LACROSSE, Wis. – The arrest of a LaCrosse man for a role the January 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol deepened concern about the hidden presence of U.S. military personnel in radical right-wing politics. Abram Markofski, 24, is a member of the Eau Claire-headquartered 1st Battalion of the 128th Infantry. He is the fourth active-duty military member charged in the siege. The others are two Army Reserve soldiers and a Virginia National Guard soldier. More troubling to political analysts and sociologists, as well as the Pentagon, is that 41 military veterans are among 400-plus persons arrested so far for being at the Capitol intrusion. That’s one in 10.
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Markofski’s Army future
The Wisconsin National Guard has no cookie-cutter course for dealing with Private First Class Abram Markofski, who has been charged in the January 6 insurrection at the nation’s Capitol. Guard spokesperson Joe Trovato said the Guard can’t comment on individual personnel matters. He said incidents of Guard members charged with crimes are handled case by case. “Every situation is different,” Trovato told the LaCrosse Tribune. “When National Guard commanders become aware of a service member facing criminal legal action in the civilian justice system, they consider the totality of circumstances and due process to address those situations during and after their case plays out.” Markovski joined the Guard in July 2019.
Private first class. In 1-1/2 years in the Wisconsin Guard, Markofski had moved up the ranks from recruit, which typically pays $220 a month for part-time citizen-soldier service of 16 hours a month; to private, $238; to private first class, $281.