Among military folks, there’s no shame in serving in a combat zone in a non-combat role. Many of us did. Any modern army has a long, long logistical tale, and it takes a lot of people behind the scenes to keep the spear-carriers equipped, fed, and to care for them when they’re hurt. Oh, some of us came in for some razzing for being Rear Echelon Military Folks (REMFs) but when you come right down to it, we all knew that we were all part of the same big green machine.
But misrepresenting your service, that’s a whole different thing. And yet that’s what Maryland’s Democrat Gov. Wes Moore seems to have done, according to his former boss during his deployment to Afghanistan.
For years, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has described his Afghanistan deployment as the experience of an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper who led soldiers in combat. Now, the Army officer who supervised Moore daily says his accounts of what happened there in 2005 and 2006 are unequivocally false. https://t.co/rFcS4fZX0Z
— 7News DC (@7NewsDC) November 8, 2026
For years, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has described his Afghanistan deployment as the experience of an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper who led soldiers in combat. Now, the Army officer who supervised Moore daily says his accounts of what happened there in 2005 and 2006 are unequivocally false.
Moore’s supervisor in Afghanistan was LTC (Lieutenant Colonel) James A. “Jamie” Gottschling, and he was overseeing what Moore did in Afghanistan. And here’s the thing; Moore’s service appears to have been very respectable, and he appears to have done a good job. But being a paratrooper and leading troops in combat? No, as his former boss says, he never did any of that.
For years, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has described his Afghanistan deployment as the experience of an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper who led soldiers in combat. Now, the Army officer who supervised Moore daily says his accounts of what happened there in 2005 and 2006 are unequivocally false.
“Be honest,” retired Lt. Col. James A. “Jamie” Gottschling said when asked what he would tell Moore. “His service in Afghanistan was good. He was a valued member of the brigade staff.” But he added, “It’s disingenuous to say that you led paratroopers in combat or that you did what would be direct action activities in a combat zone.”
The term “stolen valor” is often applied to people, sometimes veterans, sometimes simply liars who never served, who lie about their supposed service record. In this case, in Moore’s case, he would seem to be, if not stealing valor, at least borrowing it.
But wait! There’s more!
His (LTC Gottschling’s) responsibilities spanned kinetic and nonkinetic effects: artillery, mortars, close air support and armed drones, as well as noncombat activities such as information operations, public affairs, civil affairs and psychological operations. Moore worked directly for Gottschling exclusively on information operations coordination. Gottschling confirmed that Moore was never involved in the employment of any weapons system.
At Forward Operating Base Salerno, Gottschling said, their daily work involved analyzing reports from infantry battalions and provincial reconstruction teams, coordinating for civilian assistance and helping Afghan officials communicate with the public. He credited Moore with helping local leaders understand how to respond publicly to the needs of their communities.
“He did a really good job trying to train the Afghans how to kind of sell their own story,” Gottschling said.
And that’s the puzzling bit. Moore seems to have done a good job at what the Army ordered him to do. I’m not sure how, as the report described, he managed to go seven years between being commissioned and reporting for his Officer’s Basic Course (OBC) or how he managed to ignore his reserve obligations much of the time; I’m pretty sure that back in the Cold War days, a young lieutenant would have been ordered to show up or lose his commission long before that. But we don’t know all those details. But when you wear the uniform, you go where the Army tells you to go and do what the Army tells you to do, and when Wes Moore was called to go to Afghanistan, he went, he did what he was assigned, and he appears to have done a good job.
So why make up some story about leading paratroopers in a combat zone, when his own former supervisor says he never did anything of the sort? Because, if all of these allegations by LTC Gottschling are true, then Wes Moore is lying about his military service. And for most veterans, that’s the part that we cannot forgive. The only downside is this: In Maryland, it’s unlikely that Moore will suffer any consequences for his dissembling.
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