Today, Governor Wes Moore joined CNN’s News Central with Kate Bolduan to discuss his military service following the release of the most comprehensive report on Gov. Moore’s military record that states “Wes Moore’s military service is not in doubt.”
Key Excerpts From Governor Moore’s Interview With CNN:
Gov. Moore: When I was 17 years old, I joined the army. When I was working a career in finance, I left and I deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan–every time we could have chosen safety or financial benefit or anything along those lines, I raised my hand to serve because this country asked. And I know for myself and the people I serve with, we would do it again if asked.
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Gov. Moore: Well, I think the article helps to highlight that when I say that, you know, we led soldiers in combat, that we did that. My job was serving as a director of information operations, where I was leading a team of psyops and civil affairs. My job was to go outside of the wire multiple times, multiple times a week and the thing that we know is that while my job was never to conduct offensive operations, it was the enemy’s job to conduct offensive operations against us. And we had to then turn around and respond.
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Gov. Moore: I think it is deeply slanderous and disrespectful to think that any of us would leave our family, would go deploy to some of the most dangerous places in the world, would go and leave a wire, knowing that there is a very distinct and real possibility that you’re not going to come back. That we all then now have to deal with the realities that we have friends who lost their lives overseas or who came back remarkably different. And to think that we did it for a political purpose–I did not serve because of politics, and I could care less about how this impacts my political career. I didn’t serve because of medals or awards or recognition. I served, we served, because we believe in this country and because this country asked us to. And any type of insinuation that we would have risked our lives for something other than the fact that this country asked us to, I find to be not just deeply disrespectful to all of us, but slanderous.
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Gov. Moore: We are enjoying the freedoms we have because there are people who are willing to sacrifice on behalf of it. There were people who were willing to give and lose their lives if necessary, because the country asked. And I think by trying to come after me or anybody from a political perspective, that’s just not who we’re supposed to be. And that’s not who we are. And particularly for something that I am so proud of. The army helped to save my life. It helped to give me direction. It gave me a foundation. It gave me a purpose, and I would do it over again if asked. I was willing to sacrifice everything because I knew this organization gave me so much, and I just want to make sure that the service that we conducted in Afghanistan, the service that the men and women who I was proud to serve with that that never is disparaged or that it never is dishonored, particularly by people who might have a political motivation in the way they’re trying to do it.