| Bombshell new reporting reveals that NV-02 Republican nominee David Flippo repeatedly lied about his military service – falsely claiming in multiple fundraising emails and a video that he earned a Bronze Star “for valor.”
As the Washington Post reports, a Bronze Star with valor is an ultra-rare distinction that recognizes “an act or acts of heroism by an individual above what is normally expected while engaged in direct combat.” Flippo admitted to the Post that his claims were false.
Experts on military honors have some tough words for Flippo’s “blatant” “misrepresentation”:
- “It denigrates everybody’s service.”
- “[Flippo] apparently missed the training on officership and integrity.”
- “Amounts to a lie.”
- “Pretty sad.”
- “A big deal.”
READ THE REPORTING FOR YOURSELF…
Washington Post: Trump-backed Nevada Republican exaggerated Bronze Star award in two campaigns
- David Flippo, a Republican congressional candidate in Nevada, inflated his military record multiple times in recent years by claiming he received a Bronze Star “for valor” during his two-decade Air Force career.
- Flippo received a Bronze Star in 2004 for his service, but not the Bronze Star with valor, a much rarer distinction that recognizes heroism in direct combat with an enemy.
- The Flippo campaign acknowledged the misrepresentations.
- When the Republican announced his first congressional campaign in 2023, the narrator in his announcement video described the candidate as a “recipient of the Bronze Star that he received for valor.”
- His campaign made the same misrepresentation about his award during this election cycle in at least two fundraising solicitations reviewed by The Washington Post.
- Experts on military honors — including Doug Sterner, a recipient of two Bronze Stars and one of the nation’s foremost experts on military awards — told The Post that Flippo’s error was “a big deal.”
- “It’s pretty sad that this is a multiple-time thing,” said Sterner. “It shows a pattern of deception. It is someone trying to give an impression of their service that is not true.”
- The Air Force Personnel Center website states that the valor device denotes “an act or acts of heroism by an individual above what is normally expected while engaged in direct combat with an enemy of the United States, or an opposing foreign or armed force, with exposure to enemy hostilities and personal risk.”
- Multiple experts said claiming to have received the Bronze Star with valor when you received the more common award is taboo.
- “It amounts to a lie,” Sterner said. “It’s a falsification, a misrepresentation of the award that he received. He did not get an award for heroism.”
- Jason Dempsey, a retired Army infantry officer… called Flippo’s exaggeration “pretty blatant” and an example of the candidate “grasping for unearned valor.”
- “It denigrates everybody’s service for folks to promote themselves this way,” Dempsey said. “He apparently missed the training on officership and integrity.”
- Amodei has since refused to endorse Flippo, calling him “not my cup of tea” and saying there was “no way” he would endorse the Republican.
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