Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Buttigieg Touts Military Service, Wary of Overstating Role

Associated Press

   MASON CITY, IOWA - Pete Buttigieg strides past an oversized photograph
   of himself dressed in fatigues, the Afghan horizon behind him, as he
   enters a Des Moines arena for an Iowa Democratic Party gala.

   In his first Iowa television ad, he holds a rifle and points it toward
   the rubble at his feet, introducing himself, "As a veteran ... ."

   Like candidates from the time of George Washington, the South Bend,
   Indiana, mayor is leaning hard on his seven-month deployment as an
   intelligence officer in Afghanistan as a powerful credential. As he
   does, he walks a narrow path between giving his wartime service its due
   and overstating it.

   He is careful not to call himself a combat veteran even as he notes the
   danger he faced. One of his former competitors for the Democratic
   nomination, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, has drawn a sharp
   contrast between his four combat tours in Iraq and Buttigieg's service.
   And a former commanding officer, who said he thinks Buttigieg would be
   within his rights to say he is a combat veteran, nonetheless questions
   the use of a rifle in his ads.
   

References

   Visible links
   Hidden links:
   1. file://localhost/usa/poll-buttigieg-surges-ahead-democratic-rivals-iowa

.