{"id":95930,"date":"2020-02-17T08:02:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T12:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=95930"},"modified":"2022-01-13T20:31:50","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T01:31:50","slug":"peter-buttigieg-called-our-for-overstating-his-military-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=95930","title":{"rendered":"Peter Buttigieg called out for overstating his military experience."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wish more veterans would run for public office regardless of their political leaning.\u00a0 \u00a0It does make me squeamish when Buttigieg tries to embellish his acts of daring-do for civilians.<\/p>\n

A Wall Street Journal op-ed published by a pair of former US Marines has called presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg\u2019s military experience into question.Greg Kelly, a host at conservative Newsmax TV and a former pilot in the US Marine Corps, and Katie Horgan, a Marine officer deployed in Iraq for 13 months between 2006 and 2012, wrote the piece.<\/p>\n

Throughout the op-ed, Mr. Kelly argues that the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has overstated his military experience, painting the candidate instead as a careerist who used his connections to land a cushy paperwork job for the majority of his time in the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe usual route to an officer\u2019s commission includes four years at Annapolis or another military academy or months of intense training at Officer Candidate School. ROTC programs send prospective officers to far-flung summer training programs and require military drills during the academic year,\u201d Mr Kelly wrote. \u201cMr. Buttigieg skipped all that\u2014no obstacle courses, no weapons training, no evaluation of his ability or willingness to lead. Paperwork, a health exam and a background check were all it took to make him a naval officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Mr Kelly and Ms Horgan, officers who entered the service through direct commission were begrudged by combat veterans and were often called \u201cpomeranian princes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of Mr Kelly and Ms Horgan\u2019s criticisms were rooted in the idea that Mr Buttigieg wasn\u2019t actually involved in combat yet uses language to suggest he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closest he came to combat was ferrying other staffers around in an SUV: In his campaign kickoff speech last April he referred to \u201c119 trips I took outside the wire, driving or guarding a vehicle.\u201d That\u2019s a strange thing to count. Combat sorties in an F-18 are carefully logged. Driving a car isn\u2019t,\u201d Mr Kelly and Ms Horgan wrote.<\/p>\n

Mr Buttigieg does walk a fine line between presenting himself as someone who experienced danger and someone who experienced combat.<\/p>\n

Mr Buttigieg\u2019s first television ad in Iowa showed the candidate walking amongst rubble carrying a military rifle and starting with the phrase \u201cAs a veteran\u2026\u201d The image is clearly meant to evoke ideas of armed men and women fighting for the homeland.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Buttigieg has refused to refer to himself as a combat veteran when pressed. According\u00a0to a report<\/a>\u00a0by the Chicago Tribune, Mr Buttigieg drew a distinction between himself and combat veterans during a bus tour in Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of felt like combat when the rocket alarm went off. But I don\u2019t feel prepared to use that term for myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rocket alarms \u201cfeeling like danger\u201d are not enough to warrant his bragging, according to Mr Kelly and Ms Horgan.<\/p>\n

\u201cCandidate Buttigieg takes every opportunity to lean in on those months in Afghanistan. Questions ranging from student debt to Colin Kaepernick to gun control prompt him to reference his military stint, sometimes indignantly,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I don\u2019t need lessons from you on courage,\u2019 he lectured former Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke in an October debate, \u201cpolitical or personal.\u201d Two months later he told Sen. Amy Klobuchar, \u2018Let me tell you about my relationship to the First Amendment. It is part of the Constitution that I raised my right hand and swore to defend with my life. That is my experience, and it may not be the same as yours, but it counts, Senator, it counts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The duo also criticised the media, claiming that the press frequently brings up Mr Buttigieg\u2019s military service, but frequently ignores his Democratic opponent Representative Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s own experience. Ms Gabbard has been a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard since 2003 and was deployed for a year to Iraq in 2004 and for a year to Kuwait between 2008-2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cDebate moderators and other journalists\u2014hardly a veteran among them\u2014eagerly sell Mr. Buttigieg\u2019s narrative. Debate moderators often point out that he served in Afghanistan and, if Tulsi Gabbard isn\u2019t there, is the only veteran on the stage. When Ms. Gabbard is present, the moderators seldom mention her military experience, which dwarfs Mr. Buttigieg\u2019s,\u201d the writers said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it seems the pair believe only those who have engaged in combat should exploit their military service to further their political aspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our experience, those who did the most in war talk about it the least,\u201d they said. \u201cServing in a support or noncombat role is honorable, but it shouldn\u2019t be the basis of a presidential campaign.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am not a big fan of Gabbard giving civilians the idea that she was under constant fire while rending life saving medical attention do dying soldiers.\u00a0 My favorite enlistment was behind a desk as a Drawer Gunner, I cried went they sent me back to the Gun Line.<\/p>\n

Peter should stop playing with that kind of thing in public and keep his hands to himself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can view Pete’s entire FOIA results HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Marine veterans criticise Buttigieg for overstating his military experience<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wish more veterans would run for public office regardless of their political leaning.\u00a0 \u00a0It does … Peter Buttigieg called out for overstating his military experience.<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":667,"featured_media":95931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95935,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95930\/revisions\/95935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}