She’s at it again. Ex-governor of South Carolina and ex-ambassador to the Useless Nations spoke today at the Lincoln Dinner in Iowa.
Haley made a point of noting that her husband, Maj. Michael Haley of the South Carolina National Guard, has just left for a year-long deployment. She never mentioned where he was deploying, but after a bit of research, NBC News is reporting that his unit will be “providing support in the Horn of Africa.”
In all honesty, good luck to him and come home safely.
But it’s what his wife said that not only irritates the hell out of me, but also is flatly a lie.
Not being a soldier in the US Army, I have known that the Army has awarded both the CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) and the CMB (Combat Medical Badge) since WWII. Only adding the CAB (Combat Action Badge) in the wake of 9/11 for all non-infantry and non-medic troops.
It was at the Iowa Lincoln Dinner that she plainly stated, as cited by C-SPAN, “MY HUSBAND IS A COMBAT VETERAN. HE DEPLOYED TO AFGHANISTAN.”
She’s wrong. If he really was a “combat veteran,” then he would be wearing the CAB. Just because you are in a combat zone simply doesn’t equate to being a combat veteran.
But I have to be honest… qualifying for the CAB doesn’t seem to be all that death defying.
Case in point would be the saga of Senior Airman Joshua Harhai of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, as noted by a press release from the 171st Air Refueling Wing;
“As Harhai was putting his equipment away at the end of the day, a Type 63 107mm rocket was fired by Taliban forces into Camp Dahlke. He had just finished setting up an initial basic expeditionary airfield resource base layout for contractors. Harhai and others immediately took cover as the rocket was intercepted by a counter rocket, artillery, and mortar missile defense system above him.”
“After the rocket exploded above him, Harhai recalled the sound of high-pitch shrapnel hitting the ground very close to where he was taking cover in a concrete bunker.”
I can’t help but wonder what Army vets of Normandy, Monte Cassino, and Bastogne would think of today’s Army standards.