J.D. Vance has taken on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about his military service—more than 20 years in the Army National Guard, retiring as a master sergeant. Vance has criticized Walz for allegedly resigning from the National Guard when his unit was deployed to Iraq. “What bothers me about Tim Walz,” Vance said, “is the stolen valor garbage.”

“As a Marine who served his country in uniform when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it,” Vance said recently in Detroit.

So, let’s take a moment to look at J.D. Vance’s military career. As he has said, he served four years as a volunteer in the United States Marine Corps; he was honorably discharged after four years as a corporal, a non-commissioned officer (E-4). His job in the Marine Corps, as described in the media, was as a “combat correspondent”. He served in that role briefly in Afghanistan.

Combat correspondent evokes images of Ernie Pyle in World War II, or Morley Safer in Vietnam. Not quite. I know because I was a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps for two years. Truth be told, I did not serve voluntarily. I was drafted, but I did serve; and I was also honorably discharged at the end of two years, as a sergeant (E-5).

J.D. Vance was in the Marine Air Wing, not the infantry (“grunts” as we called it). The likelihood of his coming face to face with the enemy in the Air Wing was somewhat less.

My primary job, not being in combat, was writing press releases, and occasionally feature articles. As Vance has described his job, it was much the same. He spent time among the troops and wrote articles about them. He was deployed to Iraq for about six months, but saw no combat. Again, Vance was in the Air Wing, not out in the boonies where the action was. While in Iraq Vance no doubt worked in an air-conditioned tent on an airbase, eating hot meals in the air-conditioned mess hall, while the sweltering grunts were eating MREs (meals-ready-to eat) or meals from a field kitchen in an open-air tent if they were lucky.

If Vance received any medals or commendations for his service, it has escaped media notice. He apparently served as the press “officer” while stationed at the Marine Corps air station at Cherry Point, North Carolina. He has said he was the spokesperson for the air base and did some television interviews.

All of this is commendable. J.D. Vance honorably served his country.

One final question: J.D. Vance was in for four years. Why was he only a corporal when he was discharged?