Rep. Troy Nehls claims victimhood amid stolen valor allegation

The iconic Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) is awarded to members of the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces and saw active combat. The badge consists of a Revolutionary War-era musket superimposed over a blue (the color of the Infantry) field with a wreath behind it.

Apparently, Rep. Troy Nehls (Rpublucan, Texas' 22nd district) does not have one of these. However, the Congressman has often been photographed wearing a CIB lapel pin.

But Nehls' story is a bit more convoluted than a standard case of "stolen valor" in which someone wears awards and decorations that they didn't earn.

According to CBS News, Nehls was erroneously awarded the CIB while he was serving as a Civil Affairs soldier. Only Infantry and Special Forces are eligible for the CIB. Other occupations can be awarded the Combat Action Badge (CAB).

In a statement to NOTUS , the U.S. Army confirmed that Nehls served as an "enlisted infantryman, as well as an armor and civil affairs officer from July 1988 to December 2008 — first in the Wisconsin National Guard for 13 years and then in the Army Reserve for the last seven years."

But, "That role does not qualify for the Combat Infantryman Badge."

Nehls continued to wear the CIB lapel pin after the CBS story broke , but then an Army spokesperson confirmed that the CIB had been awarded to Nehls in a clerical error of some kind, and that it has since been rescinded.

As the scandal grew, Nehls took to social media, apparently to play the victim in an imagined political conspiracy: "Unfortunately for me, as an America First Patriot and an outspoken member of Congress, there are no lengths to which the establishment won’t go to discredit me, including my CIB, which I was awarded over 14 years ago. Nothing more needs to be said."

However, it wasn't just Democrats that came out against Nehls wearing a CIB that he didn't earn.

"It matters. As a former commander, it matters what you wear on your uniform...and if you didn’t earn it, you shouldn’t wear it," said Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke, via NOTUS .

Texas Republican, Rep. Wesley Hunt, said, “That’s ridiculous. That’s stolen valor.”