It has been more than three decades since the United States elected as commander in chief a veteran who fought in combat. In 2020, that period will be extended after the only candidate who fought in battle dropped out without making a debate stage or registering above 1% in polls.
Two other Democratic candidates served in uniform in a war zone — Pete Buttigieg in Afghanistan and Tulsi Gabbard in Iraq — but neither fired a weapon or themselves came under fire. President Trump avoided Vietnam service because of bone spurs, Democratic front-runner Joe Biden because of asthma.
By contrast, Seth Moulton, 40, a Massachusetts congressman, served four tours in Iraq during his seven years as a Marine Corps officer from 2001 to 2008, retiring as a captain. He fought in one of the first American units to reach Baghdad in 2003 and led troops in intense battles in which some of his Marines were killed or wounded. He was awarded two medals for valor.
“I felt when I came back from Iraq that I’d seen the consequences of failed leadership in Washington, decisions made by people in Congress and the White House who had no idea what it was like to be a Marine in the infantry on the ground,” Moulton said. “I don’t think you can ever fully understand it [combat] unless you’ve been through it yourself.”
In the 2003 Battle of Nasiriyah, the first major battle after the U.S.-led invasion in March, 2nd Lt. Moulton “led his platoon in a destructive assault on the enemy’s position” and cleared an enemy stronghold. When one Marine from his platoon was critically wounded from friendly fire, Moulton, “without regard for his personal safety,” rushed to his aid, and arranged medical assistance, according to a citation approved by future Pentagon chief Jim Mattis. Moulton received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for valor.
During the two-week Battle of Najaf in August 2004, 1st Lt. Moulton “fearlessly exposed himself” to machine gun, sniper, rocket, and mortar enemy fire while leading his platoon. At one point, Moulton and his Marines “repeatedly assaulted into an enemy that was rolling grenades down stairs, and blindly firing machine guns into anything that attempted to ascend.” Enduring 135-degree heat and sleeping less than two hours in two days, he successfully directed the destruction of a mortar that had wounded three of his men. Moulton received a Bronze Star with combat “V” for his actions.
He later returned to Iraq for a third tour as a special assistant to Gen. David Petraeus, who later became CIA director, and a fourth as a liaison to tribal leaders in the south of the country. After gaining two more degrees from Harvard University, Moulton in 2014 successfully defeated a nine-term Democratic incumbent congressman, John Tierney, in a primary and entered Congress.
But despite having what one Republican strategist described as “the most perfect resume of all time,” Moulton made barely a ripple in the crowded field of presidential hopefuls during his four-month bid. When his campaign ended last month, so too did the possibility that Democrats would nominate an experienced battle leader to be the next commander in chief.
“I don’t think there’s a better foil for him [President Trump] than a young combat veteran, which is why I was in the race,” Moulton told the Washington Examiner in an interview three days after he ended his presidential bid.
It has been more than a quarter-century since a U.S. president served in combat. Several presidents who were veterans, including five-star Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon abroad, and Ronald Reagan, stationed stateside during World War II, never saw combat.
George H.W. Bush, the most recent combat veteran president, was a Navy bomber pilot during World War II and parachuted out of his burning plane as it crashed into the sea about 500 miles away from Japan. John F. Kennedy in World War II was a lieutenant who commanded a PT boat in the South Pacific and swam three miles with 10 other men to a small island after his boat was struck by a Japanese destroyer. Harry Truman was a World War I artillery captain in France.
The last president who engaged an enemy on the ground at close quarters, as Moulton did, was Theodore Roosevelt, a cavalryman who led the Rough Riders into battle as a colonel during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The last president to have fought as an infantryman, like Moulton, was William McKinley, during the American Civil War.
“My whole political career is based on my war service and war associates,” Truman once said. Similarly, Moulton says that he would not have gotten involved in politics if not for his military career.
Moulton expressed disappointment that Democratic National Committee rules prevented him from taking part in June and July primary debates. “When you’re repeatedly excluding the only governor from a state that Trump won,” referring to Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who appeared in only the July debate round and won’t make the cut for the September debate, “and the only combat veteran in the race from the debate stage, I just don’t think you’ve set up a smart system to pick the best nominee to take on Donald Trump,” Moulton said.
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 2009 until 2017. Buttigieg said that while volunteering for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in Iowa, he felt guilty that so many people in rural communities had joined the military. An Arabic minor at Harvard, he thought intelligence work would be a “good fit.” While he was hesitant to join under while George W. Bush was president, he made the leap after Barack Obama was elected. In 2010, soon after joining the Navy, Buttigieg ran for Indiana state treasurer but lost. He won his mayoral election in 2011.
Attaining the rank of lieutenant, Buttigieg served about six months in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2014, during his first mayoral term. He spent much of his time behind a desk as an intelligence officer and drove an armored vehicle on convoy security detail during his deployment. Buttigieg often mentions that he left the safety of the base and “crossed the wire” 119 times, by his own count.
