The Militia culture and it's impact on society

I've recently been immersed in the militia culture. I have looked at it from a veteran and law enforcement standpoint. It's something I find myself conflicted on.
One side of the coin is that I love seeing a resurgence of the American warrior spirit that carried us through the revolution. A spirit that is needed now more than ever.
The other side of the coin is the common naivety and sometimes (the most dangerous) blatant stupidity.

There are many of these groups who don't understand what it is exactly they're choosing to shoulder. The leadership necessary to the task they ask others to join them in. The training put themselves through that honestly leaves professionals scratching their heads.

They tack on these military ranks and titles never fully understanding the responsibilities that comes with those positions. They watch a video on youtube made by some tacticool GoPro operator and think that will carry them through a combat environment against China (as example) or any other SHTF scenario.

Many in this culture don't seem to play well with others and tend to have gigantic egos roughly the size of jupiter. They act more like gangs for middle aged men. Not saying this is all of them, but it is a trend that holds some consistency.

Those are my thoughts. Anyone have additions for other lines of thinking I may have missed?

 

I've run across groups who are very on point. I'm honestly not trying to rag on them. This is just what I've encountered personally so far.

 

I was a member of the West Michigan Volunteers which is one of around 60 units of Michigan Militia spread around the state. I trained with ex Air force para rescue, Marines, Navy and an Army staff sergeant who served in Iraq. Several special forces men who went through Camp Mackal and ran the nasty Nick. These guys moved around to the different units training as needed. I heard all the stories of how anti government they were supposed to be and other B.S. Ill tell you all something, we said the pledge to our flag every meeting. A copy and understanding of the Constitution was MANDATORY. I swore the same oath any Military man or LEO took. Our team leader was a Air force para rescue veteran who was deployed in Iraq in the first Gulf War. They all said their oath had no expiration date. I never met one Idiot in the bunch and met several hundred of them. At first I was very awed by what they knew and how they trained because I didnt know anything. I had never served in combat. They didnt seem to mind , they taught me how to move, how to recognize commands etc. I became second in command in three years rising to Rifleman level three. I out shot most of the younger guys and found that my strength was teaching them woodsman skills. You see our military guyswere trained to fight in the desert. I was a hunter. They wanted to carry huge packs and I preferred to move lighter. Im not saying I was better because I wasn't. I just taught them young boys a few things about the woods. By the time I left after almost 7 years I was field support rifleman level 3 . I was in charge of lots of new guys teaching them how to shoot accurately. About 2/3 of the units are ex military and the others were the ones who needed most of the work. Everyone had to be able to shoot at least level one which was 8 of ten rounds in a Paper plate at 100 yards. You had to use only expedient things like your back pack as a rest. The main fear they expressed is what is going on right now. THEY KNEW in 2008 that Radical Islam was coming here and we were already monitoring two Jihad training camps in Michigan. We sent info to the FBI on them . W e also helped them to catch members of a religious cult (Huttaree)calling themselves a militia in southern Michigan. They applied to the leadership for unit status and were denied access to camp Stasa because of radical religious practices. Once Frank Stasa died (ww2 veteran) the camp was handed down to his children who were not sympathetic to the movement and the camp closed. Each unit now had to find new places to train and that caused the numbers to drop. Right now they are over 5000 strong and my old unit has over 160 members. More now than when I was in. We only had 31 when I was in. My old team leader has asked me to come back and help out with field support and firearms safety instructor. I declined as my feet are so bad. I suffer from type II diabetes and have neropathy . Michigan Militia has a sophisticated intelligence network and can get information that scared the crap out me. They have good intel on lots of things you would never Imagine. The Bottom line is that they feel they are the last line of defense. Nothing more nothing less. I never heard one plan to bomb anyone or harm any government people. Yea we all called them names and stuff but no more then we do here at the monkey. To me the Word Militia carries Honor, stands for Liberty and justice. I have been there trained with them and would stand beside any of our Michigan boys any time.

 

I know that many of them are very patriotic. Patriotism is a love of country, not government. As I have said. This is just my personal experience so far. It's why I made this thread. to gain perspective from others experiences.I like getting the bigger picture.

 

I have to admit to being curious, myself. No experience to talk of. Just, curious.

 

Like any social grouping of humans with similar or overlapping interests, you will find a spectrum of capabilities, competencies, philosophies, and ethical principles....some may be worth supporting...the greater proportion, are probably worth keeping at a safe distance from. The more flag waving I see and patriotic rhetoric I hear, the less inclined I am to be sucked into joining some rag tag bunch of yahoos because they happen to be singing the songs I like to hear.


Via: Comic And Terrifying In Equal Measure: What We Learned From The Reclaim Australia Rallies - New Matilda

Reclaim Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

 

Rawles blog has a link to the unedited helicopter or drone footage of the capture and shooting of the Refuge people. Not dash cam etc and after weeks, the actual shooting scene is perhaps 15 seconds long. He was very confused and at one point had his hands up, lowered them and was shot. Don't know if he was a threat or not, but with the tension and police training, the outcome was clear and the courts will give the officers in this a justified as it may well be they thought he was a threat.

