The Training Manual They Used on January 6: Inside Militia America's Curriculum

On a wet Saturday morning in October 2025, in a pine forest forty miles outside Spokane, Washington, a man who identified himself only as "Mike" stood before twenty-three civilians dressed in camouflage and body armour. He was teaching them how to clear a building room by room. Documents reviewed by The Editorial show that Mike—whose real name is Michael Hendricks, a former Army Ranger who served three tours in Afghanistan—runs one of at least forty-seven paramilitary training camps operating across the United States that cater specifically to members of militia groups, III Percenters, Oath Keepers, and other far-right organizations.

The curriculum at Hendricks's camp, obtained by The Editorial through a former participant who has since left the movement, includes advanced tactical firearms training, close-quarters combat, surveillance detection, and what the manual calls "urban operations in hostile territory." The manual, a spiral-bound 127-page document titled "Operational Readiness for Free Americans," contains diagrams lifted directly from U.S. Army field manuals, including FM 3-21.8, the Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad doctrine.

Over six months, The Editorial identified and mapped the locations of these training operations across nineteen states, interviewed eleven former attendees, reviewed internal communications from three separate militia networks, and spoke with four federal law enforcement officials who are monitoring the phenomenon but say their hands are largely tied. What emerges is a picture of an organized, growing infrastructure designed to prepare civilians for armed confrontation with government forces—and in some cases, explicitly for civil war.

The Instructors

Hendricks is not an outlier. The Editorial identified at least nineteen individuals with verified military backgrounds—including former Special Forces operators, Marine Corps infantry veterans, and retired law enforcement tactical officers—who are currently running or instructing at these camps. Court records from the prosecutions following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol show that at least eleven defendants had attended paramilitary training camps in the months before the insurrection. In the case of Jeremy Bertino, a former leader of the Proud Boys who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, prosecutors presented evidence that he had attended a three-day tactical course in North Carolina in November 2020.

The legal ground these camps occupy is murky. Most operate as private firearms training businesses or survival schools, which are legal in all fifty states. But four former federal prosecutors interviewed by The Editorial said that if evidence showed the training was specifically intended to prepare for illegal activity—such as an insurrection or domestic terrorism—it could constitute criminal conspiracy. The challenge, they said, is proving intent.

McCord, who now directs the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law, oversaw the federal response to domestic extremism during the final year of the Obama administration. She told The Editorial that FBI field offices have been tracking militia training camps since at least 2009, but that surveillance has intensified since January 6. Still, she said, the legal tools available are limited. "Unless someone makes an explicit threat or begins actively planning an attack, the First and Second Amendments protect almost everything they're doing," she said.

What the Manuals Teach

The training manual used by Hendricks is one of at least six different instructional documents circulating among militia networks, according to materials reviewed by The Editorial. They range from crudely assembled PDFs to professionally bound volumes with colour photographs. All share a common structure: they begin with constitutional justifications for armed resistance, then progress to technical instruction in weapons handling, small-unit tactics, and operational security.

A 94-page manual titled "The Citizen's Guide to Asymmetric Resistance," obtained by The Editorial from a former attendee of a Missouri training camp, includes chapters on improvised explosive device awareness, counter-surveillance, and what it calls "grid-down communications"—radio protocols for use when internet and cellular networks are unavailable. The introduction states: "This manual assumes that lawful governance has been suspended and that patriots must defend their communities against tyranny."

The Editorial shared copies of the training manuals with three former U.S. military officers who have experience in counterinsurgency operations. All three, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the materials closely mirrored insurgent training they had encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan. One, a retired Special Forces colonel, noted that the section on "leadership targeting"—identifying and tracking government officials—was nearly identical to tactics used by the Taliban.

The January 6 Connection

Court filings in the ongoing January 6 prosecutions provide the clearest window into how militia training translates to action. In United States v. Rhodes, the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four co-defendants, prosecutors introduced evidence showing that Rhodes had run multiple training camps in 2020 and early 2021. Testimony from co-defendant Joshua James, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, described a November 2020 training session in North Carolina where participants practiced "stacking"—the tactical formation used by Oath Keepers members as they breached the Capitol on January 6.

