Category: Veterans in politics

Folks have been emailing me about what veterans they can support for political office in the 2010 elections. Iraq Veterans for Congress sent me the following list with links;

Iraq Veterans

Tim Griffin (AK-2):Tim is currently serving in his 13th year as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps and holds the rank of major.  In May 2006, Tim was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and sent to serve in Iraq. He served in Mosul, Iraq, as a member of the 172d Stryker Brigade Combat Team Brigade Operational Law Team, for which he was awarded the Combat Action Badge. From 2006-2007, he served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. He is the founder of the Griffin Law Firm, PLLC.

Dr. Joe Heck (NV-3):Dr. Joe Heck has passionately served the residents of Nevada as a physician, Army Reservist, and community volunteer.  He continues to serve as a tactical physician with the LVMPD SWAT team. Joe serves in the United States Army Reserve having recently returned from a deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He currently holds the rank of Colonel and commands a U.S. Army Hospital.  In his civilian life Dr. Heck is the President of a company dedicated to providing quality medical training, consulting, and operational support to Law Enforcement, EMS and Military Special Operations.

Patrick Murray (VA-8): Patrick is a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 24-years of active service.  He spent over a decade in numerous positions abroad including tours in Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia and Russia.  After commanding tank units for seven years, Patrick went on to become a Foreign Area Officer in the Defense Intelligence Agency. He has extensive operational, analytical and policy experience. A Russian speaker, Patrick has worked in various bilateral and multilateral international relations venues, foreign policy, political military affairs, arms control and military-to-military relations.  His final tour of duty was at the United Nations in New York as a member of the U.S. Military Staff Committee.

Steve Stivers (OH-15):Steve served in the Ohio Senate from 2003 until 2008. He has been in the Ohio National Guard since 1985 and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Steve was called to active duty while serving in the Ohio Senate in October 2004. It was then that Steve served in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and Djibouti as Battalion Commander until December 2005. He was awarded the Bronze Star. Today Steve works in the private sector, working with companies to improve operations, explore new opportunities, and create and retain jobs.

Allen West (FL-22): Allen served in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom where he was battalion commander for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.  Allen’s honors include a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with Valor). He was also the US Army ROTC Instructor of the Year in 1993. Upon retiring from the army he taught high school for one year before serving in Afghanistan as an advisor.

Afghanistan Veteran

Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski (MI-9): Rocky enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve at the age of 17, serving four years as an infantryman and reaching the rank of Sergeant.  In 1990, Rocky attended Officer Candidate School, where he received his commission and became a 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry.  He has served in many leadership and command positions and is currently a Major.  Rocky is also a paratrooper and certified Pathfinder.  Rocky is Chairman and CEO of Star Tickets, a Michigan corporation serving the ticketing and entertainment industry all across North America.

Veterans of Other Eras

Rick Crawford (AK-1): Rick served in the United States Army as a bomb disposal technician. He completed four years of service, advanced to the rank of Sergeant in under three years, and earned numerous medals for service in the U.S. and Southwest Asia.  During his term of service, he also had the privilege of serving on numerous U.S. Secret Service security details supporting presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush among other U.S. and foreign dignitaries.  He has been a news anchor and agri-reporter.  He now owns and operates the AgWatch Network – a farm news network heard on 39 radio stations.

John Loughlin (RI-1):John spent 10 years on flight status as a helicopter pilot flying missions in a variety of Army helicopters including the UH-1 Huey, the OH-6 Cayuse and the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior. In 1986, John went to work full-time for the Rhode Island National Guard as the Adjutant General’s Public Affairs Officer. He also served in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the mid-1990s. John currently owns and operates Media-Rite LLC, a television, radio and film production company.

Mike Pompeo (KS-4): Mike Pompeo attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated first in his class. Mike served with distinction as a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, leading troops as they patrolled the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin wall. After leaving the army, Mike attended Harvard Law School where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating with honors, Mike practiced law before beginning a career as an entrepreneur

Army veteran Carl Paladino, who is running for the governorship of New York against Washington favorite Andrew Cuomo has won the endorsement of the Veterans For New York;

Said VFNY founder Kieran Michael Lalor, “Carl Paladino tells it like it is, he doesn’t owe any favors and has shown time and again during this campaign that he doesn’t mind shaking up the status quo. This is precisely the kind of leader we need to end the dysfunction and runaway spending in Albany.”

Alan Colmes interviewed Paladino yesterday and Paladino threatened to arrest Cuomo for his pay for play lifestyle at about 5:20.

So, I’m guessing that VoteVets will be backing Paladino any minute now.

Alvin Greene, that Democrat candidate for the Senate in South Carolina who won the primary by spending no money, without campaigning and without speaking is still charging ahead in his campaign. The Associated Press got a hold of his records finally. Looks like he was on of the ten percenters holding the rest of us up on his evals’; (Charlotte Observer link)

The records, which document his superiors’ decisions to pass over Green for promotion, cite mistakes as severe as improperly uploading sensitive intelligence information to a military server, and as basic as an overall inability to clearly express his thoughts and perform basic tasks.

Greene is “usually capable of handling mundane tasks with supervision” but is “not able to adapt to any changes to daily routine,” the reviewer wrote, also noting that Greene had received multiple disciplinary actions for failing to perform his duties. Greene was also written up for posting sensitive information on a military Internet server, a mistake that resulted in a three-day work stoppage. Records showed Greene was kept at Shaw while the rest of his unit deployed after leadership “recognized his inability to contribute to the wartime mission.”

Of course, Greene relies heavily on his 13-year military record for his campaign while releasing no details. And if you missed it, one of his plans to relieve unemployment in the country is to sell action figures of himself in both Army and Air Force uniforms – the two services who have booted him for his incompetence.

I haven’t read anything from COB6. SC’s newest resident, but DrewM at Ace of Spades writes;

If this guy were running against Lindsay Graham, I’d send him money.

The guy acts borderline retarded, I guess the safest place for him is the Senate.

Thanks to CavRick for the link.

Some people have written to me asking about Veterans running in this next election who are not like the dimbulbs who Votevets support. I’ve been keeping my eye on Iraq Veterans For Congress and they seem pretty legit, so you should go over there and check them out.

They need support getting this ad on the air;