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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) defends her 'combat veteran' status
http://www.omaha.com/news/military/sen-joni-ernst-defends-her-combat-veteran-status/article_ee30aaa4-f15b-5396-beeb-24570ad67979.html
POSTED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015 2:00 AM
By Joseph Morton / World-Herald Bureau
WASHINGTON Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, on Monday stood by her self-description as a combat veteran for her service in Iraq and criticized those who have questioned her use of the phrase.
Ernsts comments to reporters came after a piece in the Huffington Post highlighted that she never came under fire as she led an Iowa Army National Guard transportation company in 2003 and 2004.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joni Ernst
The piece raised the idea that Ernst is giving the public a misimpression about just how harrowing her time in Iraq and Kuwait really was.
Ernst said its entirely appropriate for her to use the phrase combat veteran. The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs classify Ernst as a combat veteran based on her service in a combat zone.
FULL story at link.
spanone
(135,843 posts)where on God's green earth do they find these bozos?
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)on point
(2,506 posts)NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)of the way the status is assigned, she can call herself a combat veteran.
Got it.
The kind of person you would want to elect would be the type who UNDER emphasize this type of thing, not uses other people's real service to bolster herself just because of the way the category is listed.
If you dont understand this, then there is nothing to talk about.
What really matters is she is a god damn fucking nightmare, her agenda will kill lots of people.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)As a "BRAT" even I know he wasn't and neither was she! She can be a member of the VFW (and my father couldn't)....but combat? Nope...
braddy
(3,585 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)If so, then he's a combat vet.
In Vietnam, all US military personnel were awarded the Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign decorations, regardless if they were in combat or were REMF's and never saw any combat.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)he IS American Legion.
He was Coast Guard...a Lifer.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)I salute your father.
onethatcares
(16,169 posts)about the way the party she belongs to disrespected Max Cleland?
Bandit
(21,475 posts)vankuria
(904 posts)Should NEVER be forgotten and thrown in the GOP's face every single opportunity, and the way they trashed Sen. Kerry's military service to his country as well.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)onenote
(42,714 posts)I have no use for Ernst whatsoever. But making an issue of whether she was a combat veteran, when the military clearly defines her status as such is a loser's game. Transportation company members (maybe not from her unit but from others) came under attack while in Iraq and some died. I've always stood by the standard that the length of time that you need to be in combat theater to claim combat veteran status is the amount of time it takes for you to get killed.
She's a jerk and she probably violated various provisions of the military code when she attacked President Obama and called for him to removed from office, but arguing about her status as a combat veteran is a waste of time.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)She sent members of her unit into Iraq, but she did her entire tour without ever once leaving Kuwait.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)transport vehicles into Iraq.
But that's irrelevant, Kuwait was in a designated combat zone, which makes her a combat veteran.
That said, she's still an asshat.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)ergo, she was in a combat zone and is designated as a combat veteran.
Omaha Steve
(99,655 posts)MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)But she spent her tour in Kuwait in the rear with the gear.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)This is embarrassing and we will lose on this. She has so many things to criticize her with. This is totally not one of them!
olddots
(10,237 posts)in a cartoon world of make believe bullshit based on ignorant lies .
Please be seated in the 2016 clown car Joni .
former9thward
(32,017 posts)who served after November 11, 1998.
http://www.co.st-lawrence.ny.us/data/files/Departments/Veterans/Combat%20Veteran%20List%20of%20Locations%20and%20Time%20Periods.pdf
Bandit
(21,475 posts)She was stationed in Kuwait.
former9thward
(32,017 posts)But anyone who served in Kuwait from November 11, 1998 on served in a combat zone according to the Army at the link I provided.
Ex Lurker
(3,814 posts)On a veteran's forum recently, a CIA officer who claimed to have been a combat veteran came under a lot of criticism. He most assuredly was in a combat zone and came under fire, but it was not while a member of the US armed forces, and that didn't meet the criteria. I'm not talking about some legal definition, but the meaning of the term among veterans themselves.
longship
(40,416 posts)Couldn't resist.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)"combat veteran". My husband was in Iraq, forward-deployed from elsewhere in the Middle East, he doesn't call himself a combat veteran, despite the DoD designation. Never engaged the enemy, never came under fire.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)yes it does.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)I'm saying most vets who aren't self-aggrandizing assholes would concede that just being in a designated combat zone isn't enough grounds to comfortably claim that one is a "combat vet"--especially if they weren't where the real action was. Obviously, Ernst uses the term to give people (many of whom aren't that familiar with the military) the idea that she was more of a warrior than she really was. Which is stupid, because I give her credit for serving at all, no need to try to grab a little extra glory.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Do we know if she ever accompanied a convoy into Iraq?
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)if so, then she is a true combat vet, not just one because of the military's definition.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)blown up. Just cruising through isn't enough to plausibly claim "combat". Technically, yes, but in the most truthful sense, no. She could certainly refer to her service without using that designation--a wiser politician would know better than to do that.
braddy
(3,585 posts)Last edited Wed Feb 11, 2015, 01:41 AM - Edit history (1)
old guy
(3,283 posts)To me she is a combat veteran the same as McCain is a war hero. Not.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)in case she wins.
Omaha Steve
(99,655 posts)My dad in the 40's couldn't email home. No phone calls. No trips home in 5 years.
Tell me again Joni what you did?
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)that's why she doesn't have one.
I flew numerous attack missions during my Army career, but was not eligible for the CIB because I wasn't part of an Infantry unit.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)this is a losing argument.
erpowers
(9,350 posts)My understanding is that anyone who spends a certain amount of days in a combat zone is a combat veteran. Even if the person only spent time in the green zone and only filed papers they are a combat veteran if they spent enough time in the country where the war was taking place. So according to military rules Joni Ernst is a combat veteran even if she did not get shot at, or shoot a weapon.
jmowreader
(50,559 posts)REMFs get war patches too.
arthritisR_US
(7,288 posts)semantics.