WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican J.R. Majewski has centered his marketing campaign for a aggressive Ohio congressional seat round his biography as an Air Drive veteran. However one of many massive questions that has surfaced is why Majewski was informed he couldn't reenlist within the Air Drive after his preliminary 4 years have been up.
Majewski’s marketing campaign stated final week that he was punished and demoted after getting in a “brawl” in an Air Drive dormitory in 2001. Army data obtained since then by The Related Press, nevertheless, supply a special account of the circumstances, which army authorized specialists say would have performed a big position within the determination to bar him from reenlisting. They point out Majewski’s punishment and demotion have been the results of him being stopped for driving drunk on a U.S. air base in Japan in September 2001.
The paperwork, which have been offered to the AP and independently authenticated, current one more occasion the place the recorded historical past of Majewski’s service diverges from what he has informed voters as he campaigns whereas utilizing his veteran standing as a number one credential.
In an announcement, Majewski acknowledged that he was punished for drunken driving, although he didn’t deal with why his marketing campaign beforehand stated his demotion was the results of a combat.
“This error is now greater than 20 years outdated. I’m certain we’ve all executed one thing as younger adults that we glance again on and marvel ‘what was I pondering?’ and I’m certain our mother and father and grandparents share these sentiments,” Majewski stated.
Since beginning his marketing campaign to unseat longtime Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Majewski has repeatedly stated he was a fight veteran who served a tour of responsibility below “powerful” circumstances in Afghanistan. By his personal account, he as soon as went greater than 40 days within the nation with out a bathe as a consequence of a scarcity of working water.
His story got here below intense scrutiny final week when the AP, citing army paperwork obtained via public data requests, reported that he didn't deploy to Afghanistan as he claimed, however as a substitute spent six months based mostly in Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, the place he helped load and unload plane.
The newest revelation that Majewski was demoted for drunken driving provides one other wrinkle. Final week, the AP requested Majewski’s marketing campaign why his army service data confirmed that he was not allowed to reenlist within the Air Drive and left the service after 4 years at a rank that was one notch above the place he began.
On the time, his marketing campaign stated in an e mail that Majewski was “in a combat within the dormitory with one other servicemember” which “knocked his rank down.” His marketing campaign added that he later gained a few of that rank again.
The personnel data obtained by the AP make no point out of a combat. As an alternative, they state that Majewski was demoted for drunken driving at Kadena Air Base in Japan on Sept. 8, 2001. And fairly than achieve his rank again — as Majewski’s marketing campaign stated — the data indicated he continued to carry the rank of E-2, one notch above entry degree, that he was demoted to for the remainder of his lively responsibility.
“While you determined to get behind the wheel of a car after indulging in intoxicating liquor you introduced discredit upon your self, 733rd Air Mobility Squadron, and the Air Drive,” the disciplinary data state, referring to the unit Majewski was assigned to on the time. “Additional misconduct by you of any sort is not going to be tolerated.”
The three-page doc particulars Majewski’s punishment, which included a reprimand and 30 days of additional responsibility along with the demotion. It bears Majewski’s signature and reveals he consulted a lawyer and waived his proper to a court-martial. He additionally waived his proper to enchantment the punishment and requested that the doc not grow to be public, the data present.
The AP was not capable of acquire a “written presentation” from Majewski, which was referred to within the disciplinary paperwork. The marketing campaign didn't reply to a request from the AP to offer the doc.
Eric Mayer, a former West Level graduate and Military infantry officer later turned army lawyer, reviewed Majewski’s paperwork at AP’s request. He stated that “the general nature and high quality of (Majewski’s) army service may be severely questioned just by advantage of the truth that he received out as a E-2 after 4 years.”
“Principally, his commanding officer informed him so long as he behaves himself for the following six months, he gained’t demote him down all the way in which to airman fundamental,” Mayer stated, referring to the entry-level rank Majewski may have held if he received into extra bother. Mayer additionally famous that Majewski was given extra duties in his punishment that usually contain “space beautification” and janitorial companies.
In some instances, a DUI could be a career-ending violation within the army. However three days after Majewski was pulled over, the U.S. was instantly at conflict following the 9/11 terrorist assaults. Inside months, Majewski was reassigned and deployed to Qatar, which served because the staging floor for operations in Afghanistan, data present.
