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| Photo Credit: AP. |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican J.R. Majewski has centered his campaign for a competitive Ohio congressional seat around his biography as an Air Force veteran. But one of the big questions that has surfaced is why Majewski was told he could not reenlist in the Air Force after his initial four years were up.
Majewski’s
campaign said last week that he was punished and demoted after getting in a
“brawl” in an Air Force dormitory in 2001. Military records obtained since then
by The Associated Press, however, offer a different account of the
circumstances, which military legal experts say would have played a significant
role in the decision to bar him from reenlisting. They indicate Majewski’s
punishment and demotion were the result of him being stopped for driving drunk
on a U.S. air base in Japan in September 2001.
The
documents, which were provided to the AP and independently authenticated,
present yet another instance where the recorded history of Majewski’s service
diverges from what he has told voters as he campaigns while using his veteran status
as a leading credential.
In a
statement, Majewski acknowledged that he was punished for drunken driving,
though he didn’t address why his campaign previously said his demotion was the
result of a fight.
“This mistake is now more than 20 years old.
I’m sure we’ve all done something as young adults that we look back on and
wonder ‘what was I thinking?’ and I’m sure our parents and grandparents share
these sentiments,” Majewski said.
Since
starting his campaign to unseat longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Majewski
has repeatedly said he was a combat veteran who served a tour of duty under
“tough” circumstances in Afghanistan. By his own account, he once went more
than 40 days in the country without a shower due to a lack of running water.
His story
came under intense scrutiny last week when the AP, citing military documents
obtained through public records requests, reported that he did not deploy to
Afghanistan as he claimed, but instead spent six months based in Qatar, a
longtime U.S. ally, where he helped load and unload aircraft.
The latest
revelation that Majewski was demoted for drunken driving adds another wrinkle.
Last week, the AP asked Majewski’s campaign why his military service records
showed that he was not allowed to reenlist in the Air Force and left the
service after four years at a rank that was one notch above where he started.
At the time,
his campaign said in an email that Majewski was “in a fight in the dormitory
with another servicemember” which “knocked his rank down.” His campaign added
that he later gained some of that rank back.
The
personnel records obtained by the AP make no mention of a fight. Instead, they
state that Majewski was demoted for drunken driving at Kadena Air Base in Japan
on Sept. 8, 2001. And rather than gain his rank back — as Majewski’s campaign
said — the records indicated he continued to hold the rank of E-2, one notch
above entry level, that he was demoted to for the rest of his active duty.
“When you
decided to get behind the wheel of a vehicle after indulging in intoxicating
liquor you brought discredit upon yourself, 733rd Air Mobility Squadron, and
the Air Force,” the disciplinary records state, referring to the unit Majewski
was assigned to at the time. “Further misconduct by you of any type will not be
tolerated.”
The
three-page document details Majewski’s punishment, which included a reprimand
and 30 days of extra duty in addition to the demotion. It bears Majewski’s signature
and shows he consulted a lawyer and waived his right to a court-martial. He
also waived his right to appeal the punishment and requested that the document
not become public, the records show.
The AP was
not able to obtain a “written presentation” from Majewski, which was referred
to in the disciplinary paperwork. The campaign did not respond to a request
from the AP to provide the document.
Eric Mayer,
a former West Point graduate and Army infantry officer later turned military
lawyer, reviewed Majewski’s documents at AP’s request. He said that “the
overall nature and quality of (Majewski’s) military service can be severely
questioned simply by virtue of the fact that he got out as a E-2 after four
years.”
“Basically,
his commanding officer told him as long as he behaves himself for the next six
months, he won’t demote him down all the way to airman basic,” Mayer said,
referring to the entry-level rank Majewski could have held if he got into more
trouble. Mayer also noted that Majewski was given additional duties in his
punishment that generally involve “area beautification” and janitorial
services.
In some
cases, a DUI can be a career-ending violation in the military. But three days
after Majewski was pulled over, the U.S. was suddenly at war following the 9/11
terrorist attacks. Within months, Majewski was reassigned and deployed to
Qatar, which served as the staging ground for operations in Afghanistan,
records show.
