>When police raided Vehvilainen’s accommodation in Sennybridge Camp, Powys, in September 2017 they found swastika flags, Nazi memorabilia, CDs of Third Reich music and stockpiles of knives, guns and other weaponry. Fellow neo-Nazi terror plotter Ethan Stables, who planned a massacre at a gay pride event in the same year, attempted to join the British Army, but told police he was turned down because of his mental health issues. The Intelligence and Security Committee report said the MI5-led Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) assessed that military experience was “a source of legitimacy” among far-right terrorist groups and that members may seek to gain training from the reserves.
Article potentially makes an interesting point but totally ruins it by then listing all the neo-nazi nutters who were prevented from joining an organisation which by and large successfully screens out the mentally ill or psychologically unfit for service (ie most followers of extreme political ideologies). That would imply they’re largely succeeding in keeping them out of HM Forces would it not?
Political extremists are part of the society we live in and a problem largely not of the Army’s making. They are right to have clearance procedures, security around weaponry, and a basic understanding of what radicalisation looks like, but I think the article doesn’t provide that context.
Flagging them as mentaly ill and thus not able to join the military. So the system works?
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>When police raided Vehvilainen’s accommodation in Sennybridge Camp, Powys, in September 2017 they found swastika flags, Nazi memorabilia, CDs of Third Reich music and stockpiles of knives, guns and other weaponry. Fellow neo-Nazi terror plotter Ethan Stables, who planned a massacre at a gay pride event in the same year, attempted to join the British Army, but told police he was turned down because of his mental health issues. The Intelligence and Security Committee report said the MI5-led Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) assessed that military experience was “a source of legitimacy” among far-right terrorist groups and that members may seek to gain training from the reserves.
Article potentially makes an interesting point but totally ruins it by then listing all the neo-nazi nutters who were prevented from joining an organisation which by and large successfully screens out the mentally ill or psychologically unfit for service (ie most followers of extreme political ideologies). That would imply they’re largely succeeding in keeping them out of HM Forces would it not?
Political extremists are part of the society we live in and a problem largely not of the Army’s making. They are right to have clearance procedures, security around weaponry, and a basic understanding of what radicalisation looks like, but I think the article doesn’t provide that context.
Flagging them as mentaly ill and thus not able to join the military. So the system works?