Rep. Troy Nehls
Under fire for accusations of stolen valor, U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls is doubling down on defending his military record by blaming “the establishment” forces seeking to discredit him.
Nehls, R-Richmond, has been under intense scrutiny over his display of a combat service badge that the Army revoked and removed from his service record last year.
Nehls, who represents a large swath of suburbs southwest of Houston, released what he called a “final written comment” on the controversy Tuesday afternoon. Nehls did not dispute that his Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) had been revoked by the Army, but offered no explanation for why he continued to wear it until as recently as this month.
The congressman instead accused his critics of using the military to undermine him for his hardline conservative views. Nehls is a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus.
“Unfortunately for me, as an America First Patriot and an outspoken member of Congress, there are no lengths to which the establishment won’t go to discredit me, including my CIB, which I was awarded over 14 years ago,” Nehls said in his Tuesday statement. “Nothing more needs to be said.”
On Wednesday, Nehls had apparently stopped wearing the badge.
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Nehls served in the Army from 1988 to 2008, first with the Wisconsin National Guard and then in the Army Reserve. During his two deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Nehls served in the civil affairs branch, the Army confirmed to the Washington outlet NOTUS. The Combat Infantryman Badge was apparently incorrectly awarded for his tour in Afghanistan in 2008.
Only infantrymen or Special Forces soldiers who engaged in active combat are eligible for the Combat Infantryman Badge.
In his Tuesday statement, Nehls appeared incredulous over the Army’s move to rescind his badge, even as he acknowledged that it occurred. Nehls previously argued in a letter to the Army’s human resources command that the division he had been a part of was indeed a combat unit.
See here for the background. I would just note that every person quoted in the original article that criticized Rep. Nehls for this was one of his Republican colleagues in Congress, including Rep. Wesley Hunt from the neighboring CD38. I suppose that means they’re all “the establishment”, but it makes me wonder if anyone in Congress likes Rep. Nehls. Maybe that should be more of a concern for him. The Chron has more.
He only cares about one person liking him: DJT. Well, and maybe the state house GOP that gave him a stronger district (from R+5 to R+15).
I imagine that he’s quite jealous of all the buzz MTG gets.