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Pete Buttigieg served in the Navy, as an intelligence officer. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 and served there for seven months. He appears to be the veteran among the top-tier candidates for the Democratic nomination for president.<\/p>\n
Tulsi Gabbard, one of Hawaii’s representatives, served in Iraq. However, she doesn’t appear to have the support that the top-tier candidates do have. His status as a veteran, among the leading candidates for the Democrat nomination, is one of the things that Buttigieg highlights.<\/p>\n
From the Associated Press:<\/span><\/p>\n Buttigieg, a Naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan in 2014<\/span><\/strong>, noted he had been present for rocket attacks while stationed at Bagram Airfield, and later faced potential danger as an armed driver in Kabul. Another presidential candidate, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, served in Iraq, but is running far behind the front-running candidates.<\/p>\n “This is very real for me<\/strong><\/span>,” Buttigieg told interviewer David Yepsen. “And I do believe there is value in someone in the Oval Office understanding what’s at stake, understanding at a personal level what’s at stake, when decisions are made that could send people into a conflict<\/span><\/strong>.”<\/p>\n Buttigieg often cites his seven months deployed to Afghanistan, though has seldom said as directly the next president should be a wartime veteran. The 37-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is the only military veteran in the top tier of the field of Democrats running for president. He would be the only president to have served in the military since George W. Bush.<\/p>\n “That perspective is needed especially when we’ve got a president who thinks that strength is the same as the chest-thumping of the loudmouth guy at the end of the bar<\/span><\/strong>,” Buttigieg said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n John Kerry served in-country in Vietnam. He ran against George Bush, who was in one of the reserve components stateside. One of the lessons that can be learned, from past presidential elections, is that the electorate looks at a combination of experiences.<\/p>\n The Associated Press has details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"