Buttigieg’s decision to join the military appears to have been carefully calculated to boost his political career, an Army veteran who was an adviser to two Democratic congressional candidates said. While Buttigieg talks up his military service, Moulton underplays his. “Who counts the number of times they’ve gone outside a base?” he said. “It’s good that Mayor Pete served, but there’s a world of difference between driving a Chevy Suburban in Kabul, where plenty of foreigners walk around without a problem, and closing on the enemy in combat.”
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003, while she was a state representative. She deployed to Camp Anaconda, a large, heavily fortified base In Iraq, for 12 months from July 2004, serving as a specialist in a field medical unit. The camp was under occasional rocket attack, but those inside the base were in little danger. Gabbard was awarded a Combat Medical Badge for providing support to infantry engaged in active combat. She was later commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Hawaii Army National Guard and in 2009 led a military police platoon in Kuwait. She remains a major in the National Guard.
“I have a lot of respect for Tulsi and Pete for their service,” Moulton said. “They did incredibly important service overseas. But I also think that the on-the-ground leadership experience that I uniquely had in this race should be valued for making our commander in chief.”
Moulton said it would be good to have a commander in chief with experience on the ground. “It’s not just the experience of being in the combat, it’s the experience of having to lead in that in that situation. And ultimately, the president of the United States is a leadership position.”
Though he was dedicated to his service, Moulton was a critic of the decision to go to war. In June, he called on primary front-runner Biden to apologize for voting in favor of the Iraq War. Biden has since claimed falsely that he was against the war from “the moment” it began.
Unlike Gabbard, who calls to remove troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible, Moulton takes a more moderate approach. The Hawaiian is “trying to repeat the mistake that President Obama made a few years ago,” Moulton said. “What’s even worse than pulling our troops out is pulling them out and having to send them back in.”
Military service is often an asset for politicians. The late Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was a Navy jet pilot in Vietnam and a prisoner of war for more than five years, is often called a hero, a label Moulton has always resisted. Others face scrutiny for their military records or lack of them.
Some presidents and failed nominees in recent decades have been condemned for escaping Vietnam. Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon in 2017 said that Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and now a Utah senator, “hid behind” his religion when he received draft deferments for Mormon missionary service and college. Candidate Bill Clinton in 1992 came under fire for enrolling in but not joining the ROTC as a way to avoid the draft. Former President George W. Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard days before his student draft deferment expired, allowing him to fulfill his service in Texas rather than Vietnam.
John Kerry’s Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Heart badges became a point of controversy during his 2004 presidential bid when a Republican-funded group highlighted veterans that alleged that Kerry lied to get some of his decorations. He received a Silver Star for responding to an ambush by beaching his patrol boat, running to shore, and killing a Viet Cong solider who had a rocket launcher, saving his crew from attack.
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, took heat from some veterans for heavily advertising her “combat veteran” credentials. She was an Army National Guard lieutenant colonel and led a company that provided protection detail and transported materials in Kuwait and southern Iraq in 2003 and 2004, but she never engaged with the enemy.
Moulton, on the other hand, is reluctant to talk about his time in combat. He didn’t tout his bravery awards during his first campaign, and his own parents only found out about them by reading the newspaper a few weeks before he was elected to Congress in 2014.
“A lot of Marines I served with did heroic things that were never recognized,” Moulton said, explaining why he withheld the information from his parents and voters. “And I don’t think real combat veterans brag about their military service.”
As for his recent presidential run, looking back now, Moulton recognizes some missteps. He launched his presidential bid in April, later than other candidates, and just before Biden entered the race. While other candidates try to “outdo each other on promising free stuff,” as he put it, Moulton declined to support proposals like a single-payer “Medicare for all” system that would virtually eliminate private insurance or broad free college tuition plans (he proposed tuition assistance for those who complete some form of public service).
“Given the results of the polling in the primary, that wasn’t a popular position,” Moulton said in a late August town hall meeting about veterans issues in Fairfax, Virginia.
Strengthening national defense, promoting public service, and raising awareness about mental health were major themes of Moulton’s presidential campaign.
“National security is an incredibly important issue, but it’s a tough sell,” Moulton said. He is proud, though, of raising awareness about mental health after he revealed in May that he struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. He would wake up in a cold sweat and think about some experiences every day, such as passing by an injured boy lying on the road in Iraq that he and his Marines couldn’t stop to help for fear or an ambush. He also missed the sense of camaraderie that came with military life.
But with regular therapy sessions, his symptoms subsided. “Since opening up about it, I’ve seen what a powerful example it’s been because so many other veterans have come up to me and said, ‘Because you shared your story, I’ve decided to share mine, and get help,’” Moulton said. “And a lot of non-veterans have come up to me and said the same thing.”
Moulton now turns his attention to his reelection in 2020, helping elect more veterans to Congress and fostering understanding among members of Congress about foreign policy.
“Whether you’re a veteran or not, if you’re in Congress, you ought to make an effort to learn more about what this is like,” Moulton said. “Go to the places where our wars are being fought today and meet folks on the ground and try to understand what this experience is all about.”
