Thread by @daniellamyoung

Hey Y'all, gonna step out of my regular programming today, to talk about this new @MilitaryTimes article on extremism in the military.

I can do what no other intelligence professional can--give you inside information on Maj William Jeffery Poole because I'm his ex-wife.

The moment I opened my email this February, expecting to see another request to cooperate in the clearance update for my ex-husband, & instead saw a request to cooperate in a military tribunal against him--for white supremacy--it all made sense.

Like the trained intelligence professional I became well after meeting him, I could immediately see that the indicators were there all along. The narcissism, the bent towards violence, the need for total control, the way he chose me because I was 'perfect', but never said why.

Jeff wanted to be a part of a group so badly. As a graduate student focused on group behavior, I can see that, now. But that came off as a need to control, to scorn, to be better than. To be perfect. To prove himself a real man.

As a teenager, he struggled with his sexuality and overly religious, conservative parents, until he'd just gone off the deepend. Even though I think he was happier being gay, the life of a straight, tough Texas fraternity boy--with cars, money, girls & power--appealed to him.

So he switched. Like so many people from less than perfect home lives, he went inside himself & tried to lock his true self away, putting on other personalities that they liked better. And like so many teenagers from troubled pasts, he dreamed of the Army.

Once in the Army, holding a lifelong commission from POTUS (sounds impressive but is not that hard to do), he was everything commanders wanted to see--tall, dark, handsome, square-jawed & green-eyed, and white. and male. He was combat arms, the hallowed golden God.

And he could run. Not as fast as his young 2LT wife mind you, but I think he hoped nobody would ever find out.

Commanders looked at that--at his commanding presence, his booming voice, his no nonsense attitude, his marksmanship & his "I'm from Texas" & they loved it. Of course they did.

I don't know much after I divorced him. When I tried to leave him, he threatened my career--breaking laws and values to try to force me out of the Army, hoping I would be dependent on him. I didn't want to hurt him. I just wanted to be free. I'd fought my way out of a cult...

I was investigated, and he was fine. He got everything and had ensured all the debt of our ill-advised romance had ended up in my name--the dumb cult-girl who didn't know how to manage anything.

Fortunately, I had found the Army too. Like many children from troubled backgrounds, the Army gave me what I needed to have the strength to walk away from him. To sever all ties.

I was able to walk away. When I sit down & write it all now, I see how fortunate I was. How he was grooming me for abuse. How, having been abused & indoctrinated into extremism my whole childhood in a cult, I couldn't see it for what it was. I got lucky. I was fine.

But, when this news broke, the news about Major William Jeffery Poole being an avowed & self-proclaimed white supremicist, one who called for the violent overthrow of America & fratricide of his superiors, everyone asked me "How? How does someone this extreme go so high?"

I just know we have to be able to see it better than that. We know the problem. We know the kinds of people the military often promotes to the detriment of a well-rounded or 'woke' force. We walk along right into the bang, & wonder what happened, but the indicators were there.

militarytimes.com/news/your-mili…