Skinheads in the service

Over at Salon.com, there’s an eye-opening article by Matt Kennard about the influx of neo-Nazis into the U.S. Army. For his article, Kennard interviewed Forrest Fogarty, an avowed neo-Nazi and Iraq War veteran, who related his story of how he was accepted into the U.S. Army (emphasis mine):

Army regulations prohibit soldiers from participating in racist groups, and recruiters are instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious tattoos. Before signing on the dotted line, enlistees are required to explain any tattoos. At a Tampa recruitment office, though, Fogarty sailed right through the signup process. “They just told me to write an explanation of each tattoo, and I made up some stuff, and that was that,” he says. Soon he was posted to Fort Stewart in Georgia, where he became part of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Fogarty’s ex-girlfriend, intent on destroying his new military career, sent a dossier of photographs to Fort Stewart. The photos showed Fogarty attending white supremacist rallies and performing with his band, Attack. “They hauled me before some sort of committee and showed me the pictures,” Fogarty says. “I just denied them and said my girlfriend was a spiteful bitch.” He adds: “They knew what I was about. But they let it go because I’m a great soldier.”

The article goes on to report that once allowed into the Army, some neo-Nazis are actively recruiting new members for the white extremist movement (emphasis mine):

Since the launch of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military has struggled to recruit and reenlist troops. As the conflicts have dragged on, the military has loosened regulations, issuing “moral waivers” in many cases, allowing even those with criminal records to join up. Veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder have been ordered back to the Middle East for second and third tours of duty.

The lax regulations have also opened the military’s doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members — with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right.

The Army’s prohibition against membership in extremist white supremacy groups was implemented in 1995, when language was added to a Department of Defense directive explicitly prohibiting participation in “organizations that espouse supremacist causes” or “advocate the use of force or violence.” An FBI report completed in 2008 also pinpointed why the white supremacist movement actively recruits military veterans – they “may exploit their accesses to restricted areas and intelligence or apply specialized training in weapons, tactics, and organizational skills to benefit the extremist movement.”

When asked about the Army’s screening process regarding white supremacists, S. Douglas Smith, an Army public affairs officer, indicated extremist tattoos alone may or may not be a reason for an individual to not be accepted into the Army, and when asked about a tattoo as obvious as a swastika, Smith said (emphasis mine), “A swastika would trigger questions,” Smith says. “But again, if the gentlemen said, ‘I like the way the swastika looked,’ and had clean criminal record, it’s possible we would allow that person in.” “There are First Amendment rights,” he adds.

First amendment rights or not, anyone with blatantly racist tattoos shouldn’t be allowed the honor of serving in any branch of the United States armed forces, because my experience has taught me that one does not get racist tattoos unless one happens to be a racist. Given the diversity within the armed forces, as well as the diverse populations members of our armed forces may come into contact with, there’s no place for white supremacists in our armed forces.