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<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nThis fellow, Sean Carrigan is running for Congress in South Carolina as a Democrat. The main part of his campaign focuses on his 28 year career in the Army. He uses foxhole imagery<\/a> and his time in Desert Storm to convince his potential constituency that he’s the man for the job.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was in a foxhole in the Middle East it mattered that [the people] were trained to cover me and protect me and that I was trained to covered them,\u201d Carrigan says, \u201cbut it didn\u2019t matter who they loved. \u2026 These people need to be treated with dignity and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n That foxhole-dwelling background is a piece of Carrigan\u2019s life that he\u2019ll put front and center. While his platform reflects many of the typical Democratic values also held by Robertson, his military experience distinguishes him from his primary foe, in Carrigan\u2019s assessment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He likes to talk<\/a> about his “uniform covered with combat and service medals and ribbons” and how he’s “highly decorated<\/a>“;<\/p>\n For nearly three decades, I proudly served my nation in the United State Army\u2014eight years beyond retirement eligibility. If a uniform covered with combat and service medals and ribbons means anything, it\u2019s the knowledge and wisdom that soldiers\u2014the men and women who dedicate their lives to keeping America safe\u2014value family and predictability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In October 2015, Sean Carrigan retired as a First Sergeant after 28 years of highly-decorated service in the United States Army. He served eight years past retirement because of his commitment to the welfare of his soldier community. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, I’ll agree that we need more veterans in Congress and Sean, here, would probably be fine addition to that tradition, but, I’m not much enamored with people who proclaim themselves to be highly decorated. I’m not sure how many foxholes he occupied as Hawk missile crew chief in Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n Carrigan was assigned to 2-52nd Air Defense Artillery, which converted to a Patriot missile unit assigned to the XVIIIth Airborne Corps for Desert Storm. He went on to be an LPN nurse at Walter Reed and found his niche as an Army recruiter during the War Against Terror, during which he had no deployments.<\/p>\n I guess you could call him “highly decorated” with his FIVE Meritorious Service Medals, FIVE Army Commendation Medals and NINE Army Achievement Medals. Other than the medals that everyone got for Desert Shield\/Desert Storm, he has no valor or merit awards for his time there unless he was awarded one of his numerous ARCOMs or Achievement Medals for DS\/DS. <\/p>\n The 2-52d earned a Valorous Unit Citation for their participation, but I don’t see an award that Carrigan earned during his only deployment to combat like a reasonable person would expect from a self-proclaimed “highly decorated” combat veteran.<\/p>\n I don’t know how much combat he “saw” – he might have seen the results of combat long after the gunfights ended, but there wasn’t much combat going on around Riyadh or Bahrain where 2-52 was deployed. <\/p>\n Mr Carrigan should focus on his leadership during his Army service and give up the gritty combat veteran imagery. He comes off like the governor-elect of Virginia Ralph Northam<\/a> who tried to make the electorate think he was the Hawkeye Pierce combat doctor of Desert Storm.<\/p>\n This is NOT a stolen valor post – Carrigan isn’t exactly lying about his military service, his remarks just need clarification that he is not providing to the electorate.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Sean-Carrigan-FOIA-Assignments-431x333.jpg\")
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