What I've Learned From a Decade of Militia Life

Being somewhat of a celebrity in the Patriot and Militia communities, I get asked lots of questions. They always seem to revolve around what should have been done or what could be done better. I have tons of opinions on this, but none that really qualify as answers.

To start off, let me first say that, yes, I was in Burns and at Malheur, though I will not be speaking as to what extent or what my role was. I’m not your typical militiaman; I’ve gone places, done things and bore witness to some astonishing events. I am not a Patriot on social media alone. A guaranteed win is not required for my participation. I follow a moral obligation to do what is right regardless of the outcome. Consequence is inconsequential when looking at the bigger picture. That being said, my viewpoint in this article is simply my own opinions based upon nearly a decade of service to the Constitution.

The first lesson I learned is that there is no single issue that any militia or patriot group can agree on or even direct a sufficient amount of focus towards to make it a success. Whether you’re talking about delivering clean drinking water to Flint, intervening in the theft of a mine, protesting an Eighth Amendment violation, or simply trying to keep police and race rioters from declaring war on each other, nobody will see things the same as anyone else in the group. If 5 people take it upon themselves to make their presence known to both the St. Paul Police Department and Black Lives Matter, you will have five very different sets of beliefs and ground rules for how the operation should be run. Success hinges on compromise and the ability to cast aside egos.

Nobody is who they say they are. Even if you grew up with a man, share grandparents and attended their family functions, you have no clue who this armed man standing next to you is. He will absolutely sell you out at the first opportunity to save himself. No hesitation. Everyone is a liar. The honest militiaman is a rare breed. Those who are in it the longest or shortest are complete liars. When men are being raided and arrested, demand proof, save these items and watch their court records. If a charge is not seen through or pushed aggressively to the end, this man is now your enemy. There are indeed paid positions offered by the FBI and ATF to inform on law abiding militiamen and patriots. The rest are probable Valor thieves.

Military veterans make up the vast majority of big talkers in any militia. With forgotten training 2 decades in the past comes an ego the size of an elephant. They belittle, talk down to and undermine all others in an attempt to gain rank in a volunteer organization. A lack of a CIB is a sure sign that someone claiming outside the wire action is probably full of shit. Even if they were, they had their asses handed to them by men with one quarter the training the average militia has undertaken and the loss happened because the enemy waged a guerilla war while the US government tried to set up an MLR in a war that has no front. If these men cannot learn from that mistake or are unwilling to when confronted with that reality, they are toxic to the rest of the group and should be removed. They will get you killed should the militia ever be needed and it will be your fault for allowing it. If a militia is ever needed, the first obligation of the militia is the custody of the people. Custodi en populo!

Remain in the moral and legal right if you are able to. Morality always trumps legality. The Three Percenter movement is a somewhat cliché statement that throws back to the War for Independence when three percent of the colonists took up arms against King George. In today’s world, expect that half of those you meet are informants and just under 47% of the rest will be once they make a legal mistake. What you are doing is a very big thing politically speaking and you are in extreme danger. The government is not your enemy but the corrupt politicians running it are. Three percent of three percent can be trusted.
   
Everyone will make the assumption that you are racist. The mass media portrays all militiamen as white supremacist, Christianity based, backwoods, cousin humping Bubbas who worship Adolf Hitler and are anti-government because we want to take over the country and live in a lawless bandit society. The other message they push is that we are Sovereign Citizens. (I’m not even sure what a Sovereign Citizen is as I’ve been unable to find any type of a legitimate answer.) This couldn’t be further from the truth! Militias are made up of everyday people who are mostly from urban communities, do not live on farms and definitely are not mostly white in color. The last man out of Malheur is Japanese-American and yet the media still claims he is a white supremacist when in fact he is a hacker who catches a lot of flack from the militia community for his defense of the First Amendment, specifically regarding Islam and the right to worship freely! The people of this country are brainwashed and will believe everything the television tells them. Don’t take offense to it. They are unfortunate souls and you should feel pity for them.
   
Police hate you. Your neighbors hate you. Your family hates you. Your wife hates you. If you are as open as I’ve been about your duties in a militia, you will be targeted by both local and federal law enforcement. A speeding ticket for 11–15mph over will require no less than 7 squad cars. If your employer finds out, you will be fired and walked off the job by a large police escort. If you are as active as I have been, someone will be employed to contact any employer you apply with and nullify all work opportunities. Should you gain employment, an accident may be arranged for you at work. Anywhere you travel, vehicles will follow you. Your children will report strange men taking pictures of them, you and your house. Your phone will be tapped. Your Internet activity will be recorded and your friends and neighbors will be visited by federal agents who refuse to identify and make vague threats of physical violence to discourage them from telling you. Eventually, everyone will abandon you unless it benefits them to associate with you, and after that benefit expires, you will be alone again. Get used to it. These people aren’t worth your time anyways.
   
You aren’t doing anything wrong. 10 US CODE §311 states specifically what your role is. It is not against the law to be in a militia. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Regardless of the title and badge, “law enforcement” is acutely aware that the Supreme Court does not require them to actually know the laws they claim you are violating and that federal prosecutors have in some cases gained convictions of individuals for things that are not crimes because police tricked them into thinking it was wrong and verbalizing it. Travis Cox, Daryl Thorn, Jason Blomgren and Corey Lequieu all were found guilty because of this! This is why they are able to be charged with Conspiracy to commit what is not actually on the books as a crime!

Training is key to success. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. To be completely honest, I often base my training on the mistakes I see SWAT and HRT make on YouTube. There is a much bigger chance that you meet uniformed police officers in battle than men who speak Russian, Arabic or Chinese. A look at what congress is up to will confirm that for anyone on either side of the political spectrum. Whether you like it or not, the stage has been set for political violence. When it comes it will be horrifying and move at lightning speed.
   
There are both right and left wing militias. There are also centrist militias. Most don’t call themselves by name. The “m word” is frowned upon because of the hysteria created by the mass media and to be honest, I somewhat agree. Imagine if people began defending the use of the word ‘militia’ and calling out the lies and propaganda the way they did when the ‘AR’ in AR-15 was declared by left wing television media to mean ‘Assault Rifle!’ (In fact, the name AR-15 stands for Armalite Rifle model number 15, as it was coined during developmental stages.) The left wing militias are not a new thing, they have been around as long as the right wing militias. They are masters of deception and will pretend to hold your same beliefs to sucker you into joining. These groups, such as 3% of Idaho, are counter productive and will support rampaging police at every turn. Most are run by retired police officers! There have been two sides to every American conflict and the militias on each side have been the main deciding factor. The people hold the power! The unorganized militia (“US VOLUNTEERS”) knocked Spain, then a world power, off the map completely in 1898. The militia beat 3 to 1 odds in a vicious war, and we did it in a few weeks. This is why congress passed the Dick Act; the politicians realized that the US Militia was more powerful than any mechanized industrial army and were in fear of what might happen should the people get sick of being told what to think, say and do! They had prohibition of many items in mind and acted on those thoughts while we were preoccupied with Germany. This mistake on our part has been repeated recently via the NDAA.

I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from joining a militia nor do I wish to slander anyone mentioned in this article. I am merely relaying my opinion based upon what I’ve witnessed and done. I do not wish for war. The thought of having to kill another American brings a sick feeling to my gut. I would much rather avoid war but have come to the realization that it is inevitable. By either foreign or domestic play, this country is doomed to violence on our soil and it will happen sooner than later. It is my intention to be prepared to defend and restore order. If we are not prepared then we have no hope.

Originally posted on Medium