this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2025
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[–] azalea_simsii@lemmygrad.ml 79 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

i still cannot understand how this many so called “leftists” were/are so eager to whitewash a dude that proudly mentions going on 3 tours to iraq AND being a blackwater pmc??? like what do you even believe in at this point, this is such an easy grifter to clock what not reading theory does to a mf

[–] Adkml@hexbear.net 52 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Idk if this is a hot take or not but leftists expecting the military to develop class consciousness and fight the revolution for them feels an awful lot like liberals constantly waiting for a lifelong member of one of the three letter agencies to throw the book at Trump.

Noone is coming to save us, including a lot of the people who constantly reassure us they have our back. The only way progress will be accomplished is if we specifically work for it. And as somebody who's neighbors would gladly crucify me if they knew my political beliefs it frustratingly feels increasingly like the only work to be done is trying to make sure the people I love have enough material support to weather the descent.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 13 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Devil's advocate take: Don't we need a bunch of ex-military to flip to our side if we hope to have a successful revolution? How do we convince these types to join us and find the 9nes that aren't tattooing cringe shit on their chests?

DSA Electoral Committee be like: Take off your shirt

[–] plinky@hexbear.net 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

hint 1: they don't talk about being a troop.

hint 2: they've ventilated couple of ceo or volunteered with un education program as non-violent atonement

yeah, in revolution-revolution military experience might be necessary, but more relevant would be leaked design docs of drones, jamming info and backdoors. like tacticool shit is irrelevant, if your enemy is willing to use airpower.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's true. I'm also thinking of the tactical advantage having military guys on our side gives us. Too many burgerbrains worship anything with troops and see one of them get gunned down by fascist drones could radicalize a lot of people.

[–] plinky@hexbear.net 9 points 2 weeks ago

i mean ice arrested some vets, to crickets, so (?) on that. the best advantage is advertising against joining military tbh, and draining the coffers of amerikkka through spurious va claims. it's kinda whatever, i struggle to imagine revolution where combined arms experience is relevant, that would have to be some kind of geographical split. the left either controls the food or not in revolution of that scale and be willing to vietcong their way through bombing (again, seems unlikely).

the denial of profits is another way to starve the beast, to me seems likelier route

[–] redchert@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 week ago

Logistical workers are FAR more important than vets. Ports, Railway, Bridges, Warehouses, Highways, IXP, Power Lines is where the system is most fragile.

[–] WildWeezing420@hexbear.net 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

difference between 'flip to our side' and 'be propped up as an elected representative that we siphon our resources into their personal career project' don't you think?

Why can't these repentant vet types ever shut the fuck up and get in line? If they are so eager to join the left, then do it and shut up. they don't need to be front and center. They don't need to be congratulated. They don't need to be our representatives.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

That would be nice. Is he even in an org or just doing Dem party stuff?

[–] WildWeezing420@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Dem party stuff with Justice Democrats/Bernie's Apparatus/DSA behind him

[–] Dimmer06@hexbear.net 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Tbf to DSA they haven't actually endorsed him or supported him in any official capacity. From what I heard there is a heated debate in the chapter about supporting him and national won't get involved without the chapter endorsing him.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

But he's not himself a member of any left org, even DSA. Yeah he's cooked

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)
  1. Most troops lack real combat experience and are gears within the logistics of the imperialist machine known as the US military. They are no different from any other civilian worker, in which case, why roll out the red carpet for them? I know a vet whose entire service could be summed as being a warehouse worker in a base in Germany. We can find plenty of warehouse workers, some of them organized into unions, without having to specifically target vets.

  2. The troops with actual combat experience are either serial killers who got off of committing warcrimes, drones who do as they're fucking told which amounts to committing warcrimes, and normal people who are completely broken inside from PTSD because they were either forced to commit warcrimes or watch the first two groups commit warcrimes without doing anything to stop them.

The US soldier who simultaneously has substantial combat experience that they can pass down to civilians, doesn't suffer from PTSD or any other ailments that would lead them to receiving help instead of giving help, and has been sufficiently radicalized to become a genuine anti-imperialist leftist, doesn't exist in meaningful numbers, so none of our organizing should factor in what is essentially rounding error. If a unicorn vet who's actually legit falls on our laps from the sky, great, but we shouldn't structure our organizing to specifically target them.

[–] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You just made me think about how Dr Jared Ball is literally a 1 in a billion guy. They don't make them like that very often, generally.

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago

And even for him, his military experience is being stuck in an aircraft carrier as a sailor. How much has his stuck-in-an-aircraft-carrier experience translate to on-the-ground organizing? It really doesn't, certainly not enough that justifies the way many people make fools out of themselves by practically rolling out the red carpet for vets with almost no tactical^TM^ combat experience. Ball is cool for the other stuff he did. All his navy experience did was "introduced to an appreciation for reading and studying history," presumably because serving in an aircraft carrier that never goes to port is mind-numbingly boring.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

These are good points. Maybe this needs to be a separate thread at this point, but I'm wondering why in the past the only successful revolutionary movements required guys with guns and how the military differed in places like China to allow a revolution to happen? Is this a universal thing and we have to build forces from within, because honestly I see 99.9% of conrades will not, or should not, pick up a rifle anytime soon.

This is a US take so maybe things are different where you live.

[–] redchert@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 week ago

People with military experience will join a successful revolution anyways. They will come. But the successful revolution comes first.

[–] smokeppb@hexbear.net 35 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Big desire for dem socs to have a veteran to point to and say "look the troops love us".

There's also an archetype of the "disillusioned veteran" looming around American Leftist circles because it's good to have guys with guns around your party and everyone loves a turnaround story.

[–] WildWeezing420@hexbear.net 22 points 2 weeks ago

disillusioned vets are more likely to do a mass shooting than join a leftist organization without intention to grift

[–] ConcreteHalloween@hexbear.net 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

To me the fact this guy was a Blackwater dude makes this shit even more fucking ridiculous.

I'm sure there are some genuine "turnaround stories" with vets out there. But I don't think any of them would join fucking Blackwater after.

[–] smokeppb@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago

Yeah the Blackwater thing should have been the red line there not this tattoo shit

[–] ConcreteHalloween@hexbear.net 26 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This is literally the first time I've heard of this dude, what leftists were glazing him?

[–] stink@lemmygrad.ml 17 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)
[–] ConcreteHalloween@hexbear.net 19 points 2 weeks ago

I'm shocked! Like Hasan's dog allegedly.

[–] RNAi@hexbear.net 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Lol this case doesn't require any kind of literacy

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

Plus one to Afghanistan as member of national guard...