#US Army soldier accused of trying to help Satanic neo-Nazi group attack his own unit

A US Army soldier allegedly joined a Satanic neo-Nazi group — and gave the extremist outfit classified information in an attempt to orchestrate an attack on his own unit, the feds announced Monday.

In a six-count indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, 22-year-old Pvt. Ethan Phelan Melzer is accused of working with the wacko Order of Nine Angles group in May “to solicit assistance for a mass casualty attack on his US Army unit once it deployed to Turkey.”

Melzer, of Louisville, Kentucky joined the army in 2018 and joined the Order of Nine Angles — also known as O9A — the following year, court documents allege.

“Members and associates of O9A have espoused violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and Satanic beliefs, and have expressed admiration for, among others, Nazis, such as Adolf Hitler, and Islamic jihadists, such as Usama Bin Laden,” reads an indictment against Melzer.

In April this year, his unit was told it was being sent to guard a U.S. military installation in Turkey, at which point he used an encrypted messaging app to send the group information about “the Unit’s size, anticipated travel routes in Turkey, weaponry, and defensive capabilities, which Melzer understood would use to facilitate an attack on the Unit,” a criminal complaint alleges.

In one conversation, an unidentified co-conspirator asked Melzer “are we literally organizing a jihadi attack,” to which the soldier replied “[Y]es probably…As long as I get the info I need to give you all,” the feds allege.

When the co-conspirator asked about the possibility that Melzer would be shot, he allegedly responded: “Who gives a f–k…The after effects of a convoy getting attacked would cover it…It would be another war…I would’ve died successfully…Cause if another 10 year war in the Middle East would definitely leave a mark.”

He later confessed when confronted by federal prosecutors and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the feds allege.

“During an interview on or about May 30, 2020, Melzer confessed to his role in plotting the attack, which was to be carried out by members of a terrorist organization, admitted that he intended for the planned attack to result in the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible, and declared himself to be a traitor against the United States whose conduct was tantamount to treason,” the complaint charges.

“Melzer was prepared to die to facilitate an attack on the Unit, believed his actions were treasonous, and considered himself to be a traitor.”

A search of his Apple iCloud account revealed a photo showing “a knife, a book entitled ‘The Sinister Tradition: Order of Nine Angles,’ a skull mask, and a U.S. Army beret,” the complaint alleged, adding that the mask is a “known neo-Nazi symbol.”

His drive also allegedly had documents titled “The Joy of the Sinister: The Traditional Satanism of the Order of the Nine Angles” and “The Alchemy of Hate,” whichincludes a section called “Adolf Hitler as Dark God.”

Melzer was arrested June 10, and is facing charges of conspiring and attempting to murder US nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country.

“Melzer declared himself to be a traitor against the United States, and described his own conduct as tantamount to treason. We agree. He turned his back on his county and his unit while aligning himself with members of the neo-Nazi group O9A,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office William F. Sweeney Jr. in a statement.

“Today, he is in custody and facing a lifetime of service – behind bars – which is appropriate given the severity of the conduct we allege today.”

The British group Hope Not Hate, in its annual State of Hate report, cited O9A as a big influence on Neo-Nazi and other anti-Semitic terror groups both in the US and Europe.

“O9A seeks to harness supernatural forces and overthrow the alleged ‘Nazarene/Magian’ [Jewish] influence on society, reduce the population of ‘mundanes’ through acts of extreme barbarism, and usher in a new imperial [age] ruled by a race of Satanic supermen who would colonize the solar system,” the group wrote in its 2020 report.

The feds described the white supremacist outfit in alarming terms, and quoted from one document in which they praised Adolf Hitler.

“Adolf Hitler was sent by our gods to guide us to greatness. We believe in the inequality of races and in the right of the Aryan to live according to the law of the folk. We acknowledge that the story of the Jewish ‘holocaust’ [sic] is a lie to keep our race in chains and express our desire to see the truth revealed. We believe in justice for our oppressed comrades and seek an end to the world-wide persecution of National- Socialists,” it read.

A survey by the website Military Times released in February found “more than one-third of all active-duty troops and more than half of minority service members say they have personally witnessed examples of white nationalism or ideological-driven racism within the ranks in recent months.”