Militancy in the military: military service and support for political violence and right-wing extremism.

backgroundPolitical violence constitutes an increasing threat to individual and population-level health in the United States, with military service identified as a potential risk factor. The current study examines the association between military service, combat experience, and support for and willingness to engage in political violence and approval of extremist organizations and movements.

methodsA nationally representative sample of 12,947 US adult members of the Ipsos KnowledgePanel completed the 2022 Life in America Survey. Outcomes are presented as weighted proportions and adjusted prevalence differences. The analytic sample comprised 2,255 respondents with military backgrounds; 1,105, including an augment of 415 respondents, reported combat experience.

resultsMilitary respondents were less likely than others to perceive the use of political violence "to keep our borders open" as usually or always justified (adjusted prevalence difference (aPD) -3.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI) -5.6, -0.7, q = 0.049). By contrast, they demonstrated a greater willingness to "use force or violence on your own as an individual" (aPD 5.0%, 95% CI 2.5%, 7.5%, q = .001) and to "organize a group of people who share your beliefs to use force or violence" (aPD 2.8%, 95% CI 0.7%, 4.8%, q = .029) to advance a political objective. They were also more likely to report that it would be very or extremely likely that they would be armed with a gun (aPD 6.3%, 95% CI 3.5%, 9.2%, q = .001) or carry a gun openly (aPD 6.5%, 95% CI 3.1%, 10.0%, q = .001) in a situation where they thought force or violence was justified to advance an important political objective; however, there were no differences with respect to threatening or shooting someone with a gun. Additionally, military respondents were more likely to strongly or very strongly approve of the Oath Keepers (aPD 4.1%, 95% CI 0.7%, 7.6%, q = .037). There were no significant differences by combat experience.

conclusionsGiven the modest number of differences among numerous comparisons, and the relatively small size of prevalence differences, it does not appear that military service and combat experience act as risk factors for support for and willingness to engage in political violence, or approval of extremist organizations and movements.