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From: Army Times
No one disputes that Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, served with the National Guard in a combat zone.
So the recent round of questions about whether she counts as a "combat veteran" has made more than a few former service members uncomfortable and upset.
But they aren't necessarily surprised.
"This kind of stuff has been going on for generations," said Phil Carter, director of veterans programs at the Center for a New American Security. "We've seen conversations about peacetime service as opposed to wartime service. We've seen veterans from different wars trade stories about who had it tougher.
"But so few people have an appreciation for what military service is that these arguments start to take on a controversial quality about what 'counts' as service."
Earlier this month, the Huffington Post questioned Ernst's characterization of herself as a "combat veteran," noting she had not been involved in a firefight during her 14-month Middle East deployment.
The Iowa Guard lieutenant colonel commanded the 1168th Transportation Company during the 2003-04 deployment, overseeing transportation runs in Kuwait and southern Iraq and running a protection detail in Kuwait.
She touted her "combat veteran" status in numerous campaign stops during the mid-term elections last year, and noted in response to the recent criticism that both Veterans Affairs and Defense Department guidelines classify her as one.
Fellow Senate Armed Services Committee colleague Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — himself a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war — called Ernst a combat veteran "by any definition."
"Malicious claims to the contrary denigrate not only her service, but that of countless current and former service members who served honorably in a range of roles in our military," he said in a statement.
Carter echoed that sentiment, noting that honoring only certain kinds of military service — in this case, battlefield fighting — risks alienating other troops who have served honorably.
"There's always someone harder than you," he said. "There's always someone who has seen more combat, or had tougher tours. But that doesn't erase someone's war record."
Since the Ernst piece was published and picked up by other news outlets, most veterans' groups have declined comment on the criticisms, other than to offer official statements saying it's clear the senator served honorably in a designated combat zone.
Mark Seavey, new media manager at the American Legion and an an expert in stolen valor cases, said he worries that criticisms like those leveled at Ernst confuse actual cases in which troops or imposters claim military honors they never earned. Ernst has not claimed any medals or campaign awards beyond her record.
"You don't want to see real crimes get watered down because of some people's semantics about service," Seavey said.
He also sees the continued buzz over the issue as underscoring the lack of understanding by many civilians about what the recent wars were really like.
"I can't think of a place, the entire time when I was in Afghanistan, where I thought, 'Wow, I feel really safe here,' " he said. "Everyone who has served over there was in a dangerous area.
"A minuscule number of individuals ... were involved in firefights. But it's still a combat zone."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/veterans/2015/02/19/ernst-combat-veteran-criticism/23666043/
No one disputes that Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, served with the National Guard in a combat zone.
So the recent round of questions about whether she counts as a "combat veteran" has made more than a few former service members uncomfortable and upset.
But they aren't necessarily surprised.
"This kind of stuff has been going on for generations," said Phil Carter, director of veterans programs at the Center for a New American Security. "We've seen conversations about peacetime service as opposed to wartime service. We've seen veterans from different wars trade stories about who had it tougher.
"But so few people have an appreciation for what military service is that these arguments start to take on a controversial quality about what 'counts' as service."
Earlier this month, the Huffington Post questioned Ernst's characterization of herself as a "combat veteran," noting she had not been involved in a firefight during her 14-month Middle East deployment.
The Iowa Guard lieutenant colonel commanded the 1168th Transportation Company during the 2003-04 deployment, overseeing transportation runs in Kuwait and southern Iraq and running a protection detail in Kuwait.
She touted her "combat veteran" status in numerous campaign stops during the mid-term elections last year, and noted in response to the recent criticism that both Veterans Affairs and Defense Department guidelines classify her as one.
Fellow Senate Armed Services Committee colleague Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — himself a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war — called Ernst a combat veteran "by any definition."
"Malicious claims to the contrary denigrate not only her service, but that of countless current and former service members who served honorably in a range of roles in our military," he said in a statement.
Carter echoed that sentiment, noting that honoring only certain kinds of military service — in this case, battlefield fighting — risks alienating other troops who have served honorably.
"There's always someone harder than you," he said. "There's always someone who has seen more combat, or had tougher tours. But that doesn't erase someone's war record."
Since the Ernst piece was published and picked up by other news outlets, most veterans' groups have declined comment on the criticisms, other than to offer official statements saying it's clear the senator served honorably in a designated combat zone.
Mark Seavey, new media manager at the American Legion and an an expert in stolen valor cases, said he worries that criticisms like those leveled at Ernst confuse actual cases in which troops or imposters claim military honors they never earned. Ernst has not claimed any medals or campaign awards beyond her record.
"You don't want to see real crimes get watered down because of some people's semantics about service," Seavey said.
He also sees the continued buzz over the issue as underscoring the lack of understanding by many civilians about what the recent wars were really like.
