The families of wounded American veterans have shredded Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for her assertion that there are no United States troops in combat zones.
There are currently as many as 50,000 active service members who are stationed around the globe in combat zones in Africa and the Middle East that are getting either “hostile fire” or “imminent danger pay,” retired Army colonel and military analyst Jonathan Sweet said to The New York Post.
“As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century,” the vice president said in her debate against former President Donald Trump.
But the families of American troops have complained that she lied.
Brad Illerbrunner, whose son, Chief Warrant Officer Garrett Illerbrunner, who is a member of the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division, suffered a critical injury in Iraq on Christmas Day.
“A drone launched by the terror organization Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups struck the Erbil Air Base in Iraq where Garrett was stationed,” The Post said.
The soldier was left disabled after he, and two other troops, were hit by shrapnel.
His dad said that the vice president “really [hit] below the belt. . . . She doesn’t even recognize that our own troops are getting hurt.”
“We’re still in war zones,” he said as he accused her of “trying to snow the public.”
A month after that attack three Army Reserve soldiers had their lives ended in a drone strike at US base in Jordan that injured 34 more troops that was launched by Iran-backed militants.
Holly Davis, whose husband is deployed in Syria as a National Guardsman involved in Operation Inherent Resolve, said her husband and other troops are still in imminent danger.
“It’s very hurtful that someone who is currently our vice president is making these claims when my husband is literally sacrificing his life every day over in the Middle East,” she said.
“I had to sit in those literal two minutes of hearing that, wondering if he was going to come back on the phone,” the woman said.
“It’s very real. Very war zone,” she said.
In August, seven American soldiers were injured in a joint raid with Iraqi troops in the western part of the country in which they killed 15 Islamic State terrorists who were armed and wearing “suicide belts.”
Michael DiMino, who is a fellow at the think tank Defense Priorities, said that what the vice president said at the debate is not correct.
“If you’re in Jordan in the middle of nowhere to fight ISIS, and you’re getting attacked by Iranian drones and rockets on a daily basis, you’re in a war zone,” the analyst said.
Harris was trying “to finagle a wording . . . to make a point we’re not engaged in all these conflicts — which we are,” he said.
“Those quibbling qualifiers ignore the fact American men and women in uniform are getting shot at on daily basis, and many just in the last eight months have died or been injured,” he said.
There are currently 3,500 troops stationed in Iraq and Syria which are considered combat zones.
A spokesperson for the vice president’s campaign said that it is correct that the United States is not currently involved in any wars but did acknowledge that American troops are “taking risks for our country that should be honored no matter where they serve.”
A Department of Defense official who spoke to The Post took the same stance as the vice president.
“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” they said. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense. However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war.”
