this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2025
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chapotraphouse
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No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer
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This has been and will continue to be my line on this issue. Are trans people who served in the US military criminals and morally reprehensible? Absolutely. Do they exist at a unique intersection of having important skills for the revolutionary struggle, and having a marginalized identity that orients their energy in the right direction? Also yes, at least if the left can capitalize on them instead of liberal opportunists. The tricky thing is drawing the connection between their oppression and the historical process of imperialism which they have contributed to but could help destroy.
how much does the left current capitalize on gathering resources for the militant overthrow of the government? if people were talking like this is another context it would be disregarded as larp, but with soldiers, it's suddenly considered serious to imagine what benefits they could bring to a guerilla warfare campaign. mfw the Special Forces commando that the Mutual aid collective was able to recruit suggests allocating $9 billion to pay local partner's salaries, spend $500 million on catering for the contractors, and then fire a $2 million dollar missile at a truck seen transporting water near known police affiliated bases.
Military knowledge isnt just for offensive actions. Say it would be very important to know how to deal if fascist irregulars stage an ambush on a safe community for trans people for example?
I've been in the room while people from an org design their security strategies, and drilling to "Turn and Burn" through a near ambush, or anything resembling that is never discussed. if anything, the strategy is to not have coordinated guidance to absolve the org of liability if a member is in a self-defense shooting. members in security roles exercise their own discretion when they carry concealed weapons, and generally don't communicate if they are carrying or not.
All the US military knows how to do is blow their money in the most inefficient way imaginable and lose to insurgents. People here grossly underestimate how:
Most people in the military work in logistics and lack real combat experience, in which case they functionally bring nothing to the table that a generic worker couldn't bring as well. I met so many vets whose entire years of service boils down to "I moved boxes from point A to point B" or "I drove and repaired trucks" or "I sat on a desk and read emails." You know, like any other generic job.
The people who actually have combat experience are either serial killers who get off on the warcrimes they've committed, complete drones who do as they're told, or people with horrible PTSD who need our help more than we need theirs. In the way, this makes sense. If you're send out to commit warcrimes, the serial killers and drones will leave relatively unscathed and sleep like a baby while normal people will be haunted by what they've witnessed and committed for the rest of their days.
Obviously not top brass (although people with knowledge of military history and tactics are always useful). But knowing how to organize a division, understand military logistics, that type of concern has historically been very useful in any armed struggle.
Were most of the forces of the Russian civil war all former imperial soldiers?
Conscripts vs volunteers. Self-selects for ideology making it less of a base for proletarian revolution