Mike Pompeo and the 1st Gulf War
CIA Director Mike Pompeo is about to become President Trump’s next Secretary of State and today we hear from Splinter News that a number of his bios on the internet claim that he was a veteran of Desert Storm. Pompeo was an Army captain and West Point grad from 1986 – 1991. At the time of the Gulf War, he was assigned to the 2d Squadron, 7th Cavalry with the 4th Infantry Division. 2/7 Cav didn’t deploy to Desert Storm.
Splinter News admits that none of the bios are directly quoting Pompeo.
The question was first raised on Twitter Friday morning by Ned Price, a former CIA officer who served under President Obama, and who very publicly quit the CIA rather than work for President Trump, announcing the decision in a February 2017 op-ed in the Washington Post. Price pointed out that among other places, Pompeo’s Wikipedia page suggests that he was deployed. It currently states that Pompeo “served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division in the Gulf War.”…The claim has also been repeated in numerous media outlets, either due to sloppy writing or outright incorrect information.
Well, when I expose valor thieves for a false narrative, I only use direct quotes from the individual – not from the press, unless I can find photos of them wearing certain articles of clothing that condemn them. That’s pretty much what Splinter News has done, since no one can a find a direct quote from Pompeo where he claims to have been a Desert Storm Veteran.
Category: Who knows
Gulf War Era veteran.
All he is doing is “anticipating the command” knowing that 30 years from now some asshole commission lead by a retired asshole general officer will declare that everyone and their momma who served in the military from 1985 until 2000 is a Gulf War Veteran regardless if they left the corner tavern or deployed. Exactly what was done to real Vietnam War Veterans. I now be a Vietnam War Veteran although I was not (yet) awarded a Vietnam Service Medal. Well I would be if I didn’t tell them where to stick their lapel pin.
Says your crystal ball, CM? I’m willing to give the guy a pass, up to and until Jonn discovers an actual false narrative. Using Wiki to try to hang someone is amateur hour stuff, not to mention a dick move.
For the record, seems I was sporting a SWASM on my rack, with a star, back in the day. Just luck of the draw, if one can call it that.
It hardly started with VietNam. Everyone who served during WWII was called a WWII veteran, and I understand the same applied to WWI, although I don’t recall it ever being an issue.
What happened to make this such a touchy thing all of a sudden? Yes, being one who served during but not in, I never ever claimed to have been IN VietNam or even being a vet of that era until fairly recently.
I sorta get that everything about VietNam is like an open sore, but I can’t quite figure what changed so much from WWII.
I think it had to do with the post-WWII reception for people coming back from the war zones, or leaving the service even if they hadn’t deployed to Europe or Asia. They were well-received.
By contrast, bringing up your service during or “in” Vietnam in the 1960s – 1970s did not get a good reception from a lot of people. I never had any kind of bad reaction from anyone but I didn’t bring it up at all. I just let it go.
OWB, I did pass through Vietnam TDY to Bangkok. We were due back to Saigon but a Tet hit so we overflew to Clark. The burr under my saddle blanket is although I was on the ground, I was NOT a Vietnam Veteran because I didn’t meet the criteria. Never bothered with a Vietnam Era hat until I bought one last month for the protest. Turns out I may qualify if JUSMAGTHAI (I.e., then classified name for Laos support) and we are researching old LES for the evidence. I believe the president also awarded a Bronze Star Medal to all who served in WWII. I call bullshit on that as well.
My dad enlisted just before WW2 broke out and was Coast Arty. The guys going overseas when war broke out were picked as they stood in formation and it was the odd even pick and he stayed in the states training people on those 16 inch coastal gun mounts that after the gun was fired, it telescoped below the berm so it couldn’t be spotted but the smoke ring was a dead give away if one was watching off shore. So again I went off on a tangent instead of just saying my Dad was considered a WW2 Vet even though he didn’t go over seas. My late Uncle Johnny Stein Was an Arty Officer over in France and my other late Uncle Jake Rogoff was a doctor/surgeon and landed in Normandy sometime after the initial waves went in. I left the Lady of the seas before she changed home ports in 1967 and was involved in 9 Viet Nam operations during that time.
The Left is upset that their controlled leftist encyclopedia is wrong?
Ned Price should go piss up a river then.
Sphincter news
“Pompeo’s Wikipedia page suggests that he was deployed.” Mr. Ned (Willlll-burrrr) Price
Ned was with the CIA and doesn’t know that anyone can put anything into Wiki? Or worse, he knows and decided that, America being stupid, having not elected H. “Wide Load” Clinton, we won’t know any better and blame Pompeo. I’ll take door #2, Monte, and call Price a horse’s ass.
This clown is whining because somebody somewhere reported something that was not entirely correct? OK. Your whine is duly noted. Of course, all I really want to know is if he is equally outraged about every other bit of “news” which is at least as incorrect as this bit is. No? Gee, I wonder why.
It isn’t the case here, but you need to be careful when checking the claims of Desert Storm vets. My V Corps unit in Germany (HHC 16th CSG) had a reduced manning level that required augmentation for combat. We got personnel from active and reserve units in the US and Germany (V Corps HQ had a unit), an ammo ordnance officer from an MMC in Korea, and a TC officer from a unit in Hawaii.
