On Friday, the Huffington Post ran an article from Andrew Reinbach titled “the honor of Senator Joni Ernst.” In it, Reinbach does his best to tear down Ernst’s military record by claiming she shouldn’t be considered a combat veteran.
Reinbach admits that under the military’s definition, Ernst is a combat veteran, “because she served in a combat zone.” But Reinbach goes to great lengths to make sure readers know he doesn’t consider her a combat veteran because she “was never in a firefight, or for that matter attacked at all; [her unit] delivered supplies, and later, guarded the front gate and ran perimeter patrol at their home base outside Kuwait City, Camp Arifjan.”
Seriously, every sentence of his hit piece drips with disdain for the senator. “Real combat veterans I spoke to,” Reinbach wrote, before quoting a single Vietnam veteran to back up his claim. That veteran, Larry Hanft, earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge during his service and does not think Ernst is a combat veteran. Hanft, an Iowa resident and registered Democrat, had already said as much in a letter to the editor during Ernst’s campaign.
Reinbach noted that “convoy duty in Iraq was dangerous work,” but since Ernst never took fire, she really wasn’t in danger.
“In the 1168th’s 14 months in theater, the unit was never under fire, or hit by a roadside bomb,” Reinbach wrote. “The deployment’s only injury occurred on its last day in Kuwait, when a sergeant dislocated his shoulder.”
So to Reinbach, the fact that Ernst and her unit were lucky enough to not be blown up while traveling on the extremely dangerous Main Supply Route Tampa means she’s not worthy of being called a combat veteran.
Reinbach also quotes Lt. Col. Alayne Conway as saying Ernst should clarify that she wasn’t in firefights and to say those who were “are the guys you should roll out the red carpet for.” He frames her comment to suggest that she has “scant respect” for Ernst.
But a search of the comments section (oh, I went there — more on that later) finds an entry from Conway herself, saying Reinbach “manipulated” her words.
“Senator Joni Ernst is a combat veteran. Period,” Conway wrote. “Andrew Reinbach manipulated my words, and I am angry and embarrassed that a so-called journalist would deliberately take out of context a small portion of our 15-minute discussion.”
She added: “I never questioned Sen. Ernst’s service, or that of my brothers and sisters in arms; to allow the Huffington Post’s readers to think otherwise is not only a disservice to Sen. Ernst, but to all those who wear the uniform of the United States. In a cheap attempt to besmirch the military service of Sen. Ernst, the Huffington Post instead has insulted all the men and women of the Armed Forces who have deployed in service to their nation.”
Reinbach responded to Conway’s comment, by saying he “in no way” misquoted her and said he asked if he could quote her and read her words back to her, to which she consented.
Reinbach did not answer a Washington Examiner request for clarification as to whether he read Conway back her full remarks or just the quote he used in his article. He said asking that was “based on a phony premise about journalism and of journalistic standards,” adding that he stands by his account of the conversation.
Reinbach goes on in his article to insinuate that Ernst is dishonorable.
“In the military, personal honor is real,” Reinbach wrote. “Soldiers are expected to tell the truth, honor their commitments, and not split hairs. And for good reason: If you’re in combat and don’t do what you say you will, people go home in body bags.”
Ernst is telling the truth. She is a combat veteran as defined by the Department of Defense. She provided supplies like water and ammunition to troops. If she and her unit hadn’t done that, then just as Reinbach wrote, people would have gone home in body bags.
Reinbach admits that “driving trucks in convoy or guarding bases can be dangerous, and soldiers die that way,” but since neither Ernst nor anyone in her unit died, they weren’t really in danger.
Sure, driving supplies might not stand “up to the average citizen’s idea of combat duty.” But I’m willing to bet the average citizen also wouldn’t insult members of the military — including infantrymen — who put themselves in danger but were never harmed. Ernst was in a combat zone, risking her life and leading her unit through danger. The fact that they were lucky enough to survive does not lessen that.
Further, a search of the comment section finds that while Reinbach quoted one veteran who doesn’t think Ernst deserves to be called a combat veteran, and cherry-picked a quote from another, the issue is far from settled even among members of the military.
Some commenters who said they had served in combat agreed with Reinbach that Ernst shouldn’t be called a combat veteran. Others did not.
Ken Sawyer, who wrote he is a Marine Corp. veteran, said that while he has higher respect for those who engage the enemy, Ernst “is a combat veteran in my eyes.”
David Burgess, who said he is retired from the Navy, wrote that “If you served in a combat zone, you are a combat vet period.”
Wesley Merchant, who said he had served the military for 27 years, wrote that “If [Ernst] entered a combat zone, she is a combat veteran and is entitled to use the Military Honor card, by far better than all the Congressman and woman [sic] and Senators who haven’t even been in the military.”
In a response to the Examiner, Reinbach wrote that he asked Ernst’s staff to give examples of her being on the convoy and that they did not. Although in the response he linked to, Ernst spokeswoman Brook Hougesen wrote:
“The route from Kuwait to Baghdad — Main Supply Route (MSR) Tampa — was one of the most dangerous roads in Iraq during the war. Senator Ernst also physically led convoys into Iraq/all the way up to Baghdad even though her unit was stationed in Kuwait and operated northward. Her unit not only supported units in Iraq — they physically were in Iraq often on transportation missions for at least the first half of their tour.”
But because there are apparently now Ernst-truthers, here’s Ernst explaining that her “boots were on that ground that is now held by [the Islamic State]” during a debate last year against her opponent, Rep. Bruce Braley. Ernst delivered supplies to Logistics Base Seitz, Baghdad International Airport and Tallil Air Base.
In his e-mail to the Examiner, Reinbach seemingly toned down his article, saying that he “explained her claim to being a combat veteran accurately and say that convoy duty was dangerous” and “I merely explain and document what that service was.”
Okay, but he could have done that without the suggestion that Ernst is not “real” combat veteran.
Reinbach also mentioned two instances where veterans serving in Congress and who had lost limbs were attacked by other members of Congress. In one instance he wrote of former Rep. Joe Walsh attacking Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., for politicizing her military service. As a reminder, Duckworth lost both of her legs after her helicopter was shot down.
It’s an odd example to give, since Walsh lost his re-election in part due to those comments.
Reinbach can spin his article however he wants. But the fact remains that he is attacking a woman who served her country honorably and never claimed to be something she isn’t, or to have done something she didn’t, and whose account of her own service has never been contradicted by anyone who witnessed it.
