The Ku Klux Klan plans to begin military-style combat training under the direction of military troops returning home from overseas deployments, according to a Barcroft Media report.

The notorious hate group has been attempting to recruit new members – children, in particular – in recent months, and the Loyal White Knights faction has begun preparations for a long-awaited race war.

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“We’re going to do something a little different for probably the next couple of years to try to get our men and women ready for the upcoming battle that we’re about to take upon us, and this is something that no Klan has ever done and we’re going to start it,” said one Klan leader during a rally in Parkersburg, West Virginia. “All our boys are finally coming back home from the military, which is good, and we’re getting a lot more military members to join.”

Klan members have dropped leaflets and candy in neighborhoods across the United States, and the group has also used social media in hopes of attracting teenage recruits.

Other young people are recruited by their own parents to join the group.

“I enjoy days like today, because I like being around people, not disgusting people, not drug addicts,” said one hooded boy whose parents brought him and his brother to the Parkersburg rally – which drew about 40 people.

The boy’s mother said she believes black and Hispanic students take drugs from their parents and sell them at her son’s school.

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“Their parents are so worried about doing drugs than providing for their own children, that’s what I think,” said the woman, who was wearing full Klan regalia like her husband and two sons.

Barcroft reported that Klan leaders claim existing members serving in the military will begin training other members in armed combat, hand-to-hand combat, and survival skills.

The group, which has an estimated 6,500 members, has never before trained its members in combat tactics.

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“We got police officers in the Klan, we got lawyers, we got doctors – your next-door neighbor could be in the Klan, and you’d never know it,” said James Moore, grand dragon for Virginia.

Klan expert Brian Levin said the biggest threat comes from individual members trying to make a name for themselves, rather than an army affiliated with the hate group.

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“This is something we’ve seen throughout recent decades, where the Klan has gone through cycles, where they’ve armed themselves, gotten in trouble, then mellowed out and then armed themselves again,” Levin said.

He said Klan members hope to signal their social relevance by arming themselves and warning of racial unrest.

“The ultimate goal for myself is to have our membership get to the point where we can affect change through the political system,” said one Klan official. “Right now, our numbers aren’t quite good enough.”

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But members are confident their message will attract new followers.

“Black people, white people, we’re all getting tired of the government, and pretty soon you can see the government collapse,” Moore said. “And when the government keeps on sending their money over to Israel, and it finally collapses, you can see the Klan take it back and make this nation the way it needs to be.”

Watch this video report posted online by Barcroft TV: