Real Raw News this week had its first opportunity to speak with a Red Hat, a former U.S. Army Sergeant who had served and fought in Iraq (2 years) and Afghanistan (also 2 years), where he engaged and killed enemies he had thought threatened American interests. Since he’s requested anonymity, we’ll refer to him as “Jim.”
Jim received a few awards and medals for selfless heroism in the face of battle—decorations that now lay undisplayed in a dusty bedroom drawer. Until a few years ago, they had been displayed in custom frames on a living room wall, symbolizing his valorous pride for dutifully serving his country. In late 2019, he experienced a radical catharsis; Joseph Biden and his handlers had stolen the 2020 presidential election, and the former soldier understood he had served the wrong masters and fought in the wrong wars. The true enemy, he realized, was not in Baghdad or Moscow or Beijing, but rather in the concrete jungle of Washington D.C.
His military accolades and awards suddenly became meaningless trinkets and trivial relics, remembrances of what he now calls questionable wars he never should have fought in. Instead of braving sandstorms and slaughtering Jihadis, he should have been beheading politicians who enriched themselves with the spoils of war—lucrative kickbacks from defense contractors—while impoverishing the country. He says he ought to have been fighting “the enemy within,” a term President Trump uses in describing the Deep State.
After January 6, as the Deep State began arresting innocent patriots who peacefully visited the Capitol that fateful day, Jim inoculated himself against the dread by shunning TV news broadcasts and purging his social media feeds. Watching them, he said, boiled his blood. Still, Jim kept in touch with old Army Buddies whose hatred of the federal government mimicked his own. Jim said he had to ask his friends to limit political discourse, which caused him severe migraines and elevated blood pressure.
In February 2022, as the criminal regime started bankrolling Ukraine and bankrupting the US, Jim’s silence transitioned into a boisterous and animated advocation for jailing treasonous Deep Staters. He had reopened his social media accounts and prolifically posted about his feelings toward a feckless, malevolent government. Jim told us his bubble had burst; he could no longer linger in silence in the shadows.
Sometime in late 2023, Jim was contacted by a former soldier with whom he had served in Iraq, who told him about a growing movement to forcibly topple the Biden cabal. “From what I’ve read, that’s been happening for a while now,” Jim replied, alluding to the White Hats. But his friend, Jim recounted, said, “No, this is different.”
Jim had trepidations about joining an armed movement. He had a civilian job, and has a wife, two children, and a mortgage. Besides, he wasn’t in the best physical shape and hadn’t picked up a weapon in years, and he feared, rightfully, that if the feds learned his identity, they’d target not only him but also his family. His friend claimed the movement consisted of several thousand men—active-duty and retired military, local and state law enforcement, and members of citizen militias—and that its leader diligently protected their identities as best he could. He also told Jim the movement would financially compensate him and his family for lost wages—and provide for the family if he fell in battle.
“I was initially hesitant because I’m not a mercenary and don’t want that to be my epithet,” Jim told Real Raw News. But the more I talked to [name redacted], the more he convinced me this wasn’t soldier-of-fortune work. It was men who value the Constitution more than a person—or people—the useless powers who’re edging this country closer to globalism. He convinced me the will to act is more important than the number of pushups I can do.”
The call to arms reawakened his patriotism, but his wife reproved the notion of her aging husband marching off to fight in some quasi-war against wicked and powerful foes.
“She hates what Biden’s done to this country as much as I do, but she took some convincing. I told her I wasn’t doing this for myself, or even for her. I’m doing it for our children and their future generations down the line. If it isn’t stopped here, it may never be,” Jim said.
A month later, Jim was summoned to a clandestine meeting at a warehouse in East Texas. There he met nine “recruits” just like him—civilians who’d had prior military service and were now seeking a life of significance. They varied in age, Jim guessed, from their early 20s to his age, and their eyes were filled with determination. Also present was Jim’s friend, identified to RRN as a former Army captain, who chaired the gathering and told the men that each of them had been extensively vetted ahead of receiving an invitation. They were ordered to never publicly share what was discussed, so Jim’s depiction of the meeting was nebulous. His sparse description shows that Red Hats operate in cells, with each leader reporting directly to Col. Kurtz.
“We made a commitment, and, yes, we were told our lives could be placed in jeopardy. We were told that this was all voluntary and that we could bow out anytime. Basically, we got told we’d get a text or a call when they needed us,” Jim said.
Jim resumed his everyday life, work, wife, etc. He would sometimes stare at his burner phone for hours, as if willing it to ring, but after days, weeks, and months had elapsed without him getting a single text, he began to wonder if they’d forgotten about him. In his spare time, Jim honed his marksmanship at a local range; he had bought new rifles and handguns, spacing out the purchases to avoid becoming a noticeable blip on the ATF’s radar. They were his practice weapons. He’d been told that if summoned to action, he’d be issued gear commensurate with his assigned task.
By the time his phone rang, four months later, Jim had considered abandoning the cause in favor of living an ordinary life. His wife still gave him grief, saying she didn’t want to be widowed because of her husband’s insalubrious activities. Jim had to repeatedly remind her that inaction allowed the Deep State to flourish, to metastasize, and to spread like cancer.
The phone call, Jim told RRN, was succinct; he was again instructed to attend a covert meeting, this time at a farmhouse on a 10-acre spread of land in West Texas, where he and 11 others were given a dossier on a State Department official who had allegedly embezzled millions of taxpayer dollars and was, in fact, a prolific pedophile. The file, Jim said, was substantive and compelling, and among its pages were photographs he wished he hadn’t seen.
The men’s orders were unambiguous—terminate the subject with extreme prejudice.
Jim said they completed the “objective” three days later, but he wouldn’t name the target or say how they eliminated him.
“I wasn’t the one who took care of him,” Jim said. “I was just a lookout. I still have no remorse, no regrets, seeing what he’d done. Men like him don’t deserve trials, tribunals, whatever. There’s this line in a Star Wars movie where Mace Windu says the emperor is too dangerous to be left alive. I believe there are men out there too dangerous to be left alive, and he was one of them.”
Jim tells us he has participated in five more operations since then, but hasn’t received clearance to discuss them.
“I’m in this fight till the end, win or lose,” he said.