Calvin Greenup

Who is Calvin Greenup?

A well-known militia activist in the United States and a Vietnam veteran, Calvin Greenup resides in Montana where he runs an elk ranch and is a key member of the controversial North American Volunteer Militia, Greenup has long argued that the United Nations is planning to attack the United States using Soviet-made weaponry.

In 1991, Greenup lost a legal battle against the State of Montana, in which they closed down the landfill site that he had been running. He responded by failing to file taxes from then on, choosing not to renew his driver's license and announcing that he was officially cutting ties with the government.

Three years later, in 1994, his refusal to register or pay fees found him in deep water after his militia colleague Joe Holland wrote a letter to the Montana Revenue Department claiming that he led the nation's largest militia and would mobilize a million men against the state office sending home the Revenue Agents in bodybags. Because Greenup didn't have a license for his elk farm and therefore owed $25 in unpaid fees, legal action was started against him to recover some of the money he had withheld; at the same time, the local bank began to foreclose his mortgage.