‘No Room for Forgiveness’: Vets Slam GOP Rep for Continuing to Wear Medal ‘He Didn’t Earn’

Representative Troy Nehls (Republican of Texas) is a decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq who served in the U.S. Army for more than 20 years. However, the military community expresses disgust with Nehls, who continues to wear a medal that was stripped from him.

According to Military.com, veterans are joining the call for Nehls to stop wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB), which he still wears on the lapel of his jacket along with his Army pin. Congress, despite the Pentagon’s revocation. The requirements for a service member to obtain the CIB are twofold: being an infantryman or Green Beret at the time of service and engaging the enemy in direct ground combat. It was revoked last year because Nehls was ineligible for CIB as a civil affairs officer in Iraq.

While Nehls has papers for two Bronze Star awards and has rightfully earned the Combat Action Badge (CAB) – which is for service members deployed to a foreign theater working in non-infantry capacities – veterans say that he should withdraw the CIB out of respect for his military colleagues who deserved it.

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“The veteran community is starting to get to the point where there’s no room for forgiveness at this point, because now they’re like, ‘Hey, that wasn’t a mistake. He’s doubling down now ‘” Anthony Anderson, an Army veteran who leads the Guardian of Valor organization, told Military.com. “He knows he didn’t deserve this award.”

Earlier this month, several Republican lawmakers — including others with military experience — called on Nehls to retire the badge, saying that continuing to wear it even after it is revoked in 2023 amounts to “stolen valor.” Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Montana) told digital media outlet NOTUS “it matters” that Nehls refuses to take the medal.

“As a former commander, what you wear on your uniform matters,” Zinke said. “And if you haven’t earned it, you shouldn’t wear it.”

Nehls has previously indicated that he has no plans to stop wearing the CIB in his lapel. In a message posted to his X account (formerly Twitter), the Texas Republican suggested that the Pentagon’s revocation of his medal was politically motivated.

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“I do not agree with the revocation of my CIB, awarded by the 101st Airborne Division, by the Awards and Decorations Branch,” Nehls wrote in a letter to the Army that he later tweeted. “I further believe that this is a concerted effort to discredit my military service and my continued service to the American people as a Member of Congress.”

Frederick Boujaly, national commander of the Association of Combat Infantrymen who supports veterans who have won the CIB, argued that Nehls’ continued wearing of the revoked medal was inappropriate and that he should “take it off.”

“If the Army told me I couldn’t wear mine, I would take it off,” he said.

Click here to read the Military.com report in full.

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