Buttigieg Touts Military Service, But Wary Of Overstating Role

[brooklynite]

Indiana Public Media

Pete Buttigieg strides past an oversized photograph of himself dressed in fatigues, the Afghan horizon behind him, as he enters a Des Moines arena for an Iowa Democratic Party gala.

In his first Iowa television ad, he holds a rifle and points it toward the rubble at his feet, introducing himself, “As a veteran ...”

Like candidates from the time of George Washington, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor is leaning hard on his seven-month deployment as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan as a powerful credential. As he does, he walks a narrow path between giving his wartime service its due and overstating it.

He is careful not to call himself a combat veteran even as he notes the danger he faced. One of his former competitors for the Democratic nomination, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, has drawn a sharp contrast between his four combat tours in Iraq and Buttigieg’s service. And a former commanding officer, who said he thinks Buttigieg would be within his rights to say he is a combat veteran, nonetheless questions the use of a rifle in his ads.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I believe that Buttigieg was issued a rifle, wasn't he?

If so, then he has a perfect right to use it in his ads. It doesn't matter if he never fired it.

Just having been issued this weapon means he had to be ready to fire it.

They also serve who stand and wait.

[JonLP24]

2. Too late

I was an 88M myself we drove long haul supply convoys in Iraq there were IEDs, EFPs, small arms fire, complex attacks (not on any convoy I was on), truck hijackings -- they would target third country nationals vehicles because they didn't have weapons or armor they just drove fiberglass Mercedes Benz semi trucks.

None of this means I should be President.

[madaboutharry]

4. Mayor Buttigieg is not saying that being in the military

is the reason he should be president.

[JonLP24]

5. I meant that he is overstating the veteran stuff

to be fair Tulsi Gabbard does too but my experience is similar in that it lead to a strong desire to change American foreign policy meaning less war but I know as soon I mention her name I'm opening up myself to a flame war.

I also have a problem with Moulton comparing his four tours to Buttigieg. I'm just not impressed is all.

[madaboutharry]

3. It will be so great to have a president who knows who he is

and doesn't need to inflate his biography or his job in the military. That is one of the things that I think people like about Mayor Buttigieg.