Former Army Ranger pushes back against claims of 'extremism in the military'

Former Army Ranger, Jariko Denman, recently spoke with Fox News about the Pentagon’s search for extremism in the military. The hunt for extremists in the ranks came after a number of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capital on Jan 6 of last year were found to have ties to the military.

Following the insurrection, Secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin signed a memorandum directing officers across all branches of service to conduct a one day stand down in the 60 days following the memo’s distribution.

According to the Pentagon, military leaders were to use that day to focus on “the importance of our oath of office; a description of impermissible behaviors; and procedures for reporting suspected, or actual, extremist behaviors.”

The Pentagon on Monday issued new guidelines meant to root out extremism in the U.S. military, warning that "liking" white nationalist and extremist content on social media and similar activities could result in disciplinary action. https://t.co/RQIwPKRT2e

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 21, 2021

Denman, who retired from the Army as a Master Sergeant after 20 years of service, said that racism is more frequently exhibited by new, young recruits from less diverse backgrounds. He also said that the prejudices and bigotries that service members bring with them are almost always stomped out after “joining the military’s melting pot.”

“People come from all walks of life to come to the military,” Denman said. “People that came in with some of those views – they were racist, they were sexist, they were homophobic – it didn’t take long for them to lose it.”

The Pentagon was advised last year by the FBI that there were 143 investigations launched focused on veterans and active duty service members. 68 of those investigations involved domestic extremism.

The year prior, the The Military Times conducted a survey which found that 36% of its readers had witnessed “evidence of white supremacist and racist ideologies in the military.” This percentage was up from 22% in the previous year.

In a previous investigation, Fox News found very little evidence of extremism in the military. Fox News also points out that the Pentagon, in spite of its concerns, is yet to report on evidence of military extremism or environments that cultivate it.

Denman agrees: “Seeing all these people of all walks of life, different races, different creeds, different sexual orientations, all this, doing great things together and then to have our government come in and say ‘the military has an extremism problem,’ it’s a slap in the face.”

This month, the Pentagon released its new “Equity Action Plan.” The plan intends to “establish a holistic strategy for continuing to cultivate enduring and equitable change.” The plan is part of a bigger initiative “to identify potential barriers that underserved communities and individuals face,” according to the report.