Meet the Militia: The Zealots, Cowboys and ‘Rogue Infidels’ of the Oregon Insurgency
The Oregon militants are proving as stubborn as they are self-righteous, and their armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge shows no signs of resolving soon.
Not even near-unanimous opposition to their occupation by the very community the militiamen claim to be liberating from federal “tyranny” is making these men second-guess their hard stand. Nor are the occupiers heeding the plea of the Burns Piaute Tribe — who claim the refuge as part of their ancestral land — to “get the hell out of here.”
Who are the men behind the militia calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom?
Meet the key occupiers:
Ammon Bundy
Age: 40
Who: Leader of the takeover.
Where he’s from: The Bundy family ranch is in Bunkerville, Nevada — home to father Cliven Bundy, the infamous anti-government deadbeat who owes the feds nearly $1 million in unpaid grazing fees and fines. Ammon Bundy has strong ties to Arizona, but he recently moved to Emmett, Idaho, not far from Boise.
Backstory: Bundy owns a garage near Phoenix that repairs and maintains corporate truck fleets. Though he’s staging an occupation to protest the tyranny of the federal government, Bundy solicited a $530,000 federal loan guarantee for his business, a taxpayer subsidy the feds valued at $22,419.
Distinctive markings: Wears fleece-lined blue flannel jacket, brown cowboy hat.
Style: Soft spoken, with the earnest intensity of a man who believes he’s on a mission from God. On January 1, he posed a video for his followers: “I ask you now to come to Harney county to participate in this wonderful thing that the Lord is about to accomplish.”
Ryan Bundy
Age: 43
Who: The other Bundy on-scene; Ammon’s brother, and Cliven’s oldest son.
Where he’s from: Ryan Bundy lives in Cedar City Utah, north of Zion National Park, where he reportedly owns a construction company.
Backstory: Ryan Bundy has had many minor run-ins with authorities. In September, he was in court for a misdemeanor charge of failing to register a dump truck on his land. Every bit a Bundy, he declared, “This is a violation of private property rights,” adding, “I’m not their serf, and I’m not their slave.” Ryan Bundy was also arrested last year after a scuffle with sheriff’s deputies, following an incident in which he liberated his horse after it had wandered near an airport and got picked up by animal control.
Distinctive markings: Has muscle atrophy on half of his face from a car accident in childhood: “My head was run over by a Ford LTD,” he explains in this video.
Style: Angrier in affect than his brother, Ryan may have less conviction in the cause. He floated an exit strategy earlier this week suggesting the militants could go home — if the community asked them to. Ryan quickly walked that back the next day, telling Oregon Public Broadcasting: “If there was one thing I said that you should have forgotten, it’s that.”