In the YouTube video, Jon Ritzheimer explained tearfully why he was going to miss Christmas with his 3- and 5-year-old daughters in Arizona to protest on behalf of ranchers in a remote corner of Oregon.

By Monday evening, the video had been viewed more than 360,000 times, as Ritzheimer and a group of about 20 other anti-government activists settled in for an occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters.

The trip to Oregon that elevated the 32-year-old Phoenix-area motorcycle mechanic and Marine Corps Reserves veteran to a new level of Internet stardom was only the latest in Ritzheimer's travels to publicize controversial causes.

A self-described extremist, Ritzheimer until now was best known for a series of provocative anti-Islam demonstrations and blog posts in 2015.

Ritzheimer's role in Burns includes appearing in a video made Dec. 26 to appeal for help in Oregon from the Oath Keepers, a group of former military, law enforcement and first-aid responders. The group previously said it had suspended Ritzheimer's membership following his statements against a senator supporting the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran.

Military records show Ritzheimer, who is originally from the San Diego-area, served two tours in Iraq as a motor transport driver. While he often claims to have served in the Marines, records show he served only in the reserves from December 2002 through July 2014. No discharge information was available Monday. Ritzheimer has said he was discharged due to the Marines' tattoo policy.

Ritzheimer arrived in Burns just two weeks after calling for a protest in Seattle over a separate issue: gun ownership.

He posted a video to YouTube asking for current and past members of the military to rally in front of the federal courthouse in support of Schuyler Barbeau, whom Ritzheimer described as a military veteran "illegally kidnapped" by the federal government.

The FBI had arrested Barbeau in December on suspicion of having a 5.56mm caliber assault rifle that required registration because of its short barrel and potential use as a fully automatic machine gun, court documents show. A confidential informant told authorities that Barbeau often carried the rifle, along with a handgun, body armor and a helmet, in his vehicle and that he repeatedly threatened to shoot government agents, a federal criminal complaint said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Frank Montoya Jr. told Seattle's King 5 News after a court hearing that he worried Barbeau's arrest could spark action from his friends, many of whom identify as members of the patriot movement.

The confidential informant in the case was threatened and named online, and the personal information of the federal agent leading the investigation was also posted, court records submitted later show.

Ritzheimer's video appeal for support for Barbeau is passionate. In the background is a flag bearing the logo of III%, a reference to the percentage of the American population that is believed to have actively fought the British during the Revolutionary War. But that video was viewed just more than 2,500 times. Footage from King 5 News shows few people ultimately showed up at the Dec. 21 protest, and Ritzheimer didn't pass in front of the camera.

Whether it was Ritzheimer's video or broader social-media networking, Barbeau's arrest in Washington does appear to have attracted the attention some other people now occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. At least two other the Burns protesters, Jason Patrick and Maureen Peltier, showed up outside the Seattle courthouse.

They are part of a network of activists who identify as patriots and generally coalesce around issues of rural land ownership, gun rights and immigration. Barbeau aided Cliven Bundy in his standoff with federal agents over grazing rights in Nevada in 2014, Barbeau's Facebook postings show.

In a brief phone conversation Monday evening, Ritzheimer downplayed his role in the wildlife refuge takeover.

"I'm sitting in my truck at the end of the road to the refuge," he said. "I'm not representing any militia group."

Ritzheimer declined to answer further questions, deferring instead to an upcoming news conference.

Against Islam

Until now, Ritzheimer's biggest claim to fame was a series of anti-Islam demonstrations he organized in Phoenix in 2015 that prompted the FBI to notify a local mosque leader.

Ritzheimer began demonstrating after police killed two Phoenix residents who opened fire outside a Muhammed cartoon-drawing contest in suburban Dallas in May. He planned similar contests to be held outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix during Friday prayer and billed the events as pro-free speech. He invited attendees to come armed and carried a handgun. Hundreds turned out to the biggest event, along with about an equal number of counter-protesters.

Ritzheimer explained to the Washington Post: "I can't let my kids grow up in a society where tyranny is reigning over. I've got ISIS posting my address. This is terrorism at its finest, right here in America." Afterward, Anderson Cooper interviewed Ritzheimer on CNN. The protester compared himself to the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

That wasn't the end of the headlines, though.

In July, Ritzheimer showed up at a rally against Walmart for its decision to stop selling confederate flags. The same month, he posted a video to Facebook suggesting banning the Quran "because it promotes terrorism."

In another July video, Ritzheimer shot at a Quran and described Islam as an ideology. "It is more than a religion," he said. "This (expletive) runs governments, countries." The rhetoric is similar to that of Pamela Geller, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as an extremist. Ritzheimer does not have a listing in the catalog of extremists on the group's website, but his videos are referenced.

In September, Ritzheimer threatened to arrest a Michigan senator who supported a nuclear deal with Iran for treason, prompting an investigation from the U.S. Capitol Police.

Then came his November cross-country road trip.

The blog Outpost of Freedom said Ritzheimer helped a high-school friend move from Arizona to New Hampshire. Along the route, Ritzheimer posted selfies at 11 mosques, most featuring a raised middle finger or a shirt that says "F--- Islam." This product is sold by his apparel business, Rogue Infidel.

The blog post quoted Ritzheimer saying he received a three-way phone call from an FBI agent and a New York state trooper as he drove through Pennsylvania. He was told he would be arrested once he passed into New York because officers had seen video of him with a gun, the post said.

Ritzheimer's solution: turn off cellphones, retrieve cash at an ATM and change routes.

"If I was going to attack them as they claimed I was headed to do, I would have brought way more fire power, and they never would have known I was coming," he wrote. "Shame on New York State Troopers and shame on the FBI agent who rather than protecting a citizen and their rights fell into the trap set-up by the Muslims who play the victim," he later continued.

A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service declined to comment Monday on whether Ritzheimer had outstanding federal warrants, and an FBI spokeswoman declined to say whether he was under investigation.

The FBI told the New York Daily News during Ritzheimer's November road trip that the bureau had taken the unusual step of notifying other law enforcement agencies following another video Ritzheimer had posted, in which he cocked a handgun and said, "We're coming for you," referring to Muslims.

Ritzheimer appeared Dec. 16 in one of his Rogue Infidel shirts outside a Donald Trump campaign event in Phoenix. He said he was there to support Trump in halting immigration to the U.S. for Muslims.

Saying no to "terrorism"

A common thread in many of Ritzheimer's online postings is a bristling at the use of the word terrorist to describe non-Muslims.

During his November road trip, Ritzheimer appeared to stew on being called a terrorist by some Muslims following his "Draw Muhammed" events, and in his more recent video, he lingers on the fact that 73-year-old Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond, 46, the two ranchers whose resentencing prompted the outcry, were prosecuted under an obscure anti-terrorism law.

"Dwight, he's so old he may die in there," Ritzheimer said in the video. "And I'm hoping he sees this video, 'cause it's real simple. Dwight, do you want to die in prison, labeled as a terrorist by these oppressors, or do you want to die out here with us, as a free man?"

Ritzheimer described his activities in Burns as "winning hearts and minds."

In a Dec. 28 email to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Ritzheimer said of his motivations: "I have come up to Harney County OR because I can't stand watching this current government oppress American people. I believe what I am doing now is actually defending the constitution that I swore an oath to protect and defend. This government is way out of control and seeing oppression and tyranny taking place in America is not what our founding fathers wanted for us."

-- Carli Brosseau

cbrosseau@oregonian.com

503-294-5121; @carlibrosseau