 

I tend to avoid private militias. In New Mexico we had a constitutional state militia (New Mexico State Guard) that fell under the Department of Military Affairs along with the national guard and the air guard, but unlike the guard we were under the command of the governor, not subject to federalization. We worked together with local, county, state law enforcement as well as the national/air guard. We were what a militia is supposed to be...part of the community designed to assist in state defense, emergency planning & preparedness and emergency response.

 

Interesting perspectives.

Don't know what Ammon Bundy's group hoped to gain by occupying a wildlife preserve. Looks like all they succeeded in doing was getting one of their members killed, another injured, and yet another 7 or 8 arrested. That outcome was almost predictable, especially given the realities of who controls the federal government at this point.

Worse, their actions also pretty much discredited their cause, which is a worthy one. Seems that it doesn't matter how righteous it is, if your tactics suck both you and your cause are going down in flames.

Kingfisher's Michigan militia seems to be pretty much spot on. But all they need is one idiot to make them look like a bunch of crazed hillbillies, fodder for the leftist-controlled media. These guys walk a real tight rope and I imagine they have to be pretty particular about who they let into their group.

 

Minuteman would be a good one to chime on this topic. I have seen the rise and fall of some seriously patriotic and loyal Americans defeated by every underhanded government rouse you can imagine. False-flags, implanted informants, miss-information, it just keeps getting painted with a tar brush. My last affiliation had to duck so far underground after a series of raids and IRS attacks, that the point of balance was totally lost and all that remained were a bunch of bitter pissed-off even more angry at the apathy that has swept our nation.

 

MICHIGAN MILITIA
This is the main web site . There are over 50 units alone in the Wolverine corps. which only has one link and those guys don't post much of anything at all. They are just ;;; There. The wolverine corp is the oldest group which has been around since ww2. Formed around Frank Stasa .



Frank Stasa formed the first Serious Michigan Militia Wolverine corps. Camp Stasa was a 40 acre Training camp owned by Stasa.

Our guys police their ranks pretty well . Tim McVeigh's buddies the Nichols bros prior to the Oklahoma bombing were denied membership because they wanted to attack federals.. The Huttaree even though aquitted were denied for several reasons , poor fire arms safety on the range and radical religious beliefs. Infiltrating the Michigan Militia corps is a waste of tax payer dollars. Michigan units help in search and rescue ops and Amber alerts. We also provide intel on real terrorists like the two training camps of Muslim extremists in Michigan.

 

So do I, my dainty fingers and thumbs seem to spread across half the keypad....even my auto correct function has given up in despair....

 

Months back I was surfing around on militias and the Missouri militia was interesting. I did not do real deep search on other states but it seemed like Missouri had stronger codified law on militias.

MISSOURI MILITIA - State Defense Force for MO Citizens

it's codified into law and part of both the State and the Federal Constitutions. Missouri revised Statutes Chapter 41 41.050. The militia of the state shall include all able-bodied citizens and all other able-bodied residents, 41.070 (3) The unorganized militia shall consist of all persons liable to serve in the militia but not commissioned or enlisted in the organized militia.

Organized and unorganized militia.

41.070. 1. The militia of the state is divided into two classes, the organized militia and the unorganized militia.

2. The organized militia shall consist of the following:

(1) Such elements of the land and air forces of the National Guard of the United States as are allocated to the state by the President or the Secretary of Army or Air, and accepted by the state, hereinafter to be known as the National Guard and the Air National Guard;

(2) Such elements of the reserve naval forces of the United States as are allocated to the state by the President or the Secretary of the Navy, and accepted by the state, hereinafter called the naval militia; and the

(3) Missouri reserve military force, when organized.

3. The unorganized militia shall consist of all persons liable to serve in the militia but not commissioned or enlisted in the organized militia.

(L. 1951 p. 654 § 6)
Section: 041.0070 Organized and unorganized militia. RSMO 41.070

ADDED: As things are going I would expect more militias being organized.

 

Well stated and possibly not as well stated by myself privatively.

@Minuteman
I am glad to see the renewed interest in the movement but I see just a bunch of Rambo's and wannabe's.

 

I remember Mark Kornke , had the radio show. Also known as Mark from Michigan .Minuteman, Did you know Norm Olson? He was before my time. I was a member from 2006 to 2012. My old team leader got ousted by his new second then regained the WMVM and is again recruiting but it is like you say . They don't do much any more except train and keep a low profile in public. Long gone are the public musters and such. Here is an article on what happened to us even though we had cleared the use of the land with the Forestry service. The Unit still trains there ha ha ha . And John Jurich is a friend of mine (The D.N.R. officer who came out). They had sherrif, Federal BLM and D.N.R. all TO make sure we knew they knew.

Militia training in Manistee National Forest there to 'help our citizens'