Tim Sheehy’s Pattern of Lying About His Military Record on TVs Across Montana
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 25, 2024
CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org
NBC News: Montana Senate candidate says he was 'medically discharged' from the Navy. Records say otherwise.
NBC Montana: “Sheehy’s campaign declined my request for an interview but did provide a statement. The statement does not answer my question about why the emergency room records have not been released”
Helena, MT – As Montanans continue to cast their ballots, they are learning more and more about Tim Sheehy’s pattern of lying about his military record.
New bombshell reporting from NBC News yesterday found that Sheehy’s claims that he was forced to leave the military for medical reasons is contradicted by his military records, which indicate that he voluntarily resigned and no medical condition “forced him out of uniform.”
And multiple brutal segments from local NBC Montana and MTN stations scrutinized the bullet wound that Sheehy claimed was from Afghanistan, but public records and firsthand accounts show was self-inflicted in Glacier National Park.
READ - NBC News: Montana Senate candidate says he was 'medically discharged' from the Navy. Records say otherwise.
Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL running for the Senate in Montana, has said he was discharged from the military for medical reasons because of injuries he sustained on duty, but his discharge paperwork tells a different story.
The heavily-redacted, 2-page document obtained by NBC News indicates that Sheehy voluntarily resigned his commission and does not list any medical condition that forced him out of uniform, according to a review of the document and a current and former U.S. official familiar with the details of his separation.
Sheehy said as much in his memoir last year, noting that he did develop a health issue but it was not the reason he left the Navy.
[Sheehy’s] spokesperson did not directly address why Sheehy’s discharge paperwork contradicts his claims that he was discharged for medical reasons.
Sheehy’s apparently false claims of being medically discharged add to the number of statements he has made about his military record that have been questioned. He was already facing scrutiny for his claim that he was shot in Afghanistan, which has been contradicted by a National Park Service ranger who has told reporters that Sheehy shot himself in an accident at Glacier National Park in 2015.
Sheehy has made his military service a core part of his campaign. In interviews with conservative podcast hosts, he has said he was forced out of the military because of injury.
"So finally, they said, ‘Hey, you’re at the end of the road, you know, you’ve got shrapnel in you, you’ve got a bullet in you, you’ve had a head injury, you know, you’re out of here,'" Sheehy said on the “First Class Fatherhood” podcast in November.
In March, he said on “The Victor Davis Hanson Show” podcast that he served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and “got wounded and injured a handful of times."
“Eventually, I was medically discharged from the military,” he added.
Sheehy also submitted a résumé to the Montana Legislature in 2021 that claims he was “medically separated from active duty due to wounds received in Afghanistan.”
He graduated from the Naval Academy in 2008 and left the military six years later after fulfilling his mandatory service requirement, records show.
Sheehy received the Purple Heart for an incident on April 25, 2012. The circumstances are unclear. His campaign did not release the citation, which would provide a narrative of what happened, and instead referred NBC News to a local news article published on the day of the 2015 award ceremony. The article in the Independent Record of Helena says he was knocked unconscious by an improvised explosive device.
TRANSCRIPT:
“The former park ranger says Sheehy’s story of being shot in Afghanistan is disrespectful to combat wounded veterans, saying he couldn’t let it slide.
“He says this could all be solved if Sheehy released the emergency room records.
“I reached out to Sheehy’s campaign to request an interview or to answer these questions if denied:
What is the campaign’s response to Kim Peach publicly coming forward and disputing Mr. Sheehy’s story?
And is there a reason the emergency room records have not been released?
“Sheehy’s campaign declined my request for an interview but did provide a statement. The statement does not answer my question about why the emergency room records have not been released.”
“Just last week, the park ranger who cited Sheehy with discharging his gun in Glacier told the New York Times he is ‘100 percent sure’ Sheehy did shoot himself that day.
“And a former Navy SEAL who served with Sheehy also told the paper that the two met in 2012 shortly after the alleged combat injury happened, but said Sheehy’s arms showed no evidence of a bullet wound.
“It’s still unclear what really happened.”
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