Iowa’s new U.S. Senator Joni Ernst is often described as the first female combat veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate, but Andrew Reinbach took issue with that label in a recent commentary for the Huffington Post. I’ve posted excerpts after the jump, along with Ernst’s response. Reinbach’s main point is that while Ernst technically qualifies as a combat veteran, she should not use that label, never having come under enemy fire during her service in Iraq and Kuwait.

No one will ever mistake me for a big fan of Ernst, but I disagreed with those who grumbled about the “combat veteran” label last year, and I disagree with Reinbach now. Ernst served in a war zone during wartime. Lots of Americans were severely wounded or killed while performing supply or supporting roles during the Iraq War. Fortunately, the Iowa National Guard’s 1168th Transportation Company was not ambushed and never drove over a bomb. That fact doesn’t diminish the real risks facing everyone who served in the company.

Reinbach did make one valid argument, in my opinion: Ernst should correct those who say she “led troops into combat,” because that phrase gives a misleading impression of her role. Speaking to Radio Iowa about the criticism, Ernst did not directly acknowledge the point but said in her defense, “I have never once claimed that I have a combat action badge. I have never claimed that I have had a purple heart. What I have claimed is that I have served in a combat zone.”

Far too many combat veterans take their own lives after completing their wartime service. Congress recently addressed this national disgrace by approving the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act unanimously in the U.S. House and Senate. This bill should have become law last year, but a jackass who has since left the Senate blocked the bill from passing by unanimous consent during the lame-duck session.

Meanwhile, new Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald put his foot in his mouth in a huge way during a House committee hearing today. Pete Kasperowicz reported for The Blaze,

At the end of a few minutes of sniping, McDonald ended by barking at [GOP Representative Mike] Coffman, “I’ve run a large company, sir. What have you done?”

As it turns out, Coffman is a combat veteran who started his own company, and is the only member of Congress to have served in both Iraq wars.

The comments from McDonald, who once ran Procter & Gamble, were later described by Coffman’s office as “obnoxious.”

Hey, corporate genius: next time you go up to the Hill, have your staff brief you ahead of time on who will be asking the questions.

This is an open thread: all topics welcome.

From Andrew Reinbach’s February 6 article for the Huffington Post, “The Honor of Senator Joni Ernst”:

The reason [Ernst] can call herself a combat veteran is because President GHW Bush issued Executive Order 12744 on January 21, 1991 and made the entire Arabian Peninsula a combat zone. That Executive Order is still in force. To put that order in perspective, a soldier could be stationed today in Bahrain and call him or herself a combat veteran.

In the military, personal honor is real. 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.

Technically, of course, the Senator is just relating the legal facts and letting people reach their own conclusions, like any other politician. She commanded the 1168th’in a war zone, there’s no doubt driving trucks in convoy or guarding bases can be dangerous, and soldiers die that way.

But nothing in the 1168th’s tour of duty stands up to the average citizen’s idea of combat duty. And when the Senator calls herself the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate, or when she allows her own husband to say twice that she led her troops into combat she’s betraying the code of honor she lets people think she stands for. Sen. Ernst’s husband is a retired Command Sergeant-Major in the Army Rangers.

Even worse, to the military mind, the Senator doesn’t correct people when they’ve said she’s led troops into combat.

Ernst’s response to Reinbach, as quoted by Radio Iowa:

“It’s very unfortunate, because I am very proud of my service. And by law I am defined as a combat veteran,” Ernst said. “I have never once claimed that I have a combat action badge. I have never claimed that I have had a purple heart. What I have claimed is that I have served in a combat zone. I have serve[d] with 150 soldiers who supported our warriors up in Iraq and we all gave very honorable service.” […]

“There are many, many other soldiers, airmen, seamen out there who have served, that haven’t actually been hand-to-hand fighting with the enemy, maybe they haven’t been under fire. It was only by luck and the blessings of God that my soldiers did not encounter an assault, that we did not run over an IED,” Ernst said.

She said its unfortunate the critics target her military service.

“To dishonor our service by saying we are not worthy of being call combat veterans, is insulting to the majority of men and women who served their country honorably,” Ernts said.