Records do not support Tim Sheehy’s ‘shot in Afghanistan’ claim
Tim Sheehy is one of the Republican candidates for the US Senate. Sheehy claimed that he was shot in the arm in Afghanistan during combat. However, a former park ranger said that that Sheehy shot himself at Glacier national park. When asked if there were any military records backing his claims of being shot in Afghanistan, Sheehy admitted that there was none.
From The Guardian:
Sheehy has maintained that he was shot in the arm during combat in Afghanistan – and questioning that account amounts to false accusations of stolen valor.
But an ex-ranger at Glacier national park in Montana’s Rocky Mountains has publicly recounted how Sheehy shot himself at the park in 2015 before going to a hospital for emergency treatment. The ranger subsequently issued Sheehy a $525 fine for illegally discharging a firearm in the national park – which he paid, according to government records, as the Washington Post has previously reported.
A spokesperson for Sheehy has accused the ranger, a registered Democrat named Kim Peach, of attempting to spread a “defamatory story”. Sheehy himself has sought to parry Peach’s version of events by saying he had never been hit by gunfire that day in 2015.
As he repeated to Kelly, Sheehy says he fell while hiking, which made his gun go off – and the only reason he went to the hospital was because he was worried the bullet already in his arm from his service in Afghanistan may have become dislodged.
Sheehy nonetheless also contends that he refused to report being shot in Afghanistan by friendly fire because he did not want his fellow military members to face an investigation over a relatively small injury, as he put it in his interview with Kelly.
Kelly pushed Sheehy to address whether any medical records would confirm his version of events. But Sheehy ended up acknowledging that he did not have any such records.
Additional Reading:
Reed, B. (2024, November 4). Republican US senate candidate Tim Sheehy admits no records prove his claim he was shot at war. The Guardian. Link.
Category: 2024 Election, Veterans in politics, Veterans in the news
There was this time at band camp….
Quite often Hack Stone found himself under hostile gunfire, but most of that was driving out the front gate of Bolling AFB when he lived in Base Housing.
That should be pretty easy to prove. “Friendly fire” would have likely been 5.56, far different from the handgun round, and easy to distinguish. Why in Gods name do these dudes that have honorably served have to shit all over that service with “look at me” lies???
My service was anything but special. I enlited, went through initial training, was assigned to a reserve unit which was then shut down during realignment in the 80’s. Being as there were no other reserve medical units within travel distance, I was moved to IRR, and finished out my enlistment. I did nothing special, and went nowhere, but I did sign on the line, and was ready and willing to go where I was needed. While it will never measure up to what many here and elsewhere have done, I will NEVER lie about or embellish the truth.
It just doesn’t seem that hard to tell the truth…
“…and the Truth shall set ye free…”
Not hard to keep your story straight when you tell the truth, every.damn.time!
Nothing wrong with going where you are told to go, and doing what you are told to do.
Ukrainians pounding on the Norks in Kursk already:
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-soldiers-attacked-under-fire-russia-kursk-ukraine-official-2024-11
when shooting the M79 you can see the round for a split second. And the .38 spcl has the same fps. Nobody cares about one’s service as long as you are honest about your duties. Just don’t fabricate, as we who have served know the difference. It’s pretty easy to check records.
I know why people embellish their records. I have seen it many times. They feel like they coulda/shoulda have done more during their service. I always tell them, why didn’t you stay in, if you are so hellbent on smelling gunpowder in the morning? One of the many lessons I learned early, was that you go to war, but combat comes to you. You have to play by the rules and work hard. War is hard work, especially if gunpowder is your poison of choice. If you don’t play by the rules and push the ROEs, you will get disciplined, and your chances of smoking Talibs become zero. Even worse, people who push the limits hungry for a taste put at risk their entire unit, they become blue falcons, hated by the rest of the guys. That’s why I say that war is hard work. Because to score, the only way is to volunteer for all the stupid patrols and all the stupid missions, take as much of your unit’s workload as you can, ensure you are surrounded by like-minded guys who work hard to play hard and hope that eventually, the Enemy will decide to come out and roll their dice against you. Then you crush them, legally. That’s why later when I became an NCO, I always trained my guys to work hard, to NOT try to look cool because that only brings negative attention to you, and to always share their kills if tactically sound, because the more guns firing on little Mo, the better. Don’t be greedy. If you detect the enemy moving around in the night, share it with the other teams around you. They will love you and invite you to come out and play when they go out hunting. That’s my experience serving with the Recon platoon and the Snippery section. As Battalion assets you get to do a bunch of missions with the platoons in the line companies, but you have to play nice, and not try to look special, because you are not. The line companies loved our ability to detect… Read more »
This is why I like Sam Elliott. He was in the Air National Guard for a while and basically did nothing and went nowhere. This was Vietnam era so he feels a little guilty. But rather than make some s*** up he just says he feels a little guilty about it. I have a million times more respect for that guy, then anybody that just makes stuff up.
He is an actor but when he portrays SGM Plumley or whoever I think he brings an extra ounce of realism to the role because of his service, even though he wasn’t on the LZ X-Ray with the 101st for real.
The same with Clint Eastwood, Tom Selleck, probably many more. Served quietly, nothing spectacular in their service and they really don’t make a big deal out of it.
Same here for not shipping over and going to Viet-Nam on the USS Okinawa and turning down going on Swift Boats.
Well said! I keep tellin’ ya Joe, you keep writing like this and you’re gonna have to change your name.
Very well stayed Joe, and yeah, I feel an little guilty. I made the choices I did, based on my priorities at the time. They involved a girl, a d I wish I’d made better choices. I could have pushed to get into a different kind of unit, but I didn’t. My decision, and my mistake. But I own it..
I was young and dum 17year old. I volunteered for everything , it was the best thing I ever did.
Yep, no need for embellishment for most of us. I did some “special” assignments that, according to the Army, put me in the top 10% or more of NCOs: Old Guard (x2), Recruiter, Drill Sergeant. Of course, we all know that it’s luck of the draw for the latter two assignments and that probably 90% of NCOs would qualify and pass the background check.
I spent a month in Kuwait, 10 months in Iraq, another month in Kyrgyzstan, and eight months in Afghanistan. Twenty-one years total service, one rightfully earned CIB for March-April 2003, and 16 months spent hearing loud noises in foreign countries, waiting for impact, and getting beat down from patrols, heavy loads, and the guilt of not being “in the fight”. The disability hit last week–it’s not for combat wounds or other claims and based solely on my Army medical records. I was fortunate: never wounded, never so much as a broken bone or major surgery, just a bunch of lesser injuries that add up over time.
There can be honor in shedding blood for your country, but not glamour. I was heartless, telling my friends who’d earned Purple Hearts that they failed the Individual Movement Techniques portion of CIB testing. That’s not a light joke, and one I wouldn’t make to a stranger or someone whose body was shattered in combat, but the PH is the one award that no one should aspire to earn, and for which false claims should result in absolute shaming.
Make claims? Have receipts, regardless of political alignment.
Told you about this guy.
What else will he lie about down the road?
And the powers that be do not care as long as he gets in. Classy.