Proof: Craft International was NOT at the Boston Marathon

Troy Crossley, and other conspiracy theorists (such as Infowars) have consistently pointed to the below image and claimed that the men in black jackets and tan fatigue pants were members of a private military contractor called Craft International.

These men are not mercenaries. They are members of the National Guard.

In fact, the two men depicted in the above photograph, taken by Ben Levine at 2:38pm (one minute before the bombing), as well as those seen on the roof of buildings near the finish line of the marathon before and after the bombings, are members of the Massachusetts National Guard Civil Support Team (CST).

These men are not private mercenaries... they are deployed during the marathon to help with security.

The Massachusetts Civil Support Team was on duty during the Boston Marathon providing security support for the entirety of the race, supported by the CSTs from Rhode Island and New York. This is standard operating procedure for an event the size of the marathon.

After the bombings, The CST rushed in to help with identifying any additional risks, check to see if the bombs were radioactive, etc.

The image of a "suspicious" member of the CST unzipping a backpack was taken after the bombings... proving that they were not part of the bombing.

Notice the broken glass and the first responders heading into help the wounded to the right of the image. The man crouching is a member of the CST assisting in threat assessment, not a potential bomber.

But What About the Hat?

Lots of been made about the first man's hat, which looks like the skull logo of Craft International.

This hat is not a Craft cap  - it's a Punisher cap. Notice that the Craft hat has red text on the back? The Punisher cap (based on a comic book character) has white text on the hat that reads "One Man Army." That's the text that appears on the back of the hat of the this member of the CST. Here's a close up of the Punisher cap:

The back of a Punisher Cap.

Craft International was not at the Boston Marathon, and they were not involved in the bombing. These men were working security at a large public event, and then helped by attempting to determine whether there was any more threat to public safety. They are heroes, not suspects. Even Infowars, one of Troy Crossley's main sources, admitted that these were not Craft members.