they represent the Army, both on and off duty.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528

More: Former Fort Bragg soldier who fatally shot 3 at Kansas Jewish sites dies in prison.

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Fort Bragg Special Forces not part of extreme groups, and other rumors battled this year - The Fayetteville Observer

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