I swear if this godforsaken site has a struggle session over Greg Stoker, I am going to break my monitor I swear
Gonna start the struggle session because I’m gonna ask who Greg Stoker is and why anyone should care about him
Former US soldier leftist who, unlike many prominent “leftist” veterans, actually seems to regret what he did and work to redress it. I think he’s an anarchist. He’s very active in the pro-Palestine space, he was a participant in the Global Sumud Flotilla. If you saw the photo of the guy smoking at night as an “Israeli” ship moved in the background, that’s him.
I’ve been watching his youtube podcast, Colonial Outcasts, for a while. He has consistently had good analysis of imperialism and wars. It’s nice as a day-after-something-happened podcast.
I regret my time in the military… ☹️
Based, I’m talking about people like Graham Platner when I say “leftist”. Edited my comment to say “many prominent” instead of “almost all” to make that more clear.
Ohhh, gotcha!
I hadn’t caught that you were former .mil, have you checked out the YT channel Autonomous Alternative? It’s ran by a woman named Kylie, she’s a trans indigenous woman who claims to have been in 82nd airborne. She doesn’t do a lot of full length videos since 2020 or so - I assume because those take a fuckton of energy to make and she wasn’t getting enough engagement to justify it, but she seems moderately active with shorts and posts. She has some good videos on kit… or I should say they seemed that way to my untrained eye, maybe you’d know better. And fun bonus, she has a 14 part series on building your own backyard aquaponics system lol.
Edit: And this is what she had to say about Platner
graham platner for maine senate is lying. hes known for years and years that he had a nazi totenkopf on his chest. he played it off like it was a quirky thing and other shitty people kept his secret for years.
dont trust anyone vying for power. dont trust any vet whos not crippled by shame and doesnt beat themselves into the dirt for others to make up for their fractured humanity. If hes still blatantly lying about it and claiming ignorance, then what else is a lie…
I’ll have to look her up! I’m with her on the GP take, but being crippled with shame isn’t exactly going to help build a better world. Sounds like she has some personal stuff to work on maybe.
That is a great point, yeah that kind of extreme negative self talk might be motivating for a second but that is unsustainable. I wasn’t endorsing it just sharing her full post.
On closer inspection she has purged her channel quite a bit in terms of weird, vague, or low quality shorts and posts she made in like '23 '24. She looks healthy and isn’t vague-posting anymore post the time period of what she left up since Summer last year so maybe she was able to process some stuff - as you can tell I hadn’t checked on her channel in a minute.
Bit Idea: 30 year old guy who gets kicked out of PSL because they discover he did one tour with the Coast Guard when he was 18.
Goes on to get elected to office, the movie about him is called The Coastie.
Teach me to shoot better
Tips in no particular order:
Natural pause at the bottom of your exhale breath, squeeze the trigger then. Do dry fire, a lot. In the Marines we spend about a week of dry firing for several hours a day focusing on breath control, pausing to rest our muscles and not just strong arm it, all before we ever shoot live rounds. A mantis dry fire system is the bees tits for this. For handguns, get some snap caps and blind load your magazines or cylinders with a mix of live ammo and the snap caps - this will train out your flinch response to be after the gun has actually fired. Shoot with a friend who knows their stuff and can coach you. Spring for a pro coach once in a while if you can spare the money.
For slow fire, make yourself a shooting log book. When the gun fires, pick up a pen and mark in the book where on the target you were aiming the moment it went off, then mark where it actually hit. This can help you iron out the fundamentals, and if you know your weapon you can diagnose if something is wrong.
Get yourself the tried and true guns (ar-15 in 5.56 NATO and a striker fired 9mm from reputable brands - if you want specific recs, just ask) don’t waste your time on chasing the latest bang wiz or coolest nostalgia trapt. And iron sights are good to train the fundamentals on, there’s nothing wrong with them. I feel as though learning on iron sights can help you build awareness of your muscle control and fundamentals a lot easier.
Also, get your eyesight checked and get glasses if you need them.
Thanks. These bases are covered for me but appreciate the tips. Except the log book I don’t want hw
Ah he sounds chill then. Not sure what the struggle session would be about. Bad people are allowed to try to be good and make up for their past mistakes, it’s part of being human. We can critically support when good things happen and have nuanced takes on people when it’s required
‘veteran first’ we’re so oppressed belly-aching loser
Stop trusting these fucking freaks, they’re always like this. Chauvinistic to the core
But comrade, he’s talking about healthcare, like I’m team hehe let the settlers die but actually, maybe have some empathy for uh, human beings
like I dunno, maybe people with ptsd can access help and not kill their families?
why would veterans be “first” and why are we using Trumpian “X First” chauvinistic language?
I actually think the mercenaries who have been given lots of compensation by the US government already are actually last, not first, and already receive preferential treatment despite being murderers. They don’t need MORE preferential treatment in a country that worships them. The slobjob over veterans is for losers.
How is he related to Bram?
Stoker is a G. His Colonial Outcast podcast on YouTube is outstanding with consistently good takes (not always, but most of the time). He has at least one recurring guest on his show (Elina Xenophontos) who is very clearly a Marxist of some sort and she delivers some of the best geopolitical analysis I’ve heard.
