The terrorist attack in New Orleans and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas have shone a light on the challenges military veterans and serving personnel face and how it can lead to their radicalisation.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, killed at least 15 people and injured 30 when he drove his car through Bourbon St in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve with an ISIS flag on the back before being shot dead by police.
Police say Matthew Livelsberger, 37, set fire to the Cybertruck, which was packed with fireworks and camping fuel, outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
He was inside the vehicle at the time and succumbed to his injuries.
While the FBI is investigating the potential links between the two men – who may have served at the same Army base – their time in the military is a shared factor that may help explain why their lives took such dark turns.
Between 2017 and 2023, some 480 people with a military background were accused of ideologically driven crimes, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.
Dozens of veterans and several serving military personnel were involved in the January 6th 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington.
But others have been motivated by a range of ideologies, including Islamic extremism and conspiracy theories.
A study last year by the RAND think-tank, said that veterans struggled with the transition from military to civilian life, including “missing the pace and camaraderie of military life, having no resources and not knowing where to turn, struggling with PTSD or depression, and even experiencing homelessness and becoming imprisoned”.
Such situations could push veterans to the edges of society, where they can become vulnerable to radicalisation, according to anti-extremist legal advocacy group the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In a 2021 article, the group said that “feelings of isolation” can drive serving and former soldiers to become radicalised, and that the internet has made it far easier to happen.
Livelsberger’s journey appears especially jarring given his high-level role within the military.
According to his LinkedIn page, he spent more than 19 years in the US Army, including 18 years with the Special Forces, and was still serving when he blew himself up this week.
Livelsberger worked as a communications specialist, an intelligence and operations specialist, and was most recently a remote and autonomous systems manager, which could have involved working with drones or robots.
Livelsberger, who was from Colorado Springs, Colorado, studied strategic studies and defence analysis at Norwich University, a military college in Vermont.
But despite his military service, he expressed scepticism towards the government.
Among Livelsberger’s posts on LinkedIn was one claiming that “the govt” was responsible for student debt. Other posts indicated he was interested in human rights and animal welfare.
The choice of a Trump hotel and the use of a Cybertruck – which was rented –appears to be very pointed.
Tesla’s owner, Elon Musk, spent $250m (£195,000,000) to get Donald Trump elected and has become so close to the President-elect that he is now known as his “First Buddy”.
Others in the past have chosen overtly political targets, including Cesar Sayoc, an avid Trump supporter dubbed the “MAGA bomber”, who was jailed for 65 years for posting mail bombs to Democrats and liberal media outlets.
Yet Musk’s vow to cut government spending, including potentially veterans’ benefits, may have factored into Livelsberger’s motivations.
The SpaceX founder’s promise to cut $500bn of “unnecessary” spending reportedly includes $120bn for veterans’ medical services, which would make it harder for people like Livelsberger to get the support they need after leaving the military.
Jabbar’s family has said that he was a Muslim convert and that in recent months he began acting so “crazy” he was barred from seeing his two children with a former partner.
He served in human resources and IT roles in the Army from 2007 to 2015, including a deployment to Afghanistan.
Jabbar, who was living in Houston, Texas, then served in the Army Reserve until 2020 and left the military with the rank of staff sergeant.
But life on the outside proved difficult, and in 2022 he admitted to the lawyer of one of his ex-wives that his real estate business had lost $28,000 the previous year.
He also had $16,000 in credit card debt and was reportedly caring for his ailing father.
In videos reportedly filmed while driving to New Orleans, he complained about money problems, his divorce, and talked about killing his family.
Challenges with civilian life had been an issue for Jabbar since at least 2015.
Speaking to the student newspaper for Georgia State University, where he studied that year as part of the GI Bill, which gives veterans a free college education, Jabbar said that the Department of Veterans Affairs was challenging to deal with.
He said it was “such a large agency”, adding that he struggled with not using military jargon that he was used to during his years in service.
“There’s so many different acronyms you’ve learned,” Jabbar said. “You don’t know how to speak without using these terms, and you’re not sure what terms are used outside the military.”
After the disturbing acts committed by Livelsberger and Jabbar, many are searching for answers, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Those answers may well lie in their military service – and how they coped with life outside of it.
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