Operator culture has always been reflective of frontier settler ideas. They’re the brave ones going where no other white man will, ‘collecting’ scalps; regular troops are the U.S. Cavalry at Wounded Knee, safe behind newfangled weapons. In the GWOT/latest US colonial war, operators are the vanguard of larger motions, tools for precise actions, and, wearing their beards, the pioneers.
The turn against their cowboy aesthetic might be arising due to ICE, but again the hogs who buy black rifle coffee shirt or whatever the fuck, they it need their private property protected. We’re at a juncture where it’s not settlers v. settled, where Tel Aviv psytrance ravers conflict with hardcore racist West Bank colonizers (both born in New Jersey). It’s American capital v. International capital, insofar as there is a difference, which there is now that U.S. decline is being felt by price sensors. The idea that settlers are attacking settlers to keep them in line, that’s a bit much for everyone down in the U.S. of A to comprehend.