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The Tragic Story of the Leak Suspect Who Yearned to Join the Military and Regretted it

by Ethan Kim
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DIGHTON, Mass. (AP) — A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard has been accused of taking secret documents without permission. When he was a kid, this person wanted to join the military, but later on he became unhappy because of his decision to enlist.

Jack Teixeira, who is 21, was accused on Friday in Boston’s U.S. District Court with taking and holding secret information without permission – a crime which caused an international uproar and allowed confidential details about the war in Ukraine and other secrets to be revealed. A magistrate judge ordered Teixeira to stay in jail until his hearing next week.

Teixeira grew up in a rural area called Dighton, near Boston. His mom lived near a lot of trees and had a flower cart out by the road where she sold colorful bouquets. Two of his classmates told The Boston Globe that he was really interested in the military and war history, and also wanted to join it one day.

From when he was young, John Powell remembered his friend Teixeira had a large book about U.S military aircrafts and weapons. Though some kids in middle school bullied him, Powell said that Teixeira was a positive person and “sweetheart” with a strong connection to his stepdad who had been in the Air Force.

Kailani Reis, a high school classmate of Teixeira, said that he was very shy and kept to himself. Sarah Arnold, another classmate also remembered him being quiet and not wanting to interact with many people. In September 2019, Teixeira joined the Air National Guard. He graduated from Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School the following year which was during the COVID-19 pandemic when everything had to be done online instead of in person.

During the pandemic, Teixeira became friends with other people through an online chat room on Discord. Discord is a social media platform often used by gamers and others to talk to each other. People in the group noticed the leaks on this app.

A person who was a part of the Discord chat group told the AP about the conversations, but wanted to remain anonymous in case it led to any danger. The group was called “Thug Shaker Central” and people in it discussed their favorite guns, shared some jokes that were not so nice, like racism and anti-Semitism.

A group of people talked about Russia invading Ukraine for some time. One person in the group, who goes by the name of “the O.G.”, shared a lot of secret information for months. A Discord member has confirmed that this O.G. is actually Teixeira.

Teixeira often talked about guns, prayed, and followed Christianity. In the recent months, he had become unhappy with being part of the American military and convinced others not to join as well. He was adamant that the government had become too powerful.

A member of the chat group said that Teixeira might have enlisted in the army because he needed money for college. He also added that Teixeira was very good at making memes with Photoshop. The group member said that Teixeira usually joked around and had a lot of laughs.

Recently, Teixeira was promoted to Airman 1st Class and gave a job as a cyber transport systems journeyman at the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base. His job gave him responsibility of looking after computer networks with classified information even though he holds a lower rank. He started working there full-time in October 2021. The base is located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Members of the Discord group said that Teixeira wasn’t looking to give out information or change U.S. policy, they thought he only wanted to show off. Without any proof, some people on the right think Teixeira was trying to tell everyone about Biden’s policies and stop the U.S. from getting further into a war in Ukraine.

U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on Twitter that a person named Teixeira was “white, male, Christian and anti-war”. She said this meant he was an “enemy” of the Joe Biden government. A Discord member later said they didn’t think Teixeira was leaking documents to hurt the United States or for any other special reason.

He said that he’s just having a good time with some friends who compare and contrast different things – like nerds look at stuff. At the end of the day, they all want to have fun. Different journalists from places like Massachusetts, Washington and Seattle reported on this story.

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