Some fellow veterans criticized Vice President JD Vance's visit to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, VA, this week, particularly when Vance made his way to the mess hall to have lunch.
The Vice President sported a green military jacket and a bright red hat with the words, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine" emblazoned on it.
On X, formerly Twitter, journalist and former Marine @RonFilipkowski wrote, "Marines learn on Day 1 to never wear their cover inside and damn sure never to eat with it on. Maybe Corporal Correspondent went to a different boot camp than I did."
"This boy was a Marine? Why the hell is he still wearing his cover in the cookhouse?" posted "former British soldier and Ukrainian Marine" @olddog100ua. "He is just an absolute f--- up."
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"As a Marine, you’d think JD Vance would know he needs to take his hat off indoors. This add more skepticism to his bull---- origin story," posted screenwriter @Jbug33.
According to CNN, Vance enlisted in the military after high school, spent four years in the Marines, and served a tour in Iraq in 2005 as a combat correspondent. He came under fire during the 2024 presidential campaign for claiming he "served in a combat zone," and accusing Democratic V.P. candidate Tim Walz of "stolen valor" for his own military claims.
The New Republic reported at the time that Vance's military service "wasn't exactly the boots-on-the-ground experience that he's now framing it as," adding that Vance wrote in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, that he was "lucky to escape any real fighting."
Friday, Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance landed in Greenland where they toured the U.S. Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the northwest coast.
The trip, originally scheduled to last the weekend, was downgraded to a one-day trip after the island’s government categorized the visit as unwanted and "highly aggressive." President Donald Trump has been fixated on acquiring the Danish territory and has refused ruling out using the U.S. military to take it.