Greg is a comrade through and through IMO. And like someone else in this thread mentioned, yes we should shame people that join the military, but just like Aaron Bushnell, there’s no shame in leaving it and no reason for it to permanently blackmark you if you do something better with your life.
RIP Bushnell
It doesn’t have to be a bad mark forever but it doesn’t mean someone has to be given power either. I don’t know enough about this specific guy to know what he has done to make amends, but if one of the first things they do is try to run for any sort of office before rebuilding trust (Platner), they do not deserve anyone’s support. If anything, they should be using their position to siphon support to someone from a community they’ve harmed.
Here’s a good vid of his efforts.
He also helped organise the veterans Gaza flotilla boat and got arrested/deported by the Israeli terrorists occupation army.
He’s been a very outspoken critical of the Pissreal occupation and a bit supporter of Gaza/Palestine.
So he has done nothing other than making a podcast and using his status for patreon and using “ChInA”, “RuSsIa”, and “IrAn” as some bullshit talking points and push for even more valorization of veterans. He isn’t in Afghanistan submitting himself to their people
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/austin-activist-greg-stoker-released-160911335.html
his websites got some weird christian vibes, he’s obviously got some work to do, but he’s better than the dems, not that voting makes a big difference
Core Priorities:
Veterans First
Those who have served our country deserve our highest support—access to benefits, healthcare, and opportunities to thrive.
lol of course
service guarantees citizenship
The other three core priorities are …
Affordable housing, affordable healthcare and no more foreign wars. That doesn’t seem so bad.
And if I have to play the “lesser of two evils game”, having a lefty type (who openly calls the USA’s military an imperial force for evil in the world) giving the not-so-chudy veterans someone other than the openly fascist Republican party candidate or the not-so-openly fascist Democratic party candidate to vote for… probably not the worst thing in the world.
This comment right here is the magnum opus of western leftism, nothing describes it better than “yes he was an American soldier in Afghanistan, who tells everyone about it first thing first, who proudly displays his badges, who was this close to joining the CIA, who is still in contact with active soldiers, but he wants affordable housing and healthcare”.
magnum opus
You’re too kind.
Hasan will scold you for not voting for him
Yeah I’m usually in agreement with Hasan, while this site feels almost- evenly split on opinions of him overall? But the way he kept proclaiming support for Platner and dismissing critique of that position by being like, “oh okay sure fine we’re all voting for Susan Collins now /s” felt like a refusal to engage in important criticism.
Aaron Bushnell was also a US veteran wasn’t he ?
I don’t get the western left’s obsession with this ,and it’s never us
I definitely hate people who enter the US army but I don’t hate people who leave it
I’m not a westerner
didn’t say you were
I think it is fair to interpret “and it’s never us” as implying the OP is a westerner
didn’t mean to
A lot of people who leave the US army never really do anything to atone for their time in it or they continue to support structures that empower the military. In these discussions, it’s always a divide between people who want actual rehabilitation and restitution for the affected populations vs. people (typically from groups unaffected by the military) for whom “they feel bad and said they’re sorry” is good enough to earn their forgiveness and elevate them to positions of power.
The former was Aaron Bushnell, who at least based on his final action, we can assume would have worked to dismantle the military industrial complex. The latter was the Graham Platner situation, as he was someone who still showed support for the military overall and advocated for positions that would necessitate the use of the military to exploit other nations.
I can only speak to the US perspective on this but over here there’s this obnoxious and everpresent culture of lionization around former/current military personnel and some of the western left’s fixation has to be a reaction to it.
I mean like, every small town has a street lined with banners similar to those in pic related and its like… Theres some guys who lived here who took a job with the government? And how much money did this town get scammed out of to do this? Between that and the “stand for the flag, kneel for the cross” shit that’s everywhere I’m sick of it.
we have something similar except its for real heroes and there’s no equivalent to kneeling to a cross
I think if you needed 4 goes around to figure out that:
- killing innocent men women and children halfway across the world to further enrich your overlords
- stealing the populations farmland to grow heroin
Is bad, you should die and I hope thats not a controversial opinion.
Not sure if context matters, but a “tour” in a combat deployment isn’t the same as an “enlistment” term.
A tour is the ammount of separate times they went to grow heroin and kill innocents no?
Oh, you’ve got me there, I am very very owned.
Here’s a photo of me as corn cob for your photo collection.
I’ll be sure to put it to good use.
Did Aaron Bushnell run as a Democrat politician and keep harping on about how good the US military was and how the pwoor vets are the real victims? No? Then why is that a relevant comparison
I legit don’t even know who the guy op referencing is ,I am just stating my opinion
here’s him showing off a picture he has hanged on his wall of him and his buddies in Afghanistan
A Red Sails post (or something like that- unfortunately can’t recall which) talks a bit about the military/statecraft as being similar to gangs - and that’s made a lot of sense to me. Similar recruitment tactics and preying on the vulnerable, and a similar level of disregard for life for those in it when they stop being useful. And the generational trauma and indoctrination that keeps topping up the ranks with new rubes.