FBI analysis of video footage from January 6, portions of which were filed under seal and reviewed by The Editorial, identified at least thirty-seven individuals who demonstrated tactical training in their movements—using hand signals, maintaining formation discipline, and coordinating entry points. Of those, investigators have confirmed that fourteen attended known militia training camps, according to two federal law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Editorial contacted Michael Hendricks through an intermediary and requested an interview. He declined but provided a written statement: "I teach Americans their constitutional rights to self-defense and the skills necessary to protect their families. Nothing I teach is illegal. Everything I teach is available in U.S. Army manuals that are public domain. If the government has a problem with citizens being trained, they should take it up with the Founding Fathers."

The Network Effect

Internal communications from the American Patriots Three Percent militia, obtained by The Editorial through a member who left the group in 2024, show an organized effort to standardize training across state chapters. A November 2024 message from the group's national leadership directed state coordinators to "identify and vet combat veterans willing to provide instruction" and to "establish regional training rotations to maximize skill transfer."

The documents reveal a deliberate strategy of cross-pollination. Instructors travel between camps, bringing students from different militia groups into contact with one another. A spreadsheet tracking attendance at a series of 2024 training events in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming shows participants from at least nine different organizations, including the Oath Keepers, III Percenters, American Contingency, and several local "patriot" groups.

Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, told The Editorial that his organization has tracked the professionalization of militia training for more than a decade. "What we're seeing now is different," he said. "It's not just weekend warriors playing soldier. It's former actual soldiers teaching civilians how to fight an actual war. And the target, implicitly or explicitly, is their own government."

The Legal Grey Zone

Federal law prohibits providing material support to terrorist organizations, but militia groups that have not been formally designated as such fall outside that framework. The FBI can open investigations when there is evidence of a specific plot, but monitoring training activities that might someday lead to violence occupies uncertain legal territory. Two former FBI officials who worked on domestic terrorism cases told The Editorial that field offices are instructed to collect information on militia training camps but can rarely take action without evidence of imminent criminal activity.

Some states have attempted their own regulations. California Penal Code Section 11460 prohibits paramilitary training if it is intended to further civil disorder, but the law has rarely been enforced and faces First Amendment challenges. New York passed a similar statute in 2023, but it has not yet been tested in court. The Editorial contacted attorneys general offices in all nineteen states where training camps have been documented; only three—Washington, New York, and California—responded. All three said they were aware of the camps but had not found grounds for prosecution.

What Comes Next

Former attendees who spoke with The Editorial described an escalating atmosphere. Three individuals who attended camps in 2024 and early 2025 said instructors were openly discussing contingency plans for scenarios including contested elections, federal firearm confiscation attempts, and economic collapse. One former participant, a 34-year-old construction worker from Pennsylvania who asked not to be named because he fears retaliation, said his camp's final session included a tabletop exercise simulating armed resistance to federal agents attempting to seize firearms.

"They kept saying it was just a hypothetical," he said. "But they were dead serious. They had maps. They had call signs. They had rally points. It wasn't theoretical anymore."

A March 2025 intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security, portions of which were obtained by The Editorial, warns that militia training camps represent "an escalating threat to public safety and potential flashpoints for organized violence, particularly surrounding electoral processes or federal law enforcement actions perceived as overreach." The document, classified as Law Enforcement Sensitive, recommends increased monitoring but acknowledges that "absent a predicate criminal act, investigative options remain constrained."

The Editorial sent detailed questions to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice. The FBI declined to comment on specific training camps but provided a statement: "The FBI is committed to protecting the American people from domestic terrorism threats while upholding constitutional rights. We cannot comment on ongoing investigations or intelligence activities." DHS and DOJ did not respond to requests for comment.

Michael Hendricks continues to operate his Washington training camp. His next scheduled course, according to promotional materials circulating on encrypted messaging apps, is in May. The title: "Urban Defensive Operations: Advanced." It is already fully booked.