“Stolen Valor” comes in many forms but it always comes down to someone exaggerating or outright LYING about their military service. Sometimes it’s minor. A bit of embellishment, often by someone who gets caught up in it because it puffs up their image. Sometimes though it’s claims of bravery/heroism or just flat out lies. Like accepting a medal for saving lives in combat that you didn’t actually save. And worse weren’t even present when the shooting was going on. Florida Republican Cory Mills could have, when told he’d been recommended for a Bronze Star complete with the “V” asked why. And when told what the form recommending him stated that no, things didn’t happen that way. But he grabbed that medal like Trump grabbing a you-know-what and worse, played on his “heroism” for political gain.
That’s serious stuff to those who have served and at one time unforgiveable. Of course that was before Trump swallowed the GOP and “excreted’ the toxic lumps of conservatives who will cover not only for Trump but each other. My predictions is the House Ethics Committee will never issue a finding on this matter. However the fact is Mill’s accepted a Bronze Star, and I want to emphasize not the almost generic one Officers in war zones get just for being in a war zone. Mills’ got one with the “V” for Valor. For saving two soldiers who say no, he did no such thing. In fact, they and others say Mills was nowhere near the action while that particular skirmish was going on! In blunt terms, Mills has claimed/accepted credit as a bona fide war hero and the alleged beneficiaries of said heroism, as well as others present are calling bullshit. AND doing so on the record.
That’s the thrust of an article from Raw Story I read last night. Someone submitted Department of the Army Form 638 recommending Mills be decorated for his ‘bravery’ but we have five people who were there on the record saying otherwise. Including one of the soldiers Mill is claiming to have saved who’s mentioned in the citation saying ‘No, things didn’t happen that way’:
“He didn’t save my life,” said Pfc. Joe Heit, who is cited by name on the recommendation form as one of the soldiers Mills saved. “I don’t recall him being there, either.”
The document states that Mills saved the lives of Heit and Cpl. Alan Babin in one 2003 incident and saved Sgt. Joe Ferrand in another, while also being a “dedicated mentor and leader” to other junior medics.
Oh my. This raises question Rep. Mills surely doesn’t want raised. The matter has been referred to the Ethics Committee (who I predict will bury it), the DOJ (including to the FBI itself) and a U.S. Attorney down in Florida. Is there anyone reading this that believe AG Pam Bondi will allow ANY of this to continue? Ok, so she can’t stop the House Ethics Committee but she CAN refuse to cooperate with it. Only if Mills pisses off Trumpty in some major way will she pull the file out and tell her minions to proceed.
However this is out there now. People are already on the record and I expect there will be more. What’s already public is plenty to become an anchor around Mills neck in his bid to move up to the Senate next year. For example there’s this:
Five individuals who had served with Mills in Iraq have gone on the record to question the contents of the DA Form 638 recommending him for the medal, saying Heit had been shot but saying his injuries were not “life-threatening.” Heit said he had been ordered to stay silent about being wounded by friendly fire in the incident, and Sgt. Chris Painter corroborated his account.
“I can pretty much confirm 100 percent Cory Mills was not up at the bridges at the location of the everything,” Painter said in a text message. “Now, if he came to the company position to assist in escorting Babin to the BN aid station I don’t know, but he wasn’t at the bridge [where] it all happened. I do know that.”
Then there’s the General who signed off on the award recommendation. Retired Brig. General Arnold Gordon-Bray said such awards came to him and were approved in “large batches.” That he didn’t concerned himself in the details. Apparently he assumed honor was rampant in the ranks and no one would just make up sh*t for a buddy. I’m hoping we see an actual copy of that form 638. Then we’ll know just who submitted it, and who might have endorsed it as it moved up the chain to the General. That could turn out to be very interesting indeed.
There are buttholes puckered up tight over this, especially for any officer who took part in pressuring the troops to keep their mouths shut over friendly fire wounds that weren’t life threatening to who wrote the initial recommendation and that Officer’s superiors who should have as a matter of course had an aide do some basic checking. Most would have, upon learning what the troops had to say simply “circular filed” the award recommendation – thrown it in the trash. And issued a verbal warning to the Officer who wrote it about NOT calling attention to events (like friendly fire) the Army and other services would rather not become known.
From where I sit Mills has some serious explaining to do. If it was just one or two anonymous people saying his medal was bogus he would likely get away with what he’s trying to do which is brush it off. With fellow GOPers running interference for him which we know will happen he just might succeed in overcoming what could be a huge, career killing scandal. However he wants to be a Senator and somehow I don’t think he’ll be the only Republican running for the nomination. Wouldn’t if be funny if Mills were to get gutted by at least one fellow GOPer but still win the primary? And a substantial Democrat emerged that could use every bit of what Mills’ competitors said to and about him in the general election? Put a pin in this. I have a feeling it might turn into a BFD.
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Interesting. I didn’t know my dad had gotten a Silver Star in WWII until I was in my 30s. He was a medic and rescued a bunch of guys off a cliff on some godforsaken island in the Pacific. His medal and citation was at my grandparents’ house and my aunt got them out to show to me.
I’m left with a crapload of thoughts competing for expression. Drafted in November, 1965, I took a chance a week in that enlisting for a Signal Corps commo hut operator could lead to a repair technician MOS (I’d studied electricity and electronics in HS and worked over 2 years as a Bell System Inside Plant operations tech after dropping out of college). A fellow I met the day we were drafted decided to take the same chance; when the time came, I made the cut for repair training with 2 others, but my buddy was number 4. He went on to Fort Irwin to build up a new unit with refurbished gear that airlifted into the combat zone, while my extended school term left our repair tech group with orders for Eighth Army Support Command in Korea. We were split up, assigned to units across the country; I went to the 51st Signal Battalion, outside of Uijungbu. One of the gr9up made Specialist E-5 with just 16 months service – it took me 19 months. Guys all over my unit talked about how they were “throwing rank at us”, but no one was complaining.
I kept in touch with my buddy from Induction Day, and got a letter describing his experience on a “shit-burning” ()burn pit) detail: the JP-4 flashed back one day leaving him with minor face burns (no visible scars). He found it funny that the incident earned him a Purple Heart. I was an usher at his wedding after he got back stateside.
I had almost 15 months stateside duty after my Korea assignment, and reported to my new unit as a newly married E-5, While the 51st Signal didn’t have mandatory Reveille formation, I now had to stand Command Reveille every payday.(the first of the month). This unit was recently organized, and as months passed, each ceremony included awards of medals awarded to many new in the company who’d served in the combat zone.I heard numerous recitations of citations for the Army Commendation Medal for men who had clerical positions. The phrase “attention to detail” was repeated ad nauseum.
Maybe things changed once the all-volunteer force began operating, but these “stolen valor” stories make it look like things took an ugly turn.