Trigger
It has been twelve years, eight months, and sixteen days since I swore my first oath to defend the Constitution. It has been eleven years, eight months, and one day, since my first firefight. It has been nine years and nine days since the last time someone I knew died in combat. It has been eight years, eleven months, and five days since my last firefight. I have grown old in the midst of violence. I have come to know the crack and snap of bullets flying, the thud and gut punch of bombs exploding, the sting of spent gunpowder in the air. And because of this, I knew fear before I knew courage.
I doubt anyone who was in Pulse that night will read this, but just in case, I want you to know that I cannot fathom the horror of that night. That nightmare space of death and gunpowder was supposed to be between combatants. Between willing participants. Combat should never be thrust on the unwilling. I know that night will haunt the victims forever. And I grieve for that injustice.
I see what is being said throughout the media and throughout the digital world. As a gay man, I do not feel like I am personally under attack. As a Soldier, I do not feel as though the attack at Pulse is a surprising development. It is terrible, it is tragic, it is heartbreaking, but it is not surprising.
Violent Extremist Ideology is best thought of as a virus. It does not need a command and control network to function. It needs a host. The current mutation of the virus preys on hosts who check a number of boxes in terms of contributing factors. In certain regions of the world, VEI tends towards groups, while in others, such as in America, VEI will target individual hosts in order to carry out individual attacks. Some strains of the virus prefer educated hosts, others seek out uneducated. But the virus itself follows the same basic course. The initial infection will usually result in the host attempting to fulfill the strictest interpretations of a religion. They will seek out the greater narrative of their infection, that is to say, they are an oppressed minority, that their god is on their side, and that their minority will be destroyed if they do not fight. That final turn in the infection introduces the verbiage of war and conflict into the religious vocabulary the host uses. Finally, the idea that faith unsubstantiated by work is no faith at all pushes the host towards committing violent acts. In this state, the host will abandon the biological imperative, eating and sleeping only to sustain the singular objective of carrying out violence on behalf of the VEI. In an environment in which command and control is present, such as in the form of a Violent Extremist Organization, this stage can be managed. However, without the presence of a VEO, the host will move directly towards committing usually a single attack. It has been my experience that even after a major infection, a host can still be cured. Replacing the narrative, removing the host from the environment that contributed to the infection, and a sustained program of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration can destroy the virus. Further, efforts to stop the spread of VEI must focus on denigrating the power of the narrative while simultaneously shutting of means of transmission. Reducing contributory factors such as poverty, violence, illiteracy may also assist in ending transmission in developing countries. Further, connecting potential hosts to a support network in order to heal the true underlying factors that would drive a person to violence would ultimately deny the VEI a host.
We, as a nation, must appeal to the angels of our better nation. We must resist the urge to paint in broad strokes entire communities or religions. We must resist the urge to violate our own laws and social norms in order to expedite our own safety. We continue to offer equal justice and equal protection. Now, more than ever, we must reach into our very souls and hold fast to what is good, what is decent, what is righteous, and we must never let that go. We must dedicate ourselves anew to the long task remaining, that we will build a better world, a better government, a better society. That we will cast off fear and throw open the doors of liberty. We will suffer tragedy again, so long as this ideology exists, but we must never allow it gain control of our democracy through fear.
I doubt anyone who was in Pulse that night will read this, but just in case, I want you to know that I cannot fathom the horror of that night. That nightmare space of death and gunpowder was supposed to be between combatants. Between willing participants. Combat should never be thrust on the unwilling. I know that night will haunt the victims forever. And I grieve for that injustice.
I see what is being said throughout the media and throughout the digital world. As a gay man, I do not feel like I am personally under attack. As a Soldier, I do not feel as though the attack at Pulse is a surprising development. It is terrible, it is tragic, it is heartbreaking, but it is not surprising.
Violent Extremist Ideology is best thought of as a virus. It does not need a command and control network to function. It needs a host. The current mutation of the virus preys on hosts who check a number of boxes in terms of contributing factors. In certain regions of the world, VEI tends towards groups, while in others, such as in America, VEI will target individual hosts in order to carry out individual attacks. Some strains of the virus prefer educated hosts, others seek out uneducated. But the virus itself follows the same basic course. The initial infection will usually result in the host attempting to fulfill the strictest interpretations of a religion. They will seek out the greater narrative of their infection, that is to say, they are an oppressed minority, that their god is on their side, and that their minority will be destroyed if they do not fight. That final turn in the infection introduces the verbiage of war and conflict into the religious vocabulary the host uses. Finally, the idea that faith unsubstantiated by work is no faith at all pushes the host towards committing violent acts. In this state, the host will abandon the biological imperative, eating and sleeping only to sustain the singular objective of carrying out violence on behalf of the VEI. In an environment in which command and control is present, such as in the form of a Violent Extremist Organization, this stage can be managed. However, without the presence of a VEO, the host will move directly towards committing usually a single attack. It has been my experience that even after a major infection, a host can still be cured. Replacing the narrative, removing the host from the environment that contributed to the infection, and a sustained program of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration can destroy the virus. Further, efforts to stop the spread of VEI must focus on denigrating the power of the narrative while simultaneously shutting of means of transmission. Reducing contributory factors such as poverty, violence, illiteracy may also assist in ending transmission in developing countries. Further, connecting potential hosts to a support network in order to heal the true underlying factors that would drive a person to violence would ultimately deny the VEI a host.
We, as a nation, must appeal to the angels of our better nation. We must resist the urge to paint in broad strokes entire communities or religions. We must resist the urge to violate our own laws and social norms in order to expedite our own safety. We continue to offer equal justice and equal protection. Now, more than ever, we must reach into our very souls and hold fast to what is good, what is decent, what is righteous, and we must never let that go. We must dedicate ourselves anew to the long task remaining, that we will build a better world, a better government, a better society. That we will cast off fear and throw open the doors of liberty. We will suffer tragedy again, so long as this ideology exists, but we must never allow it gain control of our democracy through fear.
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