Far-Right White Supremacist Ties to the Military in WA State

A Stars & Stripes article (November 23, 2018) highlights the dangers of the connection between the military and far-right white supremacist organizations, such as Atomwaffen Division.

While the article focuses on events in Florida, we should not overlook the face that Washington state is home to one of the largest cells of notorious white supremacist group, and that Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) serves as a prime target for recruitment by Atomwaffen and similar organizations.

The Pacific Northwest has a long history of neo-Nazi and other racist and extremist groups operating here, including the Aryan Nations and Ku Klux Klan, but the presence and activities of these groups is too often ignored.
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Soldier Killed in Shooting at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving

The man shot and killed by Hoover police following a shooting at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night has been identified as 21-year-old Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr, a US Army Soldier.

A shooting at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night left one person dead and two people wounded with gunfire, Hoover police said.

The incident started at 9:52 p.m. when two adult men got into a physical altercation in the common area of the mall between the Foot Action store and J.C. Penney, Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said.

One man pulled a gun and shot an 18-year-old male at least one time, Rector said. Two uniformed Hoover police officers were very close by and rushed to the scene. While moving toward the shooting scene, one of the officers encountered a suspect brandishing a pistol and shot him. That individual, a 21-year-old male from Hueytown, was pronounced dead on the scene.

Bradford, known to friends as E.J., was a former student of Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham and had enlisted in the U.S. Army, according to Carl Dean, a former teacher at the school. 

“He was a super sweet, funny, kind and goodhearted young man who never had a bad word to say to anyone” Dean said. “When I saw this morning that he was allegedly involved in causing the tragedy at the mall last night, I was shocked and in disbelief as well as heartbroken that this young man is no longer with us.”

A 12-year-old girl also was struck by a bullet and taken to Children’s Hospital by the Hoover Fire Department. (Hoover Sun, November 23, 2018)

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According to Newsone (November 24, 2018) Cops Admit Black Man Police Killed In Alabama Mall Shooting Was Not The Shooter.  Police responding to a shooting at a mall in Alabama apparently shot and killed the wrong person — a Black man — leaving the suspected gunman at large following a violent episode that wounded two others on Thanksgiving night.

Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., “an active duty [Soldier],” was reportedly shot in the face and died at the Riverchase Galleria in the town of Hoover as police identified him as their primary suspect. The 21-year-old, who was armed and licensed to carry a gun, was reportedly home for the holidays when he was killed.

The details of this incident are still unclear. What is known is that police saw Mr. Bradford, armed with a handgun, and immediately shot him in the face killing him.  An 18 year old at the mall was shot by someone (Bradford? Another Shooter?). A 12 year old girl was hit by a bullet fired by someone (the Police?)

 

 



Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.



Whistleblowers: Army Punishes JBLM Soldiers Who Need Help

That late August 2018 morning was yet another low point for the 27-year-old veteran, who had tried to kill himself four times before. He suffers from mental illnesses, including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But despite his pleas, help wasn’t around the corner.

Army leaders at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) were just weeks away from officially kicking the soldier out of the military under other-than-honorable conditions for failing a drug test for marijuana — even though Ball’s military doctors warned his commanders that his medical conditions caused him to break the rules. That discharge status cost him the right to access long-term health care benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"They treated him as a bad soldier instead of a sick soldier," said Heather Straub, a Tacoma-based attorney who represented Ball in his unsuccessful attempt to fight the Army's decision.

Between January 2009 and October 2015, the Army separated more than 22,000 soldiers for misconduct after they came back from Iraq or Afghanistan and were diagnosed with a mental health condition or a traumatic brain injury, according to Department of Defense data obtained in 2016. As a result, many of the dismissed soldiers did not receive health care benefits that soldiers are eligible to receive with an honorable discharge.

It’s not immediately possible to quantify the number of soldiers, like Ball, who are currently affected by this problem. The Army is not continuing to track the information it previously provided, according to a 2018 Freedom of Information Act response.

But what happened to the 27-year-old is a pattern at Ft. Lewis, according to two Madigan Army Medical Center employees who have direct contact with hundreds of JBLM soldiers who have mental health diagnoses.

KING 5 agreed not to identify the employees. One is a program administrator and the other is a Madigan psychologist. They fear retaliation because they do not have permission from the Army to talk to the media. (King 5 News, November 21, 2018)
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Receiving help from JBLM can be difficult. Whether requests come from Soldiers or civilian employees, these request are too often ignored, or worse yet the person requesting help is stigmatized, ostracized, or directly retaliated against.

It is easier to get rid of the individuals who have problems and request help than it is to address those problems and correct underlying issues within the system itself.

Even when individuals are suffering significant mental health problems, the system may be completely unresponsive. For example, a person who attempted to receive help from Lifeline Chat on August 19, 2018 would have found 71 people in line, and hours to wait in order to contact a crisis counselor.

 

 





Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.

