Number of veterans involved in violent extremist attacks jumps FOURFOLD

The number of U.S. military veterans carrying out violent strikes has quadrupled in the past 12 years, according to a government study calling for action against domestic extremist groups.

A report from the Democrat-led House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs says ex-servicemen are increasingly radicalizing and joining the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Three Percenters and other hard-line outfits.

It comes days before the midterm elections and amid mounting political divisions that have left more and more Americans — including ex-service members — concerned about the country’s direction and willing to speak their minds.

“The vast majority of the country’s approximately 18 million living veterans remain law-abiding citizens,” the study said.

But “individuals with a military background have become increasingly involved in violent extremist plots and attacks in recent years.”

In the 2000s, only about seven people of military background carried out violent extremist attacks each year. That quadrupled between 2010 and 2020 to an average of 30 per year.

Veterans are behind one-tenth of all domestic terror attacks and attacks in recent years, researchers said, in incidents that killed 314 and injured 1,978 between 1990 and 2021.

Veterans made up 15 percent of those accused of the Jan. 6, 2001 Capitol attack, part of an effort to halt certification of the election that brought Joe Biden, a Democrat, to power, the study said.

The study highlighted other ex-servicemen involved in political violence.

They include Navy veteran Ricky Shiffer, 42, who was fatally shot by police in August as he attempted to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati field office, as well as the veterans involved in the plot to assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. in 2020, to kidnap.

Ahead, Army veteran Timothy McVeigh used a fuel and fertilizer bomb to turn a federal building into a rubble grave in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people — including 19 children — and injuring nearly 700 others.

Domestic Violent Extremist (DVE) groups “target veterans for their combat experience, weapons training and leadership skills and because they provide “an air of credibility” for evading other beliefs, the report said.

Those who leave the service with a damaged track record or injured or traumatized in war zones are particularly vulnerable to hardliners — mostly far-right groups, but also religious fanatics and hardcore leftists, it said.

“There is no single path to radicalization,” the 21-page document reads.

“But there are certain risk factors, including social isolation, job insecurity, unhealed trauma, substance abuse and mental health problems, that predispose some individuals to radicalization and recruitment.”

The report called on government agencies to implement more “early prevention and intervention programs,” as well as citizenship education for active duty members and veterans — even after they leave the service.

It also urges the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to identify those at risk of radicalization and to work harder to ensure ex-servicemen receive jobs, education, housing, food and get the health care they need to thrive.

Congress is unlikely to act quickly or decisively on this issue, exposing the rifts between Democratic and Republican politicians, who often say the issue is offensive to veterans and deserves no attention.

Afghan war veteran Cole Lyle, head of the veterans’ advocacy group Mission Roll Call, said the report promotes “a dangerously inaccurate stereotype of veterans as inherently violent.”

“It also distracts the Department of Defense, the VA and the American public from pressing issues facing the veteran community — such as suicide prevention, mental health and access to care,” Lyle told DailyMail.com.

The focus on violent extremism comes at a difficult time for the military, which struggles to attract new recruits and faces a shortage of some 15,000 army soldiers and bigger problems on the road this year.

Research by the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) in July found that the number of servicemen who would advise others to enlist fell nearly 12 points to 62.9 percent between 2019 and 2021.

Three-quarters of those surveyed were in debt, more than half could not save, 61 percent struggled to pay rent and a troublesome 17 percent said they were so short on cash that they couldn’t always put enough food on the table.

Former Defense Sec. Mark Esper recently warned of the bleak military recruiting numbers, writing that only a small portion of the US is fit to serve more, as many are either overweight, take drugs, or have criminal histories.