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My two cents on this important article from @David_Philipps. I've been trying to tell people for years now that SOF has absolutely no special ability to resist attacks on their cognitive spaces. We have no special training to deal with this. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/us/navy-seal-adam-newbold-capitol.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
I first started noticing this during the Obama admin as I was watching Special Forces veterans (mostly on Facebook) jump onboard with clear Russian propaganda, the source was not even concealed. These were Cold Warriors, now worshipping Putin as a defender of Christianity.
It was absolutely bizarre watching people who I thought should know better salivate over a foreign dictator while they decried Obama as a usurper undermining the fabric of America. Putin was the strong white man, Obama was the secret Muslim. Their minds had been captured.
Then came Trumpism, QAnon, and you should know the rest of the story. I've written about it many times at this point, for example: https://www.radio.com/connectingvets/articles/opinion/why-veterans-believe-in-qanon-conspiracies
Quoted on it by @caitlin_reports here https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/information-war/qanon-military-veteran/
Wrote about how this is an insider threat here: https://www.radio.com/connectingvets/news/opinions-analysis/does-the-us-military-have-a-qanon-5th-column-in-the-ranks
And wrote about Special Forces members being present for the capitol insurrection here: https://www.radio.com/connectingvets/news/how-a-special-forces-meme-ended-up-on-pelosis-office-door and here: https://www.radio.com/connectingvets/news/special-forces-veteran-marched-with-insurrectionists
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend who retired out of the CIA, and he affirmed to me that Q believers are indeed in the building and present in the agency. Any type of person can end up joining a cult movement, it isn't a question of their background or IQ.
My Team Sergeant from my time in Special Forces is QAnon. My classmate and former Marine at Columbia University is QAnon. We have no special resilience against foreign propaganda or domestic conspiracy theories, full stop.
More info here in this interview I did with @_Shan_Martinez_ who interacted with many active duty soldiers who were neo-Nazis. https://www.stripes.com/podcasts/military-matters/episode-2-dealing-with-extremism-in-the-military-1.659310
