Band Of Brothers? That Isn't How Republican 1%-ers See It

I asked David Mcavoy from Blue Arkansas to help me get my heard around the story breaking in his state regarding reactionary 1%-er Rep. Steve Womack and his bizarre attack on a former enlisted man-- a decorated active duty former enlisted man-- who, as one point, served under him. That ex-soldier is Ken Aden, Blue America's most recently endorsed Democratic candidate for Congress. David agreed and here's the post he put together over the weekend which brings everyone up-to-date:

Sleazy 1% Womack Attacks Progressive Democrat Ken Aden And His Military Record

-by David Mcavoy

“If Ken was a dynamic leader and outstanding soldier in every respect, I probably would have had reason to have crossed paths with him during that deployment, but honestly I don’t remember him,” said Womack.

Aden said they did cross paths and spoke to each other on several occasions.

“He had to cross paths with me because I was on the Force Skills team,” said Aden. “He knew who I was.”

When asked about the Force Skills Competition, the congressman compared it to “intramural sports” that gave the soldiers something to do.

“Bless his heart, Ken Aden does not need to over-embellish being a member of the Force Skills Competition,” said Womack, who at 54, is 20 years older than Aden.

“The primary mission over there was not related to what I call kind of an intramural sport. … It’s surprising that anyone would try to make some hay out of being on the Force Skills team,” said Womack.

The background on this, if you didn’t already know, was that Aden served under Womack at one point in his extensive military career. Womack could have simply said that he met a lot of people and didn’t remember Aden, but he couldn’t resist going the extra distance and dissing Aden’s service as a soldier. What’s more, Aden wasn’t touting the Force Skills Competition as service, he was just saying that’s where he shook hands with Womack. So yeah, Steve Womack is a dick. I’m sorry, that’s just the only way to say it.

So I placed a phone call to Aden today and asked him a little bit more about his service and recognition from the military. The first thing he said was:

I didn’t want to get into this as I think there are more important issues facing this district, but if this is the hand I’m dealt then I’m going to play it and win.

From there, I asked him to detail his military service, and learned that he’d received:

A Combat Infantry Badge, which you only get when you’re shot at on three separate occasions.

Airborne Wings for jumping out of planes.

4 Army Commendation Medals.

3 Army Achievement Medals.

3 Overseas Service Ribbons

2 National Defense Service Medals 

1 Army Service Ribbon
 
A Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal

Iraqi Campaign Service Medal 

A Global War on Terrorism Service Medal

An Armed Service Reserve Medal

A Multinational Forces Observer Medal

3 Good Conduct Medals

An Arkansas Federal Service Ribbon

2 NCO Professional Development Ribbons, which you only get if you have troops under your command.

A Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal

A Presidential Unit Citation Award

A Joint Meritorious Unit Award
Regimental Affiliation with the following units 5/73 Cav and 39th Inf Brigade 

I was taken aback by all this, especially as Aden had to sit down and double check the list to make sure he’d gotten everything. On top of all that, Aden said he had performed a number of jobs in the military including airborne infantry, airborne reconnaissance, special forces weapons sergeant, peace keeping in Sinai, and, my personal favorite, airborne mortar-man, which from the way Ken described it amounts to jumping out of a plane with a big cannon strapped to your body.

Sounds pretty remarkable to me. But seriously, what kind of a Judas do you have to be to swiftboat someone you served in the military with like this? Now to be fair I’m sure there’s no way Womack could know about all of Aden’s accomplishment after their service together ended, but did he really have to go that extra mile and attack Aden’s service like that? Of course he didn’t, but he’s a miserable excuse for a human being and so he couldn’t resist doing what was uncalled for.

So, if you think that attacking a veteran’s service is the most rotten thing on the planet and should disqualify anyone who goes that route from public service, donate to Ken’s campaign either on ActBlue or through his website. This kind of thing has no place in our politics, and if Womack wants to pick this fight then we’ll show him that he’s bit off more than he can chew.

I’m thinking Steve Womack probably regrets opening up his mouth and dissing Aden’s military service.

In response to Womack’s diss Ken Aden’s campaign released documentation showing that he was not only awarded while he served under Womack, but that Womack personally signed off on it.

According to documents released by the campaign, Womack approved the awarding of an Army Achievement Medal to Aden. According to the commendation documents, Aden was recognized for his leadership that “motivated others by setting the example,” and for being “a vital asset to Alpha Company.” The Army Achievement Medal is awarded for outstanding achievement or meritorious service and is generally awarded to junior Army personnel.

Womack’s office is now backpedaling as fast as they can on the military service smear.

More from Beau Walker after he talked to Womack. He said Womack signed a large number of commendations as the officer at the top of the chain of command and doesn’t remember all those either. He reiterated that it would not be unusual not to remember someone except for an unusual reason. “He did not intend to belittle or condescend,” Walker said. “He served his country. That’s an honorable thing. He didn’t mean to demean his service.”