Government Agrees to Naturalize JBLM Soldier After ACLU Lawsuit

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the government agreed to expedite the naturalization of a decorated active-duty U.S. Army service member stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

This comes just 25 days after the ACLU of Washington filed a lawsuit on behalf of Army Specialist Do Hoon Kim for failing to process his application for over 500 days. Long delays like this are in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act, which requires the government to process applications “within a reasonable time.”

Specialist Kim, who was brought to this country from South Korea by his parents in 2006 and grew up in the Los Angeles area, enlisted in the Army in 2014 under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. The MAVNI program was established to recruit non-citizens with skills critical to the needs of the U.S. military, including medical, technical and language expertise. The government is required to expedite the processing of naturalization applications for MAVNI enlistees.

“Specialist Kim has suffered through uncertainty about his immigration status while serving our country with honor and integrity for nearly four years,” said ACLU-WA Legal Fellow Michael Youhana. “We are pleased that he will be able to continue his life in and service to the U.S. without additional burdens imposed by the government delaying his naturalization application.” 

“It should not require the filing of a lawsuit for the government to keep its promise.”

Specialist Kim was naturalized at 3 p.m. November 9, 2018 at the USCIS office in Tukwila, WA.
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According to the complaint filed by the ACLU, although SPC Kim had four years of exemplary service, he received no support in the naturalization process until a lawsuit against the government was filed on his behalf by the ACLU.

It is too often the case that good people are lost because of politics and apathy.

Congratulations to SPC. Kim on becoming a United States Citizen!

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

Military personnel deployed to a combat area, their supporting contractors overseas, government civilian employees overseas, non-government organizations (NGOs), journalists working on international stories, businesses attempting to establish a foothold in developing countries, and individual travelers to remote areas of the world can all find themselves in hostile and non-permissive environments. This guide covers a broad range of subjects that are intended to aid individuals, living and working in dangerous areas, in being safer in their daily lives and in being better able to protect themselves and survive in case of an emergency, disaster, or hostile action.



Cowardly Leaders and the Results They Bring

Good leadership should be working hard to make their people feel as if someone cares for them and that they want them to succeed.  Poor leadership sells its people out because they don’t have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the mob rule that grows ever more aggressive with each media battle they win.

If you want your people to succeed and prosper, let them know that you will back them when they are right, correct them when they are wrong but always care about them like you told them when they got the job.  (Law Officer, November 22, 2018)
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Judge Dismisses Criminal Charges Against Fired Philly Cops Due To No Evidence

A judge dismissed charges against two former Philadelphia police officers who were suspended and later fired.

A judge dismissed charges against two former Philadelphia police officers who had been charged with an illegal stop and search in East Mount Airy.

Municipal Court Judge Thomas Gehret dismissed charges of tampering with the public record, obstructing the administration of law, false imprisonment, official oppression, and conspiracy that had been filed against former Philadelphia Police Officers Matthew Walsh and Marvin Jones, citing a lack of evidence.

After the judge’s ruling, the former police officers hope to get their jobs back with Philadelphia PD. (Blue Lives Matter, November 20, 2018)
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When departments suspend and terminate their employees without complete due process, it is likely that those actions may be found to be inappropriate. Whether it is Philadelphia, or as we saw earlier the ruling that a Seattle Officer Who Punched Handcuffed Woman Can Have His Job Back it seems that the actions of the department administrators were inappropriate when terminating these employees.

Not only should the officers be reinstated, but all back-pay and allowances should be paid. Furthermore, some degree of compensation should be paid to these officers who were wrongly suspended and later fired.

Should the administrators who suspended and fired these officers be held accountable for their actions and the negative effect it had on these officers' lives?

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way

 

 

Proud Boys, Labeled 'Extremist Group' by the FBI ?

Oregon Live (November 19, 2018) reported that the FBI has designated the Proud Boys "an extremist group with ties to white nationalism". The group is "actively recruiting in the Pacific Northwest" and "[has] contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies," including those in Portland, the FBI told Clark County authorities this summer. The FBI provided its assessment of the Proud Boys as part of an internal affairs investigation by the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

A copy of the Clark County Sheriff's Office report, with the FBI assessment (pp. 7) can be seen here.

This is the first time that an FBI evaluation of the group has become public.

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Does the FBI (or other agencies in the Department of Justice) maintain a list of specific domestic extremist groups? No! While the FBI does designate some foreign organizations (such as ISIS) as extremists, for domestic groups the FBI identifies certain ideologies as extremist, not specific groups by name.  That being said, the FBI has collaborated with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which does identify the Proud Boys as a hate group.

We note however that as Oregon Live reported, the Proud Boys are "actively recruiting in the Pacific Northwest" and may have gained supporters in the law enforcement and military communities.

 

 

 

Operating in Hostile and Non-Permissive Environments:
A Survival and Resource Guide for Those Who Go in Harm’s Way