My family have a long line of hillbillies who enlisted at various points or were drafted. And let me tell you - they’re all pretty mentally broken! Either took lives, or saw lots of other people die. Fortunately, my grandpa taught me how ashamed he was to be involved in the Korean invasion and why he opposed violence. And if I didn’t learn from that - my other relatives enlistments resulted in: everyone in their unit dying from an IED but them, family strife resulting in a suicide, spouse leaving them for their CO (that one kinda makes me laugh unfortunately), permanent spine injury, severe asthma from exhaust, and a boatload of anger issues!
Don’t enjoy being the one to break the generational trauma cycle (in terms of therapy efforts) but worth it so
no other relatives everI can tell everyone to never join the military.Most depressing thing was when I did a mentorship program with an “inner-city” school during trump 1, and they were all joking about how they’d probably get sent to war with china in their lives. Nothing like economic precarity to provide grist for the mill!
Fucking beast that preys on the poor, I tell ya. It’s all bad folks!
Edited to state that no one should join the military- not just my relatives
Edit 2: not 100% sure this was the article but matches somewhat with the Tupac interview portion of it: masses elites and rebels- red sails)
This happens to be essentially what rap legend Tupac Shakur did in a 1995 interview:
(Knowing what you know, what do you think about youth and gang violence in America? Especially in the Black communities and Hispanic communities using gang violence…)
I think… um, I think I’m gonna get a lot of flak for it. I think gangs can be positive. It just has to be organized and has to steer away from being self-destructive to being self-productive. I think this country was built on gangs and, you know, I think this country still is run on gangs. Republicans, Democrats, the police department, the FBI, the CIA… those are gangs, you know what I mean? The correctional officers. I had a correctional officer tell me straight-up “We’re the biggest gang in New York State.” Straight-up, you know what I mean? This whole country is built on gangs, we just have to not be so self-destructive about it. Organized, you know?
(But the violence…)
The violence? But it’s violence in America. What did the USA just do, flying to Bosnia? We ain’t got no business over there, you know what I mean? It’s the same thing. How can they tell us not to have gangs. You know what gang violence is, mostly? And the people don’t want you to hear this. Somebody shoots your family member, so of course you retaliate. You know what I mean? Same thing the U.S. does, except nobody even shot their family members, you know? They see somebody bomb a school and all these people get killed, so the United States is like “Oh, that’s messed up, we’ve got to go show them who’s the real killers.” The same mentality these gangsters get, you know what I mean? So until they stop that mentality we won’t stop. Or they won’t stop, because they watch this country to see what they do. America is the biggest gang in the world, you know what I mean? Look at how they didn’t agree with Cuba, so what did they do? Cut ‘em off. That’s what we’re doing the street: we block things off.
I want to say stop the violence. I want to say the violence ain’t good…
(Why can’t you say that?)
Because that’s not realistic! I know it’s not good. If anybody will speak up against violence, it’ll be the brother that got shot five times. I got shot twice all up in my… trust me, violence ain’t cool. And they know violence ain’t cool! Ain’t nobody out there with a gun saying it’s “cool” to be shooting people. It’s just, you know, in certain situations where there is no way out… But there are situations where we can find the way out. But until we find that way out we can’t say not to live this lifestyle. [33]
Thank you for sharing this personal perspective, I have been trying to delve how the Boomer generation of my extended family have been more impacted than they let on or even realize by being raised by people who fought in WWII had an uncle in Korea or a cousin in Vietnam. I don’t have anything to add but I wanted to give you a shout out because you’ve added to my toolkit for developing these thoughts.
Yeah I’ve done therapy where they explore generational trauma to reflect on things like anger, suppressing emotion, and being unable to connect in relationships; and it’s really shone a light on how fucked up the past was (in terms of family members dying of polio, and generally having kids for the purpose of labor) and why the fight for a better world is so important
I am thinking of fewer directly participating individuals and no one laterally in my generation, compared to what you’re describing, but nonetheless I immediately copped what you were talking about. Shout out to your pop-pop, that’s pretty brave for him to say and it sounds like it helped you avoid making the same enlistment decisions as other kin. I really ought to look in to therapy options, or at least theory around generational trauma.Yeah the biggest factor was, no doubt, that I’m in the first generation that just went to college instead. But yeah i kinda assumed that side of the family were Quakers or something with how anti war they are - which is very cool and good considering the alternative
Did Greg Stoker do something bad recently?
You should probably ask all the communities he helped terrorize and murder, or was that to long ago for you to care?
Hence “recently”. I’m aware he was a soldier, he doesn’t make a secret of it. Obviously that’s bad and the harm he did can’t be undone. I was asking if there was some new information that would cause a struggle-session.
Him invading Afghanistan and murdering is pretty recent, but the new information is he is leveraging his veterans status (which americans cum over and throw patreon bucks at) to try to get elected to push for even more benefits for murders (while still throwing China, Russia and Iran under the bus)
I wish him everything I recently wished on that other asshole. Fuck every veteran, whoever you are, if you don’t act like you deserve death for your service, then you’re not a good leftist.
What if it was Greg Stroker
