{"id":8191,"date":"2015-02-13T03:32:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T03:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=8191"},"modified":"2015-02-13T03:32:05","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T03:32:05","slug":"take-care-in-defining-combat-veteran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=8191","title":{"rendered":"Take care in defining 'combat veteran'"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It didn’t take Joni Ernst long to make a name for herself in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

The Iowa Republican is now defending her military record in which she defines herself as a “combat veteran.”<\/p>\n

I would caution her to speak very carefully when using such terminology.<\/p>\n

At issue is her service in\u00a0an Iowa National Guard transportation company in Iraq and Kuwait in 2003 and 2004. She calls herself a “combat veteran” even though she didn’t face enemy fire during her deployment in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2015\/02\/joni-ernst-says-she-earned-the-right-to-call-herself-a-combat-veteran-despite-never-seeing-combat\/<\/p>\n

Sen. Ernst defends her record, saying that because she drew hazardous duty pay while deployed, she has earned the right to call herself a combat vet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very proud of my service and by law I am defined as a combat veteran,\u201d Ernst said. \u201cI have never once claimed that I have a Combat Action Badge. I have never claimed that I have a Purple Heart. What I have claimed is that I have served in a combat zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Technically, she is correct. But it is a technicality that can be misconstrued. She needs to be careful how she uses such language in the future.<\/p>\n

I understand where she’s coming from. I, too, served in a war zone for a time. The Vietnam War was raging when I arrived in-country in the spring of 1969. I received hazardous duty pay while serving as a U.S. Army aircraft mechanic and later as a flight operations specialist at the I Corps Tactical Operations Center in\u00a0Da Nang.<\/p>\n

Do I refer to myself as a “combat veteran”? No. I didn’t see direct combat — except for having to run for cover while the Viet Cong\u00a0lobbed mortars into\u00a0our position on occasion.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ernst is rightfully proud of her service in Iraq and Kuwait, as I am of my service many years ago during another armed conflict.<\/p>\n

But be careful, senator, when using terms such as “combat vet,” especially around those who’ve actually seen the real thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

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It didn’t take Joni Ernst long to make a name for herself in the U.S. Senate. The Iowa Republican is now defending her military record in which she defines herself as a “combat veteran.” I would caution her to speak very carefully when using such terminology. At issue is her service in\u00a0an Iowa National Guard … Continue reading Take care in defining 'combat veteran'<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,14],"tags":[1073,1075,1231,2230,2310,2330,2576,2704,5116],"class_list":["post-8191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-news","category-national-news","category-political-news","tag-combat-veteran","tag-combat-zone","tag-da-nang","tag-i-corps-tactical-operations-center","tag-iowa-national-guard","tag-iraq","tag-joni-ernst","tag-kuwait","tag-vietnam-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}