Congressional stolen valor?

Congressman Troy Nehls (R-TX)

United States Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX) is being accused of stolen valor, or rather, continuing stolen valor. We briefly discussed the kerfuffle a while back. Since we didn’t have records in hand, it was just reporting on the goings on. Our excellent community here posted a bunch more in the comments there as the incident unfolded.

Nehls, as you can see in his official photo above, in quite proud of his status as a retired US Army officer. You’ll note that he’s wearing a miniature Combat Infantryman Badge. The news today concerns the continued wear of that badge. It seem that while he was deployed in OIF/OEF he was awarded a CIB, despite being a public affairs officer. The badge is only meant to go to infantrymen.

From WWII through Vietnam, there are many cases (we’ve documented them here) where non-infantry actually doing infantry shit in combat received a CIB. Hardcore blue corders take offense, but I think most of us can agree that if you’re doing the job of the infantry in combat, the CIB is an appropriate award, even if it’s technically out of regs.

Big Army did a review on Nehls’ CIB, and found that since he wasn’t Infantry Branch, assigned to an Infantry MOS when he was in action, that he didn’t rate the CIB. C’est la vie, right? Well, Nehls is drawing some ire for continuing to wear the award.

From Military Times;

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, on Wednesday, accused Army officials of political attacks against him following questions about his continued wear of a Combat Infantry Badge that was revoked by military leaders last year.

In a letter to Army Human Resources Command, Nehls, an Army veteran, asked for an investigation into the handling of the award, given to infantrymen involved in ground combat operations. The 56-year-old served 21 years in the Army Reserve, deploying to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nehls was awarded his CIB while serving as a civil affairs officer with the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan in 2008. Last month, CBS News reported the award was revoked in 2023 after an Army review determined he was not eligible for the badge.

According to the CBS News investigation, Nehls’ Combat Infantry Badge was revoked because he was serving as a civil affairs officer and not as an infantryman at the time of his award.

But Nehls has continued to wear a CIB lapel pin while tending to business around Capitol Hill and on campaign stops, prompting scrutiny from a host of media outlets.

In Wednesday’s letter, Nehls accused Army officials of ignoring his previous requests on the issue and insisted that he was eligible for the combat badge.

“I further believe this is a concerted effort to discredit my military service and continued service to the American people as a member of Congress,” he wrote. He also urged officials to “get it right” in regards to revising his military records and reauthorizing the award.

Nehls did not respond to requests for comment on the letter or the badge.

In an interview with NOTUS this week, Nehls said that his service records show a designation as an infantry soldier and suggested that he was being targeted by Army leaders because he is “Mr. MAGA guy.”

Earlier this year, the Office of Congressional Ethics announced it would look into reports that Nehls improperly used campaign funds for personal use, unrelated to the combat badge controversy.

Nehls’ congressional website says he earned two Bronze Star medals during his time in the service, but CBS News also reported that only one of those awards is in his official military record. He retired at the rank of major in 2009.

I’m reminded of the removal of Mary Edwards Walker from the list of Medal of Honor recipients. You see, she was a civilian surgeon for the Army during the time in which she displayed her heroism. As such, the Army rescinded the award many years later (as they also did for Buffalo Bill Cody and many others in a comprehensive review), but they didn’t for others such as Leonard Wood, who was also a contract surgeon (which is to say a civilian employee) of the Army when he got his MoH.

Dr. Walker, being a cantankerous sort, and not having her medal physically removed from her possession (the Army claimed they lacked the authority to even ask for it back), continued to wear it until the day she died. In her mind, she’d earned it, and she’d wear it with pride. Her award was, many decades after her death, re-conferred. She is once more on the list of MoH recipients.

Similarly, there’s the case of CNO Admiral Michael Boorda. You might remember he killed himself when people claimed he was wearing “V” devices on Vietnam War medals that he hadn’t earned. While posthumously the Navy concluded he had in fact not earned the “V” devices, he had been told by high ranking officials at the time of the award that he rated them, so made a good faith error when he put them on.

Is it “stolen valor” to wear an award you never earned? Absolutely. Is it SV to wear an award you earned but later had taken away? That seems more a grey area.

Category: Army, Stolen Valor, Veterans in politics, Veterans in the news