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The Militia Movement: Armed, Angry, and Invisible
North America
The North American continent has been largely free of warfare for most of the 20th century. Enemy troops have not marched openly within the borders of the United States since the 19th century; Canada likewise has not faced a threat of military invasion in well over one hundred years. While both the US and Canada have participated in several wars over the last century, and both have fallen victim to terror attacks, neither has seen real warfare on its own turf in a long time.
War has become something in most North Americans see only on the evening news, in between stories on the latest corrupt politician and the latest attractive young woman to go missing. It becomes easy to imagine war as a distant event that could never possibly threaten safe, comfortable North American homes.
Don't buy it!
In the heartland of the United States, bands of men prepare to wage war on their own country. Often referring to themselves as "free" or "constitutional" milltia, the present organizations grew out of the survivalist movements of the 1970s and 1980s, fed by an aggressive Federal gun control campaign and catastrophic mismanagement of situations like those in Waco and Ruby Ridge. Many people became convinced that the Federal Government was the enemy, and that it would come to get them any day now.
Militia organizations are diverse lot. They include religious extremists, White supremacists, tax protesters, and radical isolationists, but their common traits include xenophobia, an institutionalized sense of persecution, and refusal to recognize the authority of the United States Government. They can be found in all fifty states (and in parts of Canada), though their numbers tend to be largest in areas with disproportionate amounts of crime and poverty.
Militia membership is predominantly White, and particularly appeals to disenfranchised young men looking for a way to belong and feel important; militias commonly scout potential recruits at parades and gun shows, as well as over the Internet. Areas with recent influx of non-White or non-Christian immigrants make for especially good recruiting, as militias promise angry and alienated locals a return to an idealized vision of the past. Militias also recruit aggressively among service members leaving the US Armed Forces, particularly those who feel they were treated unfairly or passed over for promotion.
Militiamen aren't all wild-eyed, gun-stroking madmen, meeting at midnight in trailer parks and fondly wishing for Armageddon. Militias generally have excellent internal organizations, possess good equipment, and command great loyalty from their members. Many also run part- or full-time "survival camps," not unlike basic training in which recruits practice combat skills and receive indoctrination. They're also very, very good at covering their tracks; most people remain unaware of the local militia presence.
Some receive quiet support from other extremist right wing or reactionary groups, such as the Christian Identity movement or the Ku Klux Klan. Most can count on a least passive support from many of the locals, and many have sympathizers, collaborators, or sleepers in the US military or in local Government.
Fortunately for the general populace, militias rarely cooperate well with each other. Paranoia is part of their way of life, and their specific goals beyond "overthrow the Federal government" tend to be incompatible. Still, a militia could provide valuable contacts, allies, and material for characters with similar religious or social goals (or at least willing to pay lip-service to their doctrines).
Imagine a group of two dozen young men from a subculture that prizes absolute loyalty, martial prowess, and indifference in hardship. They have a strong camaraderie based on shared suffering and a violent indoctrination process. They use specific words and gestures that identify themselves as part of the group. They dress distinctively to show others who they are. And they're armed and willing to kill.
Sounds like a military platoon, doesn't it? Well-equipped and well-organized gangs resemble paramilitary groups-or militias- to no small extent, and is some cases it's hard to know where to draw the line. For example, the Aryan Brotherhood maintains strong connections with several White supremacist militias in the Midwest.
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