According to CNN (“At least 7 arrested after raids in three states“, 3/28/1010):
Federal authorities plan to unseal charges Monday against several people arrested in a series of weekend raids in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, prosecutors in Detroit said Sunday. […]
Mike Lackomar, a county leader for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, said the target of the raid was a Christian militia group called the Hutaree. The group proclaims on a Web site that it is “preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive.”
The origin of the group’s name, Hutaree, is not explained on what seems to be their web site. And there are other linguistic mysteries to be found there, including their system of paramilitary ranks.
One of their web pages gives this list:
RANKS:
RADOK [RD]
BORAMANDER [BM]
ZULIF [ZL]
ARKON [AK]
GOLD RIFLEMAN [GR]
SILVER RIFLEMAN [SR]
BRONZE RIFLEMAN [BR]
LUKORE [LK]
MASTER GUNNER [MG]
SENIOR GUNNER [SG]
GUNNER [GN]
I don’t see basis in biblical or military history for Radok, Boramander, Zulif, Arkon, and Lukore. They sound kind of like Pokémon names (e.g. Arbok, Charmander, Zubat, Rokon), but there’s no precedent there either.
Ideas?
Update — details of the indictments are discussed here and here:
Update #2 — Pictures of eight of the nine people indicted are shown here. Their ranks are not indicated, but the accompanying article does say that their leader, David Brian Stone, “also used the name ‘Captain Hutaree’”. You’d think that he’d be a (the?) Radok, not just a mere Captain. So I wonder whether the ranks on their web page might be some peculiar sort of joke.
Certainly someone involved in building the web site has a quirky sense of humor, as shown in the “Beast Watch” page, which mingles apparently serious stuff about implantable chips and RFID bracelets as versions of the “mark of the beast”, and a link to an oh-so-serious discussions of “the potential beast government” in Europe (they think Javier Solana may be the antiChrist) and the question of a “pre-trib rapture” (they think not), with the following set of jokes about “The beast’s number”:
670 – Approximate number of the Beast
DCLXVI – Roman numeral of the Beast
666.0000000 – Number of the High Precision Beast
665.9999954 – Number of the Pentium Beast
0.666 – Number of the Millibeast
/666 – Beast Common Denominator
666 x sq. rt (-1) – Imaginary number of the Beast
1010011010 – Binary of the Beast
1-666 – Area code of the Beast
00666 – Zip code of the Beast
1-900-666-0666 – Live Beasts! Call Now! Only $6.66/minute. (Must be over 18)
$665.95 – Retail price of the Beast
$710.36 – Price of the Beast plus 6.66% state sales tax
$769.95 – Price of the Beast with all accessories and replacement soul
$606.66 – Price of the Beast at Wal-Mart
$566.66 – Price of the Beast at Costco
Phillips 666 – Gasoline of the Beast
Route 666 – Way of the Beast
666 F – Oven temperature for roast Beast
666k – Retirement plan of the Beast
666 mg – Recommended Daily Allowance of Beast
6.66 % – 5 year CD interest rate at First Beast of Hell National Bank ($666 minimum deposit)
6-6-6.xls – Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 – Word Processor of the Beast
666i – BMW of the Beast
DSM-666 (revised) – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
668 – Next-door neighbor of the Beast