He served in a combat zone but apparently never saw real, sustained combat.
Hegseth served in the Army National Guard after graduating from Princeton, and he did deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), having served in civil-affairs operations and as an adviser in Afghanistan.
But let’s be clear: Hegseth was not a front-line leader of combat troops under sustained fire. He did not command an infantry company in protracted combat or lead exhausted soldiers through night patrols and firefights.
He served honorably — but his service is not what he markets. What he sells is the image of the modern American warrior as loud, aggressive, and built for Instagram, not endurance or humility.
It’s a dangerous distortion. And it shows.
https://medium.com/the-political-prism/what-pete-hegseth-doesnt-get-about-combat-f879777ecbee
He's terribly insecure and he's overcompensating because he knows he's in charge of real soldiers, including women, who are much tougher than he will ever be, who have seen real combat. Those people don't brag about their service. Most of us know people who have served in wars that don't talk about it at all, let alone brag about how tough they were. Kegbreath isn't tough and he knows it.
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