Military records
show Majewski’s only deployment was to Qatar. Last Friday, during a defiant
news conference, he insisted that he did indeed serve in Afghanistan, though he
declined to offer specifics because he said the details were “classified.”
But there is
a difference between deploying to a country and touching down there. Majewski
previously said he was a “combat veteran” who deployed to Afghanistan, a term
that conveys he received orders assigning him to a specific base in the
country.
Majewski
previously said he could not discuss flights he says he took to Afghanistan
because they were “classified.”
In his
statement Wednesday, he said he was aboard “outbound transport flights to
forward bases and combat zones throughout the Middle East, including
Afghanistan” though he acknowledged that he was stationed in Qatar.
He also
described his experience joining the Air Force at the age 20 as fulfilling, yet
challenging.
“Like any
young serviceman away from family in a foreign land and with an assignment
schedule in continual motion, it came with periods of difficulty and personal
challenges,” Majewski said. “I lost my grandmother, who I loved very deeply,
and it was tough work. I am proud of my service and the experiences that made
me who I am today, but I have never once claimed to have undergone a ‘tough
combat tour’ in Afghanistan or suggested that I was engaged in active
firefights.”
Majewski’s
campaign has previously promoted him as a “combat veteran.” During an August
2021 interview on the One American Podcast, Majewski said that he had a “tough
time in life” while serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He echoed that claim
in other interviews unearthed by the liberal group Media Matters.
Majewski’s
claim that he couldn’t discuss his forays to Afghanistan because the details
were “classified” was a red flag to those who investigate cases of “stolen
valor.”
“The No. 1
trope that comes out of people when they are either fabricating a military
record or, in this case, embellishing a record is they fall back to, ‘It’s
classified,’” said Ed Caffrey, a former Air Force master sergeant who now
investigates “stolen valor” cases and teaches journalism at Eastern New Mexico
University. He added: “There’s no junior enlisted air transportation specialist
who was doing something so secret that 20 years later it still needs to be
classified.”
Majewksi’s
campaign declined a request to put the AP in touch with those he served with
who could vouch that he went to Afghanistan. But he has posted several pages of
records to social media that he said back up his claims. Military experts
consulted by the AP say the records prove no such thing.
“The AP
stated that I had only been deployed to Qatar. My records show my deployment
location as classified. In addition, they forgot my deployment to Camp Hialeah
in Korea (which is now closed),” Majewski said in one tweet, which contained
two separate documents.
One of the
documents included in the tweet was a “temporary duty assignment” in early 2001
to South Korea, which are not orders to deploy as Majewski claimed. Key details
including the purpose of the trip and its duration were also blurred out in the
photo Majewski posted. Additionally, the document’s inclusion of the phrases
“top secret” and “secret” were references to the security clearances held by
Majewski and the noncommissioned officer he traveled with, Air Force experts
say. That officer, whose name is redacted, had a “top secret” clearance;
Majewski had a “secret” clearance. Members of the military typically need
security clearances to do their jobs.
The other
document included in the tweet, which does not show a date, indicated Majewski
had been medically cleared to go on a different temporary assignment to a
“classified” location.
Experts say
such forms often list a service member’s destination as classified as a matter
of routine.
“The reason
that it says ‘classified’ is not because he’s going to some top secret black
ops location,” Caffrey said. “It says classified because that’s a non-secured
form. He’s taking that form around with him to different places on base where
people who put eyes on it may not have security clearances to see what he’s
doing.”
“It’s
(operations security). They don’t want everyone and their brother to know where
he’s going. That’s not something you want out in the general public,” Caffrey
added.
Even as
scrutiny of Majewski intensifies, he has given no indication that he intends to
drop out of the race and has continued to campaign.
“I have
nothing to hide,” Majewski said at the end of a brief news conference Friday.
LaPorta
reported from Wilmington, North Carolina.
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