Officials at Fort Bliss, Texas, are investigating a soldier for his alleged ties to a neo-Nazi group, a spokeswoman confirmed to Army Times on Friday.
Pfc. Corwyn Storm Carver, 22, is suspected of belonging to the Atomwaffen Division, the Huffington Post reported on Friday, a white supremacist group whose supporters have been implicated in murders motivated by bigotry.
“The Army does not tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks,” 1st Armored Division spokeswoman Lt. Col. Crystal Boring said in a statement. “When an individual enters into the Army, they are held to the high moral and ethical standards articulated as the Army Values. We uphold those same standards.”
Journalist Nate Thayer reported allegations of Carver of holding leadership in the hate group in April, following Huffington Post stories of 11 other service members under investigation for ties to Identity Evropa, another white supremacist group.
“Commanders in the Army have the authority to employ the full range of administrative and disciplinary actions, including administrative separation or appropriate disciplinary action, against military personnel who engage in prohibited activity including supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology or causes,” Boring said.
Carver, a combat medic assigned to 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, was contacted for comment but hung up on a reporter and didn’t answer subsequent text messages, the Huffington Post reported.
A handful of reports of service members’ ties to white nationalist or supremacist groups have popped up in recent years, while a Military Times poll found that nearly a quarter of troops had seen evidence of white nationalism among their fellow troops.
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Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
