So-Called Journalist's Attempt at Impugning JD Vance's Military Service Does Not Go Well

Not long after the fireworks between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Vance sat down for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, where one of the issues discussed was the minerals deal that didn't happen.

During the segment, Vance stressed that such a deal, if it happens, was a "better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years."

Some folks on the other side of the pond thought Vance was referring to the UK and France, and outrage ensued. Vance denied that's who he was referring to, though, saying on the Twitter/X machine that "This is absurdly dishonest. I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond."

Later, Vance fine-tuned his point. "But let’s be direct," he wrote. "There are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful."

Though that should have settled it, it didn't, with one purported journalist from the UK thinking it would be a smart idea to impugn Vance's military service in the process:

A little known fact about JD Vance, his time as a US Marine and his 6 month deployment to Iraq (which he regularly reminds everyone about): he only did 4 years in the corps, and his specialist trade was as a military journalist writing articles, a non-combat role.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) March 5, 2025

That... did not go well, with DataRepublican being among the many who took issue with the attack:

You are the son of Bill Newton Dunn, a Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament, and Anna Arki, who led a pro-European NGO. You were raised in a world of connections and influence. Unlike @JDVance, who came from a humble background and served in the U.S. Marine Corps, you never served in the military. Instead, you built a journalism career from a privileged starting point, with access to elite institutions and high-profile media roles.

Dunn responded by claiming it had never been his intention to diminish Vance's service:

Neither is it at all a criticism of his or anyone’s military service, which in my view is always noble in any form it is carried out. I’m merely pointing out that JD, who erroneously and somewhat offensively (as our Prime Minister noted on Wednesday) suggested British troops hadn’t fought any wars for 40 years when in actuality 600 of them have died serving in joint operations alongside US forces, hasn’t - like me - fought any himself.

Ugh. This is just a super-tiresome argument, having been made by mediots here in the United States during the debate over 2024 Democrat VP nominee/Minnesota Gov Tim Walz's military service, and more recently by disgraced NeverTrumpers.

In both instances, my esteemed colleague streiff set the record straight:

Vance is a combat veteran. The fact that he was a journalist is irrelevant. If you served in an area of operations and were authorized hostile fire pay, you are entitled to be called a combat veteran. Vance has never portrayed himself as Rambo or as anything other than a Marine doing his job. He was stationed in Anbar Province from August 2005 to February 2006. this was at the height of the Sunni insurgency in that province. He was in Anbar at the same time as the only female Marine officer who was killed in action. Major Megan McClung was a public affairs officer, and she arrived in Anbar in January 2006, so, in Goldberg's figuring, her death was not in combat or something.
What Vance did in Iraq has been well-covered, and former comrades who don't like his politics have been interviewed (JD Vance’s Marine buddies back his service over his politics). Vance went to Iraq, and he served in a very dangerous area. He was not in direct combat with the Iraqi insurgents, but other people at his duty station and serving in his job were killed in action. He's a combat veteran. Grow up and deal with it.

I think that about covers all the bases.

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