More than a week in the American-Israeli war and IranEric Roscher, an Air Force veteran, posted a YouTube video on what he describes as “the real issues surrounding sleeper cells and terrorist threats” in the United States.
The video, titled “Credible DOMESTIC Threat? FBI Warns of Attacks—Exercises/Considerations for the Prepared Citizen,” was produced by Roscher’s Florida-based company Barrel and Hatchet, which conducts military training, sells branded products and tactical gear, and produces online content. In the video, Roscher and his partners advise viewers to carry “extra mags” and “that truck gun,” while keeping “your head on the rounds.” Towards the end of the post, Roscher shows off a technique t-shirt that is being sold from one of the video’s sponsors.
The video, which is part of YouTube’s monetization program and has a total of eight ads, has been viewed more than 110,000 times. (YouTube did not respond to a request for comment.)
Barrel and Hatchet is not a militia, but the company and Roscher are part of a wider restructuring of the entire militia movement in the United States, which is less focused. appearing in the queen’s story hours and more on expensive weapons, masculine sweatshirts, and highly curated Instagram grids.
Influencers like Roscher produce expertly edited content that is widely shared among militant groups on platforms like Instagram, in an effort to promote not only their ideology but also, more importantly, links to their online stores and training sessions. On the other hand, the same militants imitate Roscher by posting their own videos and photos of weekend training sessions in the jungle, close-ups of their camo gear and rifles, and slo-mo shots of live-fire exercises. The give-and-take between these groups, and the lobbyists and military they want to emulate, marks a new era for American militias, where gaining followers and power on social media is as important as being able to hit a target from 300 yards.
Roscher and these modern militia groups, with names like the River Valley Minutemen and the Mountain State Contingency Group, have positioned themselves as emergency response organizations working to help their communities and prepare citizens to “weather the storm” — whatever, or wherever, that may be. They use real-world events like the Iran war and ice attacks against immigrant communities to spread fear, thereby increasing that fear to recruit new members.
These influencers are filling a void in the United States militancy environmentwhich has has changed a lot in recent years. And of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys to a large extent dismantled after the indictment of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, these lobbyists and groups have filled the vacuum, resulting in a decentralized network of local groups and people who support or mimic previous movements—albeit in smaller, local ways.
“What was a national movement, with groups like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters, has returned to their local and regional roots,” says Travis McAdam, a senior analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) who tracks militias and anti-government groups. “Many of them have tried to rebrand themselves as emergency preparedness support groups and have done a lot to rebuild their reputation after January 6, presenting themselves as ‘oh, we’re here to help the community.’
This is a new era of recruiting and militant influence—and it’s all happening in a social feed near you.
Militant Business
Dirty Civilian is a Tennessee-based advocacy group that describes itself as “prepared citizens who inspire and inform men capable of building strong families and resilient communities” to “weather the coming storms.” The group does not explain what the storms are, but in a YouTube video posted on Sunday, Dirty Civilian described a case where a group of vigilantes take it upon themselves to kill someone they believe to be a Levite. The Dirty Civilian channel has nearly 750,000 subscribers, and videos, which generates revenueit garnered over 100,000 views on YouTube in its first 24 hours. Many militant groups reposted the video on Instagram.
“It’s almost like a tutorial or something,” one commenter wrote under the video. “Food for thought at least.” Another commenter, using the acronym for pedophile, a term some online communities use to refer to children sleeping with children, wrote: “A show that could inspire MAP targeting? FANTASTIC.”
