Buttigieg Leans In on His Military Service

[question everything]

IOWA CITY, Iowa—Pete Buttigieg is entering a new phase of his White House bid, nodding more forcefully to a part of his background that distinguishes him from nearly all of his campaign rivals—his military service... In an interview Saturday, he said the opening foray of his campaign, officially launched in April, was dedicated to boosting his name ID. Feeling confident he has done so, Mr. Buttigieg is starting to put greater emphasis on his service with the Navy Reserve, including a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. He said overseas challenges, such as the political turmoil in Venezuela and U.S. tensions with Iran, offered a chance to make a foreign-policy appeal to voters.

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Mr. Buttigieg joined the Navy Reserve as an ensign in 2009 and spent time providing intelligence reports for European Command from the U.S. His six-month overseas assignment, in 2014, was as an officer with the Afghanistan Threat Finance Cell, tracking financial networks that supported the Taliban and al Qaeda. His deployment overlapped with his job as mayor of South Bend, an office he assumed in 2012. Mr. Buttigieg has detailed his experiences in the Navy in his 2019 memoir and featured photos of his time in Afghanistan in campaign ads. But he presented his military record as part of his overall credentials rather than a primary feature of his candidacy. Now, he is changing his approach.

During a swing in Iowa over the weekend, he made repeated mentions of his service. Mr. Buttigieg told reporters after an event on Friday that a president needed to tread lightly on the world stage to avoid conflict. “I have low confidence that this administration is capable of doing that. It’s one more reason we need a different kind of president. Ideally, one who knows, personally, what it means to be sent off to war.”

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In the interview Saturday, Mr. Buttigieg, who is gay, described what it was like serving in the military both under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and after it was repealed in 2011. Mr. Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015 after returning from Afghanistan; he has previously said living in a war zone compelled him to come out so that he could openly pursue a relationship. “It wasn’t like flipping a switch,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “ ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was over when I went to Afghanistan. I was not out at the time. There was plenty of casual homophobic humor definitely going around in my unit.”

More..

https://www.wsj.com/articles/buttigieg-leans-in-on-his-military-service-11558357127 (paid subscription)

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In the cover story of TIME a few weeks ago, he said that when he was in Afghanistan he realized that he might die without ever experiencing real love and this pushed him to come out after he came back.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I think he's doing this deliberately, letting the electorate know him.

He's being smart about it, how he rolls out his ideas and visions.

People can't vote for him if they don't see who he truly is.