Bullshit! How the hell is this not belittling or condescending?

“If Ken was a dynamic leader and outstanding soldier in every respect, I probably would have had reason to have crossed paths with him during that deployment, but honestly I don’t remember him,” said Womack.

Aden said they did cross paths and spoke to each other on several occasions.

“He had to cross paths with me because I was on the Force Skills team,” said Aden. “He knew who I was.”

When asked about the Force Skills Competition, the congressman compared it to “intramural sports” that gave the soldiers something to do.

“Bless his heart, Ken Aden does not need to over-embellish being a member of the Force Skills Competition,” said Womack, who at 54, is 20 years older than Aden.

“The primary mission over there was not related to what I call kind of an intramural sport. … It’s surprising that anyone would try to make some hay out of being on the Force Skills team,” said Womack.

If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s that Womack sees a reason to attack Aden. Last year, I don’t think he ever even vaguely alluded to David Whitaker. Hell, for all intents and purposes, Womack’s campaign ended after he won the nomination against Cecile Bledsoe. For that matter, I don’t recall Boozman ever getting into the mud with one of his opponents. In other words, Aden has managed to get under the invincible Mr. Womack’s skin enough that he felt the need to attack him.

What’s more, he picked the worst possible thing he could hit Aden with and lost the scuffle. And that is a better bit of news than we’ve gotten out of the third district in a long time. So throw Ken Aden some change on ActBlue. No one, no matter how “safe” their seat is deemed to be, should be allowed to get away with this kind of rotten smear. And if Ken can best Womack like this in their first scuffle, imagine what he can do if he ends up with the resources to run a fully charged campaign. Contribute!

There was a lot of stuff that disgusted me about Womack’s attack that his staffer swears wasn’t an attack on Ken Aden’s military service. But I want to draw your attention to one of the many revolting aspects of it:

When asked about the Force Skills Competition, the congressman compared it to “intramural sports” that gave the soldiers something to do.

“Bless his heart, Ken Aden does not need to over-embellish being a member of the Force Skills Competition,” said Womack, who at 54, is 20 years older than Aden.

“The primary mission over there was not related to what I call kind of an intramural sport. … It’s surprising that anyone would try to make some hay out of being on the Force Skills team,” said Womack.

Keep in mind, that’s in addition to claiming Aden must have been a mediocre soldier or Womack would have remembered him. But anyway, following that attack and Womack’s non-apology that he didn’t even have the guts to deliver himself, this image from Womack’s 2010 campaign was brought to my attention:

Now look, I have never once in the past taken a shot at Womack’s, Griffin’s, Crawford’s, or anyone else’s military service, and I never will, nor will I allow anyone that writes or may someday write for this blog to do so. It’s wrong, pure and simple. I have gone after Tim Griffin for running on his service after working to disenfranchise soldiers serving overseas and I have gone after all three of our GOPer congressmen for voting to protect their pay in the shutdown but not that of troops serving overseas (Crawford pretty much called me a liar for that one. But what’s that the teabaggers shrieked about last cycle? Oh yeah, read the damn bill, Congressman.) But in those cases, it wasn’t their service I was attacking, but their treatment towards soldiers while waving their own uniforms at us.

See, Womack, to my knowledge, was pretty much a part time soldier who’s overseas service amounted to his six month trip to the Sinai Peninsula in 2001 where Ken Aden served under him.

That’s still admirable service and I’m not attacking him for it. (And if I inadvertently said something uncalled for or untrue I’d own up to it and not send La Voix running out to cover for me the way Womack hid behind his staffer.) But Womack started this by dissing Aden’s service, and after suggesting that Aden, a decorated veteran who saw combat in two countries, was exaggerating his service to get votes, you’ve got to admit that it’s pretty hypocritical of Womack to have run on “the courage to lead” based on his short stint in Egypt and then dis Aden for supposedly exaggerating his service. Again, any service is admirable, but trying to attack a decorated combat vet for supposedly exaggerating his service.


UPDATE

Like Ken, John Waltz fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And like Ken, he's running for Congress against a ruthless 1%-er. in his case, Fred Upton, the Whirlpool heir, one of America's worst job outsourcers. Waltz is a longtime veteran's rights advocate. I sent him some of the reporting on Womack's insult to veterans and early this morning he send me this statement:

It is bad enough when someone disrespects a veteran considering the slap in the face they get from the underfunded Veterans Administration, but from a sitting Congressman? Quite frankly he is not fit for office if this is the disrespect he holds for veterans.

You can find Ken and John on the same ActBlue page... if you're so inclined. Even $5 and $10 contributions go a long way towards building effective grassroots campaigns against two characters with loads of corporate money flowing in and with big donations from the Koch brothers and their front groups.