"I can't think of a place, the entire time when I was in Afghanistan, where I thought, 'Wow, I feel really safe here,' " he said. "Everyone who has served over there was in a dangerous area.
"A minuscule number of individuals ... were involved in firefights. But it's still a combat zone."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/veterans/2015/02/19/ernst-combat-veteran-criticism/23666043/
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Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 52
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According to what I see she meets egilibly requirements for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, enuff said.
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When is someone from the Huffington Post, or any of the other sources jumping on this bandwagon going to go spend fourteen months downrange with bad internet that costs too much, crappy food, and all the other welcome mats they roll out for us in the third world? It's real easy to split hairs from the comfort of an air conditioned office a short ride from home and all the people you love. Why not focus on some real issues and stories with teeth, instead of this soft pedaling crap. Find a journalist with guts, and point them at some real truth, and these slow news day waste of print drivel will get buried.
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CPL Michael Krostag
I made this years ago, and fell its still accurate. I myself was not deployed in my 20 years. I was ready and willing while I was still in. I do have 2 sons that have been.
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In the Army it is easy, she was deployed to a war zone. She was authorized to wear the Combat Service Identification Badge (or combat patch) on her uniform. Does not matter where you serve in the theater or if you never leave a base. Deployed Infantry Soldiers will be awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge. You want to know who saw action while deployed and are not in the Infantry, they will be the Soldiers wearing the Combat Action Badge or a Combat Medical Badge.
Can't they just say thank you for serving and deploying for your country.
Can't they just say thank you for serving and deploying for your country.
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This hits home with an incident that just happened. I was in the bathroom in a store. 2 regular stalls and 1 handicapped stall. I was right in front of a vet in a wheel chair missing his legs. Of course I wasn't about to go in the handicapped stall even tho I have bad knees. But a local boy (ie non-white) zipped around him heading for the handicapped stall. The vet just asked him politely to let him use the stall. This kid (20 something) actually told him (among a lot of other hate filled statements) "you volunteered to go get blown up and now you cry about it". I was about to jump on him and beat the crap out of him as old and out of shape as I am. His buddy, who looked more capable of doing serious bodily harm was also about to attack, but the guy in the wheel chair showed the restraint and just told his buddy to go get the manager. The kid took off. Later I saw police cars outside but have no idea if it had to do with the jerk kid.
Oh, he called the vet a "cry baby gimp" a couple of times.
Sometimes the thought that we veterans defended this idiot's right to say such things is galling.
Oh, he called the vet a "cry baby gimp" a couple of times.
Sometimes the thought that we veterans defended this idiot's right to say such things is galling.
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SGT Rick Ash
I wish I had been with you. I am capable of causing serious bodily harm as well. The vet in the wheelchair would have had the stall for as long as he needed it. The kid was likely carrying store merchandise he was going to hide on his body somewhere. (This is a common occurrence) Are we at the point where we need to install a police officer or private security guard in the Men's room? This makes me furious.
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"Officially " I am a combat veteran (Grenada. Operation "urgent fury")
I can hardly count myself as battle hardened as someone who sered in our recent wars.
I can hardly count myself as battle hardened as someone who sered in our recent wars.
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MAJ Paul Hoiland, SGT Keith Bodine, LTC Erik Price, 2LT Scott Armstrong, SSG Christopher Adame, Capt Christopher Mueller, COL Jon Thompson, CPT Eron Lindsey, COL John Handy, COL Charles Williams, COL Alicia GB Smith, 1SG Randall McPherson, TSgt Hunter Logan, SFC Michael Jackson, MBA
Wait one damn minute! I knew then CPT Ernst while she was deployed! Her TOC was next to our TOC at Camden Arifjan. I think she was a great officer and she was always willing to help a sister unit when she could. In fact I would say the 1057th TC and the 1168th TC great working relation ship.
Now this BS about CPT Ernst only being in the combat area and not a veteran is unfounded, It may be that they did not make many trips North of NAVSTAR but it was still hostile at times in the “rear.” We had several attacks take place at the front gate of Arifjan. Another event that happened when My platoon leader and I were returning from camp wolf and the convoy behind us maybe 200M got hit by some Hotel (hadji's) Elements. There were plenty of other incidents that took place as well in Kuwait that endangered soldiers lives.
Now to drive my point home, if you are a sailor on a carrier and you launch fighter aircraft off the deck are you not a veteran of that conflict? By the logic of that yellow journalistic tabloid called the HUFFPO no sailor is a veteran unless they fly or put boots on the ground. The same would apply to the mechanic who spends hours roasting in the sun keeping the MRAP on the road. What about the medical staff at the hospitals who have to patch up the wounded or who have no choice but watch as others die.
