I’m not in the habit of writing posts about spats on X, but sometimes, it is necessary to set the record straight.
The discussion of Pete Hegeth’s decision to fire a half-dozen senior officers started out in a very predictable direction.
The mission of our military is to be killers
Deadly, terrifying, ruthlessly efficient killers
Biden hired for social justice instead
Trump and Hegseth are bringing back the warfighters
— Jon Terry (@leankitjon) February 22, 2025
RedState Coverage of Pentagon Firings:
You’re Fired: Trump Cans Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Presumably Over Emphasis on DEI – RedState
Trump’s Radical Choice for Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Could Rattle the Military Establishment – RedState
Hegseth: There’s No Purge List, but Officers Who Don’t Follow Trump’s Orders ‘Will Find the Door’ – RedState
Naturally, it became more academic and insightful as it progressed.
Vance is a combat veteran. Hegseth is a combat veteran.
— Jon Terry (@leankitjon) February 23, 2025
Calling Vance a combat vet really set off the Low-T crowd.
Vance never saw combat – so he’s not a combat veteran.
— Briantology10304 (@Briantology101) February 23, 2025
Wrong! He was in the green zone in Iraq. He did not see combat. He was a public affairs clerk.
— Andy (@AndrewDevoss) February 23, 2025
For reasons that I can’t fathom, The Dispatch’s Jonah Goldberg decided to wade into discussion using it as a way of denigrating Vance in a typically Goldberg kind of way.
Vance is not a combat veteran. He is a veteran and that deserves respect. But he did not see combat. https://t.co/zdslN5CSPh
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) February 23, 2025
It’s really funny seeing Goldberg pull that stunt as his fellow The Dispatch writer, David French, has repeatedly allowed himself to be referred to as a “combat veteran” when he spent his time in Iraq as a JAG officer on a well-protected base. At this link is just one of the many examples you can find of French being referred to as a sorry mother… I’m sorry, I meant “combat veteran.”
As you can see from the Community Note, that didn’t go all that well for him.
Vance is a combat veteran. The fact that he was a journalist is irrelevant. If you served in an area of operations and were authorized hostile fire pay, you are entitled to be called a combat veteran. Vance has never portrayed himself as Rambo or as anything other than a Marine doing his job. He was stationed in Anbar Province from August 2005 to February 2006. this was at the height of the Sunni insurgency in that province. He was in Anbar at the same time as the only female Marine officer who was killed in action. Major Megan McClung was a public affairs officer, and she arrived in Anbar in January 2006, so, in Goldberg’s figuring, her death was not in combat or something.
What Vance did in Iraq has been well-covered, and former comrades who don’t like his politics have been interviewed (JD Vance’s Marine buddies back his service over his politics). Vance went to Iraq, and he served in a very dangerous area. He was not in direct combat with the Iraqi insurgents, but other people at his duty station and serving in his job were killed in action. He’s a combat veteran. Grow up and deal with it.