Is Pompeo the right person for the job of SecState? Well, I hope so. We’ll see.
On the other hand, Isn’t this DSvet vs DS era vet someone else’s doing unless there is some proof that Pompeo did it himself?
I will withhold judgment until the air is cleared.
I am both a Vietnam Vet and a Vietnam Era vet.
That should clear things up.
I think when one has the chops to be appointed to head the CIA and was honor grad in West Point, one doesn’t need to have been deployed in a 72 hour war to be considered as having accomplished something. I doubt he had anything to say about whether his unit deployed or not. No one asked for my druthers when I was sent to the Viet of the Nam. Of course as a company grade officer, Big Green doesn’t care where you want to serve. You can tell it in your dream sheet, but it rarely has any impact. Neddy is a proggie douche who likely has never been outside the wire.
There would never have been any kind of a dispute about this if they had only asked me./smile
I was on Carson and in the 4th ID at the time of the Gulf War and pretty much know just who and from which units people did actually deploy.
Oh, Well, water under the bridge now.
Here’s Pompeo’s official CIA biography. There’s no mention of any deployment to Operation DESERT STORM. (Please note that Pompeo graduated first in his class at West Point in 1986; people with the character and intelligence to accomplish things of that nature typically don’t find it necessary to go around embellishing their records.) I’d recommend going with this CIA info rather than paying attention to anything posted anonymously to Wikipedia.
https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/leadership/mike-pompeo.html
‘Mike Pompeo
Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Mike Pompeo was sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on January 23, 2017. As Director, he manages intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, and liaison relationships with foreign intelligence services.
Before becoming Director, Mr. Pompeo was serving in his fourth term as congressman from Kansas’ 4th District. He served on the House Intelligence Committee as well as on the Energy and Commerce Committees. In 2014, Mr. Pompeo was also appointed to the House Select Benghazi Committee to investigate the tragic events in Benghazi, Libya.
Prior to his service in Congress, Mr. Pompeo founded Thayer Aerospace, where he served as CEO for more than a decade. He later became President of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturing, distribution, and service company.
Mr. Pompeo graduated first in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1986 and served as a cavalry officer patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the US Army’s Fourth Infantry Division. After leaving active duty, Mr. Pompeo graduated from Harvard Law School, having been an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Mr. Pompeo was born on December 30, 1963, in Orange, California. He is married to Susan Pompeo and has one son, Nick.’
that bio says nothing at all about any war….go figure
Fake outrage. This comes down to an error of a single word. Change “in” to “during”, a distinction that completely changes the sentence and a difference most people wouldn’t understand the difference.
This looks like a political attack to make him look less legitimate. Which with all the lies routinely told and/or covered up on the left is a bit ridiculous.
Well, you guys are the pros in this sort of thing but I am not seeing any posing or posturing in Pompeo’s biography. The man’s CV sounds pretty impressive, I do not anticipate any misrepresentations over a relatively inconsequential matter.
But, what do I know? I had no problems with Rex Tillerson.
I think this is right up there with Russian collusion, golden showers, porn actress engagements etc.. Just more left wing bull crap.
World War II vet vs Viet Nam vet is really an apples and oranges thing. There’s no comparison. If you served during World War II, and were in the World, you were a WWII vet. Pretty simple. If you served during the Viet Nam War, and were in Viet Nam, you were a Viet Nam vet. There’s your real comparison. If you served during the Viet Nam War and were NOT in Viet Nam, or actively participating in the war, you were not a Viet Nam War vet. Seems fairly straight forward to me.
Yup. To piggy back on what you said… Both the Germans and Japanese sent submarines close to our shores during World War II.
The Japanese even carried out a bombardment on the West Coast. Then we had the Japanese unmanned balloons launched to drop bombs on the U.S.
A German U Boat was sunk off the East Coast not far from where I’m at, with perished crew buried at a national cemetery in the area… in graves dug by German prisoners of war who were held in one of the local military installations in this area.
Back then, our air and naval assets were on wartime footing in the American Theater, and faced legitimate risks from the enemy.
So calling everybody that served in World War II a “World War II Veteran” would be a reasonable thing to do.
I’ve got a wiki account and can edit any page I want. It’s not that hard to do. Unless a person is claiming that him/herself as in Kerry, Blumenthal etc. then I will withhold judgement.
He served when so many snowflakes on the left did not. It’s not a wonder they are trying anything and everything to spike his nomination in the “resist at all costs” Democratic Party. Even people that voted for him to run The CIA suddenly have discovered he is not qualified to be in government.
Honestly, I’m willing to bet that the same people who are making hay of this are the ones who put it in his Wikipedia bio in the first place.
Given the … enthusiastic bashing … done on fakers, that sort of set-up would be a dirty trick indeed.
Just checked his Wikipedia page and not one word about the Gulf War. Just says he served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division.
Back in 1991, the month of February, I departed the Frozen hell that is/was Wildflecken, FRG. However, I didn’t go to the ‘sand box’. I got the ‘booby prize’. I got sent to the 5th Imperial Dragoon’s at Ft. Polk. Ya, I was one of the 250,000 who had to stay home and mind the store. I watched the war on CNN (back when they could be trusted…sort of.)
I am on my way to DC and holding a press conference in front of the WH. Film at 11.