Ariana Huffington is a far left zealot along with the entire staff of that so called news outlet. The National Enquirer has more credibility and that is not saying much. The Liberal* MSM will gutter snipe any Republican candidate over anything they can just to try and shift the vote to the left. They then get accolades from their hive minded sheep for followers who can not think for them selves. These are the same type of people that greeted Vietnam vet's with baby killer and other vile crap; however, that method is no longer PC to say it, but I am sure they are thinking it.
In closing I will say that it is clear what they are trying to do, not just to LTC Ernst but all whom the far left does not embrace: divide and conquer.
*When I use the term liberal I mean the likes of Judy Chue, Sam Farr (left), Jan Schakowsky, Steve Cohen, Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi, and their Ilk. The Lunatic Fringe.
Lunatic fringe is a term used to characterize members of a political or social movement as extremists with eccentric or fanatical views. The term was popularized by Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote in 1913 that, "Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe."
P.S. if you think there is a little anger in my post, you are underestimating it.
Wait one damn minute! I knew then CPT Ernst while she was deployed! Her TOC was next to our TOC at Camden Arifjan. I think she was a great officer and she was always willing to help a sister unit when she could. In fact I would say the 1057th TC and the 1168th TC great working relation ship.
Now this BS about CPT Ernst only being in the combat area and not a veteran is unfounded, It may be that they did not make many trips North of NAVSTAR but it was still hostile at times in the “rear.” We had several attacks take place at the front gate of Arifjan. Another event that happened when My platoon leader and I were returning from camp wolf and the convoy behind us maybe 200M got hit by some Hotel (hadji's) Elements. There were plenty of other incidents that took place as well in Kuwait that endangered soldiers lives.
Now to drive my point home, if you are a sailor on a carrier and you launch fighter aircraft off the deck are you not a veteran of that conflict? By the logic of that yellow journalistic tabloid called the HUFFPO no sailor is a veteran unless they fly or put boots on the ground. The same would apply to the mechanic who spends hours roasting in the sun keeping the MRAP on the road. What about the medical staff at the hospitals who have to patch up the wounded or who have no choice but watch as others die.
Ariana Huffington is a far left zealot along with the entire staff of that so called news outlet. The National Enquirer has more credibility and that is not saying much. The Liberal* MSM will gutter snipe any Republican candidate over anything they can just to try and shift the vote to the left. They then get accolades from their hive minded sheep for followers who can not think for them selves. These are the same type of people that greeted Vietnam vet's with baby killer and other vile crap; however, that method is no longer PC to say it, but I am sure they are thinking it.
In closing I will say that it is clear what they are trying to do, not just to LTC Ernst but all whom the far left does not embrace: divide and conquer.
*When I use the term liberal I mean the likes of Judy Chue, Sam Farr (left), Jan Schakowsky, Steve Cohen, Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi, and their Ilk. The Lunatic Fringe.
Lunatic fringe is a term used to characterize members of a political or social movement as extremists with eccentric or fanatical views. The term was popularized by Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote in 1913 that, "Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe."
P.S. if you think there is a little anger in my post, you are underestimating it.
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SGT Rick Ash
SSG John Erny,
Thanks for the words of support for LTC Ernst. I think highly of her and her services in the military and Congress. She is currently the CO of the 185th Combat Sustainment Sopport Battalion at Camp Dodge. It's the largest battalion in the in the Iowa Army National Guard. She spent 14 months in Kuwait as a company commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom. ( We kicked some serious butt! )
I salute her service so the heck with Nancy Pelosi and the rest of that lunatic fringe.
Thanks for the words of support for LTC Ernst. I think highly of her and her services in the military and Congress. She is currently the CO of the 185th Combat Sustainment Sopport Battalion at Camp Dodge. It's the largest battalion in the in the Iowa Army National Guard. She spent 14 months in Kuwait as a company commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom. ( We kicked some serious butt! )
I salute her service so the heck with Nancy Pelosi and the rest of that lunatic fringe.
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This is what politics and media do during an election, take something to extremes and blur the lines so people have to stand on defense for every little thing. I don't really like her, than again not a big fan of most Republicans, but if she has the paperwork to show it is so, than let it be already.
You have to wonder, is it because she is a female that she gets this kind of criticism? If she was a tall white conservative male would they even be questioning the service?
You have to wonder, is it because she is a female that she gets this kind of criticism? If she was a tall white conservative male would they even be questioning the service?
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I know of Soldiers who served in LTC Ernst and have said she was an Excellent Leader SFC Retired Bill Murphy
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The first problem: The Huffington Post characterized...
The huffpo is a joke of a media outlet.
The second problem: a civilian criticizes service when they, themselves never served. Scum bags.
The huffpo is a joke of a media outlet.
The second problem: a civilian criticizes service when they, themselves never served. Scum bags.
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