After it was reported that the 117th Congress would have the least amount of military veterans walking its halls since World War II, a new crop of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans have decided to put on their political boots on the ground and run for the U.S. Congress in the 2022 midterm election.
Interestingly enough, but not surprising, many of these veterans have seen combat as members of the elite U.S. Special Operations community.
U.S. Army Special Forces, Navy SEALS, Marine RECON, and other elements of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) took the lead in the War on Terror.
This past week, SEAL PAC, a political action committee led by former Navy SEAL Team 6 Commander and former Congressman Ryan Zinke (R), held an event in Washington to honor former military veterans who they support running for the U.S. Congress in the 2022 midterm election cycle.
The event was held at the Republican enclave better known as the Capitol Hill Club on Capitol Hill and attended by about a dozen or so congressional military veterans, including Reps. Ronny Jackson, Neal Dunn, Brian Babin, Brian Mast, Dan Crenshaw, Jake Ellzey, Michael Waltz, Greg Steube, and others.
As expected whenever a bunch of former military guys get together, the jokes and cutdowns begin to fly.
Rep. Zinke, who is also running for re-election to the House of Representatives, pitted SEALs vs. Green Berets.
Zinke had SEAL Rep. Crenshaw introduce all of the former SEALs running for office, where the wounded veteran took the opportunity to mow down his Army brethren by all but saying they were inferior to his Navy SEALs.
Crenshaw introduced Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin 3rd District, Eli Crane, who is running in Arizona’s 1st District, Brady Duke, who is running in Florida’s 7th District, Morgan Lutrell in Texas' 8th District, along with other SEALS.
Rep. Waltz (pictured), who is a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret, was tasked with introducing the Army veterans, including former Green Beret Derrick Anderson, who is running in the Republican-leaning 7th District in Virginia.
Waltz took his jabs at Crenshaw and the Navy before introducing the Army representatives. He had to. So self-respecting Army veteran is going to let a Navy vet smack him down without a rebuttal.
