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JD Vance's Military Record Comes Under Scrutiny After Tim Walz Attack

JD Vance is being attacked for his military record after he criticized
that of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the recently announced running mate
of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Speaking to reporters in Michigan on Wednesday, Donald Trump's running
mate accused Walz of "stolen valor," of having "lied" about serving in a
war and of "abandoning" his unit.

Walz, who spent 24 years in the National Guard, left in 2005 months
before the battalion he led was notified that it would to be deployed to
Iraq. Vance also appeared to reference previous comments from Walz in
which the governor said, "We can make sure that those weapons of war,
that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons were at."

"Well, I wonder Tim Walz, when were you ever in war?" Vance said. "What
was this weapon that you carried into war given that you abandoned your
unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a
combat zone?"

Vance himself served in the Marine Corps for four years, and he also
never saw combat. He worked as a combat correspondent in Iraq between
August 2005 and February 2006. The senator has now been widely condemned
for attacking Walz's military record as his own background is
scrutinized.

Alexander Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, wrote on X,
formerly Twitter: "Vance enlisted & served 4 yrs, including 6 months in
Iraq in 2005 as a reporter w/ a Public Affairs section of a Marine
Aircraft Wing.

"Walz served 24 yrs earning 8 promotions & ending as a Command Sergeant
Major, the highest NCO position. I don't think JD wants to compare
records but if he insists."

Jake Broe, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served as a nuclear and missile
operations officer, wrote: "Tim Walz retired from military service after
25 years of honorable service. He retired an E-9 Command Sergeant Major.
JD Vance went to Iraq for six months and wrote press releases from an air
conditioned office."

Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman who served in the Air
Force, said while sharing Vance's comments on Walz: "OK. JD served
honorably, but he wasn't kicking down doors. He was in public affairs.

"Which again, is fine and honorable. Tim, after he was eligible for
retirement, retired. People do that. If it was a real problem he would
have been 'stop lossed' and prevented from retiring."

Navy veteran Jax Persists added: "Vance served 4 years and spent 6 months
in Iraq escorting civilian press and writing stories. Walz served 24
years and retired when he ran for office."

Newsweek has contacted Vance's office for comment via email.

Vance has said he never saw real combat during his time in the Marine
Corps, and he wrote about his experiences in his bestselling memoirs
Hillbilly Elegy.

"As a public affairs marine, I would attach to different units to get a
sense of their daily routine," Vance wrote. "Sometimes I'd escort
civilian press, but generally I'd take photos or write short stories
about individual marines or their work."

Luis Agostini, a combat veteran and public information officer for the
Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago field division, defended those
who work in military public affairs and dismissed those who suggest it
amounts to a "cushy" public relations job where "combat is avoided and
A/C is enjoyed."

In a series of posts on X, Agostini paid tribute to those who have been
killed while working such jobs during wartime.

"There are also the invisible injuries suffered by combat correspondents,
photographers and videographers that weigh heavily long after the
deployment, as with so many others in different fields," he wrote.

CNN's Brianna Keilar suggested that Vance was an "imperfect messenger" to
attack Walz's military history given the senator also never saw combat
and was more of a "public affairs specialist."

In reply, Vance wrote on X: "It's easy to sit in the comfort and safety
of a CNN studio and trivialize the service of countless men and women who
risked their lives.

"I served with some of the people mentioned in this thread. I miss them
all very much. Shameful of Keilar to slander an entire [military
occupational specialty]."

Luke Schroeder, a spokesperson for Vance, previously told Newsweek: "Tim
Walz lied about carrying a weapon in a war and abandoned his unit as they
prepared to actually deploy for war�he said he would answer the call, but
when the call came, he ran for office instead.

"There's nothing more insulting to veterans who do answer the call to
serve in a combat zone like Senator Vance did than those who engage in
stolen valor to benefit their political career�which is exactly what Walz
appears to have done."

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CLAYTON • A St. Louis man already serving a 40-year sentence for abducting and raping four women in the city and St. Louis County has received more prison time after admitting to raping a fifth woman at gunpoint.

All the crimes took place in 2006. Charges began mounting against James W. Frost, now 23, after DNA linked him to the attacks a year later. He reportedly confessed to some of the attacks to police.

The fifth case was brought by prosecutors in September, based on further DNA testing. It involved a woman in her 20s, whom Frost allegedly attacked near Chambers Road in north St. Louis County on Feb. 11, 2006. Prosecutors said he raped the woman and forced her to give him oral sex while pointing a gun at her.

“This girl was doing nothing wrong,” said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Quarenghi on Monday. “She was walking down the street.”

As part of a plea deal, Frost was sentenced to 30 years plus 10 on charges of forced rape, forced sodomy and sexual abuse. It will run concurrently with the time he is already serving for the other attacks.

In Feb. 2010, Frost was sentenced in St. Louis Circuit Court to 40 years in prison after admitting to two of the rapes that happened near his home in the 3400 block of Goodfellow Boulevard.

In one, on Oct. 30 2006, authorities say, Frost held scissors to the throat of a woman he raped in her home in the 1700 block of O’Fallon Street.

In the other, on Dec. 17, 2006, Frost reportedly confronted a 27-year-old woman outside her home, put a gun to her head and ordered her into her car. Police said he had the woman drive to three locations, sexually assaulting her in the car at each. She also was punched and choked, and told that her children would be killed if she reported the crime.

The sentence was to run concurrently with penalties for cases in the county, which were still pending.

One involved the rape on Feb. 26, 2006, of a woman who said her attacker claimed to have a gun.

The other involved an abduction on June 4, 2006, from the 9700 block of Bravo Drive. The victim told police she was attempting to put her car into gear, on the way to pick up her husband from work, when a man approached with a handgun and demanded that she let him in the car. She told police she was raped and sodomized at gunpoint, and was told she would be shot if she did not comply.

Frost was sentenced in July 2010 to 30 years on those cases.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/repeat-rapist-receives-more-time-after-dna-links-him-to-fifth-case-in-st-louis/article_9c143a30-26e5-5052-8f4c-3e8bab69bed9.html