Army data present Majewski’s solely deployment was to Qatar. Final Friday, throughout a defiant information convention, he insisted that he did certainly serve in Afghanistan, although he declined to supply specifics as a result of he stated the small print have been “categorised.”
However there's a distinction between deploying to a rustic and touching down there. Majewski beforehand stated he was a “fight veteran” who deployed to Afghanistan, a time period that conveys he acquired orders assigning him to a selected base within the nation.
Majewski beforehand stated he couldn't focus on flights he says he took to Afghanistan as a result of they have been “categorised.”
In his assertion Wednesday, he stated he was aboard “outbound transport flights to ahead bases and fight zones all through the Center East, together with Afghanistan” although he acknowledged that he was stationed in Qatar.
He additionally described his expertise becoming a member of the Air Drive on the age 20 as fulfilling, but difficult.
“Like all younger serviceman away from household in a overseas land and with an project schedule in continuous movement, it got here with durations of issue and private challenges,” Majewski stated. “I misplaced my grandmother, who I cherished very deeply, and it was powerful work. I'm happy with my service and the experiences that made me who I'm right now, however I've by no means as soon as claimed to have undergone a ‘powerful fight tour’ in Afghanistan or urged that I used to be engaged in lively firefights.”
Majewski’s marketing campaign has beforehand promoted him as a “fight veteran.” Throughout an August 2021 interview on the One American Podcast, Majewski stated that he had a “powerful time in life” whereas serving a tour of responsibility in Afghanistan. He echoed that declare in different interviews unearthed by the liberal group Media Issues.
Majewski’s declare that he couldn’t focus on his forays to Afghanistan as a result of the small print have been “categorised” was a crimson flag to those that examine instances of “stolen valor.”
“The No. 1 trope that comes out of individuals when they're both fabricating a army report or, on this case, embellishing a report is that they fall again to, ‘It’s categorised,’” stated Ed Caffrey, a former Air Drive grasp sergeant who now investigates “stolen valor” instances and teaches journalism at Jap New Mexico College. He added: “There’s no junior enlisted air transportation specialist who was doing one thing so secret that 20 years later it nonetheless must be categorised.”
Majewksi’s marketing campaign declined a request to place the AP in contact with these he served with who may vouch that he went to Afghanistan. However he has posted a number of pages of data to social media that he stated again up his claims. Army specialists consulted by the AP say the data show no such factor.
“The AP said that I had solely been deployed to Qatar. My data present my deployment location as categorised. As well as, they forgot my deployment to Camp Hialeah in Korea (which is now closed),” Majewski stated in a single tweet, which contained two separate paperwork.
One of many paperwork included within the tweet was a “non permanent responsibility project” in early 2001 to South Korea, which aren't orders to deploy as Majewski claimed. Key particulars together with the aim of the journey and its length have been additionally blurred out within the picture Majewski posted. Moreover, the doc’s inclusion of the phrases “high secret” and “secret” have been references to the safety clearances held by Majewski and the noncommissioned officer he traveled with, Air Drive specialists say. That officer, whose title is redacted, had a “high secret” clearance; Majewski had a “secret” clearance. Members of the army sometimes want safety clearances to do their jobs.
The opposite doc included within the tweet, which doesn't present a date, indicated Majewski had been medically cleared to go on a special non permanent project to a “categorised” location.
Specialists say such kinds usually listing a service member’s vacation spot as categorised as a matter of routine.
“The rationale that it says ‘categorised’ isn't as a result of he’s going to some high secret black ops location,” Caffrey stated. “It says categorised as a result of that’s a non-secured kind. He’s taking that kind round with him to completely different locations on base the place individuals who put eyes on it might not have safety clearances to see what he’s doing.”
“It’s (operations safety). They don’t need everybody and their brother to know the place he’s going. That’s not one thing you need out in most people,” Caffrey added.
At the same time as scrutiny of Majewski intensifies, he has given no indication that he intends to drop out of the race and has continued to marketing campaign.
“I've nothing to cover,” Majewski stated on the finish of a quick information convention Friday.
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LaPorta reported from Wilmington, North Carolina.
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