it is impossible to see Kyle Rittenhouse's posture, the way he holds his weapon, his backward coyote hat, his green tee-shirt, photos of him in 5.11 gear, and not see the pervasive influence of endless war.

It is not just the police who are militarized, it is our country

there is perhaps no single symbol as potent and as ubiquitous in American life as the silhouette of an American service member -- the kevlar helmet, the bulk of a coyote flak jacket, the weapon at the low ready, rolled sleeves, mechanics gloves, desert boots

this is an image consciously adopted not just by police officers, but by civilians on rifle ranges and in every day life

but it isn't just the attire, the tactical chic style, that is being mirrored, it is an attitude, an ethos

"warrior culture" isn't just a masculine identity, it is an attitude of power and violence -- an attitude about who should be in power, and who should not, and that unrestrained violence is how that power structure ought to be enforced and maintained

we should not then be in anyway surprised when a young white man, dressed in the vestments of a "warrior," raised in a culture of endless wars, takes it upon himself to patrol out from his home and enact violence upon brown skinned people he sees as threats to white supremacy

Rittenhouse enacted a ritual so familiar to me, as a veteran of Afghanistan, a ritual that our foreign policy has demanded of our military for decades -- to go out and enforce compliance by means of violence

that he did so without the shield of "law" does not negate that we have modeled this behavior endlessly, especially for young men. We have promoted it, glorified it, and set it as the pinnacle of the masculine experience in our society.

Of course this was bound to happen.

American wrote the playbook. Rittenhouse just acted it out.