We Americans take the service of our military members extremely seriously. They are the cream of the crop, the very best America has to offer, and we thank them for that service every chance we get. So when someone comes along who has either never served or did serve but is embellishing their record, it is not going to endear you to others, especially actual veterans. And if you decide to go into politics and stretch the truth about your record, let’s just say it’s a really bad idea.
In the 2024 election cycle, it’s Democrats that appear to be all in on military record tall tales. The latest one comes from the Missouri Senate race between Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and his Democrat opponent Lucas Kunce. Retired Border Patrol agents are accusing Kunce of stolen valor after Kunce, a former Marine, claims in a campaign ad to have been “certified by the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC). Those agents say it is a credential Kunce could not possibly have.
BORTAC is an elite unit that is made up of less than one percent of all Border Patrol agents. BORTAC agents possess a unique set of skills and go through a long and extensive process to become BORTAC certified. The first order of business to become BORTAC certified is that you have to be a Border Patrol Agent. Lucas Kunce has never been a Border Patrol agent. BORTAC candidates are then subjected to an intense process to even be considered for BORTAC selection. Then, there is the actual training process to achieve the certification, which is extremely difficult. Unfortunately for Lucas Kunce, there is a roster of everyone who has taken and passed the certification. The retired Border Agent in charge of that roster said unequivocally that Kunce “was not a member of BORTAC.” The retired agents also say that someone like Kunce, who was a Marine, would have received “at best minimal training.”
A statement from Kunce’s campaign manager said in part,
“While in the Marines, Lucas was attached to the First Marine Expeditionary Force’s (I MEF) Advisor Trainer Group at Camp Pendleton, California, in preparation to deploy to Iraq on a Border Training Team. I MEF Marines preparing to deploy on border training teams were sent to the southern border to train with the border patrol in order to learn the tactical skills required to train Iraqi border guards. In the course of that training, Lucas successfully completed the BORTAC/SRT Border Transition Team Training course in Yuma, Arizona. In the document attached is the certificate Lucas Kunce received for completing that training from the United States Border Patrol, Yuma Sector. Lucas has never claimed he “was BORTAC” — he stated the fact that as a Marine, he trained with Border Patrol agents and was certified by the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, as evidenced by this certificate from his official military personnel file.”
However, the retired Border Patrol agents are not interested in any statements from Kunce’s campaign. They say that what Kunce is claiming amounts to stolen valor. In fact, Kunce’s claims are so offensive that BORTAC leaders have asked the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Chief Counsel to serve Kunce with a cease and desist order.
Stolen valor among Democrat candidates seems to be a pattern in 2024. There is Democrat Vice Presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has come under fire for misrepresenting his rank and implying he had been deployed to a combat zone when he had not. After seeing Walz take heat, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) must have figured he should clean up his own record of confusion about whether he had been a Bronze Star recipient and attempted to do so.
A Real Clear Politics poll puts Kunce 11 points behind Josh Hawley in a pretty reliably red Missouri. An accusation of stolen valor is not going to play well in a state that hosts both the Army and Air Force in Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base. Missouri has not seen a Democrat Senator since Josh Hawley sent Claire McCaskill packing for a spot at MSNBC. If the numbers hold, Lucas Kunce may be joining her.
