'No longer a priority': Critics wonder why 'extremist' US soldier remains in the reserves

A former North Carolina National Guard member remains in reserve status — part of a pool of soldiers on standby for deployment — more than 18 months after the Army initiated an investigation into his extremist activities, Raw Story has learned.

The Army Human Resources Command opened an investigation on Christopher Woodall in September 2023 after Raw Story confirmed that while serving in the National Guard, he organized a “white nationalist” paramilitary group that held at least one weekend training in rural North Carolina. The report also revealed that Woodall used a Telegram channel to recruit for the group while claiming his experience included “running a state for the KKK”, or Ku Klux Klan, and demonstrating with the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group.

After leaving the National Guard in April 2023, Woodall went into the Individual Ready Reserve with a four-year service obligation through 2027. The reserve may be mobilized during natural disasters or in times of national crisis, as was the case during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Army completed its investigation of Woodall, now 36, in late 2024, Maj. Heba Bullock, a spokesperson for the Human Resources Command, told Raw Story. Woodall remains in reserve status, but Bullock indicated that could change once the Army notifies him of the outcome of its probe.

The Army is unable to disclose that outcome without Woodall’s consent, Bullock said. Once that is obtained, likely in about a month, she would be able to reveal if he remains on reserve.

Bullock indicated it was doubtful Woodall would be deployed in the meantime.

“If they got in trouble, they’d be flagged, pending the outcome of the investigation,” she said. “The next steps would be to notify them if they’re going to be processed for separation. Those that are marked for any type of flagged status won’t be sent to serve in any capacity.”

Woodall could not be reached for comment for this story.

Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told Raw Story the Army’s process did not need to be so slow.

“I don’t understand for the life of me why this hasn’t been concluded, and he hasn’t been tossed out,” Beirich said. “The evidence is so clear. What is taking so long to settle this? He’s clearly dangerous. He shouldn’t be affiliated with the military in any way whatsoever.”

Guidance issued by the Department of Defense “expressly prohibits military personnel from actively advocating supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes or actively participating in such organizations.”

When Woodall was recruiting for his whites-only paramilitary group, he was also serving in the North Carolina National Guard, which can be called upon to respond to natural disasters and quell riots. His service overlapped with employment as a detention officer at the Greensboro Jail, from September 2020 to February 2022. Telegram chats reviewed by Raw Story showed that while Woodall was working at the jail, he was also organizing a chapter of a far-right group, the American Guard, that was closely aligned with the Proud Boys neo-fascist gang.

Woodall told Raw Story he was suspended from the detention officer job by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office after getting into a fistfight resulting from a road rage incident. He was charged with misdemeanor simple affray, but local prosecutors dropped the charge.

Woodall said he left the sheriff’s office voluntarily because he didn’t appreciate how he was “treated by leadership” and found the job stressful.

In the private chat Woodall used to organize the paramilitary group, he made no secret that it was meant for white people.

“As stated before, I run a white nationalist training group here in Central Carolina,” he wrote in March 2023. “We train in firearms, combat tactics, gear setup, medical care, homesteading and general orientation of your favorite flavor of SHTF.”

Contacted by Raw Story, Woodall said “SHTF” — an acronym for “s--- hits the fan” was “a generalization” for preparing “for a societal collapse.”

In a post to his TikTok channel, Woodall used the phrase “RaHoWa.” A popular slogan in the white power movement dating back to the 1980s, the phrase is short for “racial holy war.”

Woodall told Raw Story he meant the phrase as “satire,” and did not espouse violence unless it was in self-defense. Nor, he said, did he espouse “overthrowing any government” or “a white takeover of any country.”

He said, “I don’t see it as an issue to have a white-friendly group of people that get together and teach each other.”

In April 2023, Woodall planned a second weekend training, posting an agenda that included a course on “firearms fundamentals/live fire,” one on “team movement” and close-quarters battle tactics (CQB), and another on patrols and assessing enemy capability.

Woodall wrote on Telegram: “I have 8 years experience in the Army (combat arms), and law enforcement. A further 2 years of private out-of-pocket training with various groups and instructors in CQB, contractor courses, and defense scenarios.”

Six days before the training, Woodall canceled it, citing lack of interest. Around that time, he separated from the North Carolina National Guard, on completion of a four-year contract.

The same year, while serving in the Individual Ready Reserve, Woodall posted videos on TikTok expressing support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accepted a compliment from a pro-Russia account regarding his strength as a weight-lifter.

Despite U.S. government support for Ukraine, Woodall told Raw Story he believed his pro-Russia views were protected under the First Amendment and shouldn’t preclude him from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, by supporters of Donald Trump seeking to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a military stand-down to address extremism in the ranks. Austin established a working group with an ambitious set of goals, including improving screening to divert extremists from the recruiting process and standing up an investigative unit to weed extremists from the ranks. Two years later, a USA Today investigation found the unit had made almost no progress.

Later, a study commissioned by the Defense Department downplayed the existence of extremism in the military. According to an Associated Press report, it relied on outdated numbers.

“Under the Biden administration, which wasn’t super transparent about their efforts, at least they cared,” Beirich said. “You have to infer that this is no longer a priority.”

The investigation into Woodall, which stretched from September 2023 to late 2024, was completed before Biden left office. Efforts to root out military extremism are expected to halt under Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary in the second Trump administration.

In his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Hegseth shared his disdain.

“Things like focusing on extremism have created a climate inside our ranks that feels political when it hasn’t ever been political,” he said. “Those are the types of things that are going to change.”

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