The Race for the Virginia 7th District US House of Representatives Seat Between Conservative Republican Candidate Anderson and Liberal Democrat Candidate Vindman – A Side-by-Side Comparison of the Two Candidates

This year the race for the Virginia 7^th District US House of Representatives seat being vacated by Abigail Spanberger pits two Army Veterans against each other in what is turning out to be a very competitive race.  On the Republican side Derrick Anderson is currently a National Guard Special Forces Major who spent 8 years on active duty as an Infantry and Special Forces Officer.  He was born and raised in the 7^th District and has deep roots in the community with local Conservative Republican values. he graduated from Courtland High School in Spotsylvania Courthouse and Virginia Tech. Anderson is a lawyer having graduate from the prestigious Georgetown University Law Center.

His opponent on the Democrat side for the seat is Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, a retired Army Judge Advocate General Corps Lieutenant Colonel who spent his early years as an Infantry officer before going to Law School and transferring into the JAGC. He was born in the Ukraine and grew up in New York City with local Liberal Democrat values. He graduated from FDR High School in Brooklyn and the State University of New York at Binghamton. Vindman only moved into the 7^th District in 2016 as a result of him being assigned to the Pentagon and then the White House. Vindman is a graduate of the University of Georgia Law School.

For a quick comparison of their background:

Since both Anderson and Vindman are touting their Military experience as their main attribute, let’s compare their Service.

Anderson is still a serving National Guard Army Special Forces Major with 8 years of active duty and multiple Southwest Asia tours including a 15-Month “Surge” tour in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. He is an Airborne Ranger with a Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) and Bronze Star among other awards. He is also a graduate of the elite Special Forces Qualification Course and has had multiple SF commands and deployments to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, and Lebaron. Between combat tours he served 2 years in the elite “Old Guard” at Arlington National Cemetery.

Although Vindman served as an Infantry Officer for almost 10 years, he never had an Infantry command nor went into combat as an Infantryman but after becoming a JAG he did manage to spend 5 months in Iraq as a Captain Law of War advisor in the relatively safe Baghdad Green Zone. While in Iraq he was never in combat nor fired his weapon although in his campaign literature he bragged about firing an assault weapon in combat. It should be noted that he received NO combat awards for his service and that almost all of his contemporaries served at least three (3) combat tours between Iraq and Afghanistan.  As a JAGC Officer, Vindman served mostly in Stateside assignments although he did have one overseas tour in Germany.

Vindman was promoted to Colonel before retiring but was demoted to retire as a Lieutenant Colonel because he did not qualify to retire in that higher grade.  He now refers to himself as “a former Army colonel” after being exposed to public ridicule for falsely referring to himself as: “Colonel Eugene Vindman, US Army Retired” and “Retired Army Colonel Vindman” on his campaign website and other and places.  He is officially on the retired rolls as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Contrary to the misinformation being circulated by Liberal sources that LTC Vindman was somehow "forced to retire," the fact is NO one, not even Trump forced Vindman to retire and in fact, he retired in 2022 when Biden was president. Vindman submitted a waiver requesting to be allowed to retire in the grade of COL/06 but it was denied by the Biden administration. This was consistent with normal practice as there have only been two waivers approved for officer to retire in a higher grade without serving the required Time-in-Grade in the past 35 years and one was when President Obama allowed GEN Stanley McCrystal to retire as a 4 Star General.

For a quick comparison of their career assignments:

A good indication of how successful an officer’s career was is by looking at the Awards, Decorations and Badges they amassed over their time in service. Here is a quick comparison of the recognition for both their service:

LTC Alexander Vindman Is Retiring for the Big Bucks and Contrary to the Liberal Press Allegations, NO One Was Forcing Him Out!

On 8 July 2020 the Washington Post (WaPo) ran this dishonest headline for an article: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman retires, citing campaign of ‘bullying’ and ‘retaliation’ by Trump after impeachment testimony

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/lt-col-alexander-vindman-retires-citing-campaign-of-bullying-intimidation-and-retaliation-by-trump/2020/07/08/934bc6ba-c12e-11ea-864a-0dd31b9d6917_story.html

The article was written by Missy Ryan and Shane Harris, two people the WaPo identifies as “reporters.”  Unless “Reporter“ is the new WaPo euphemism for a “Liberal activist opinion columnist” then these two are no more “reporters” then I am an astronaut. Only two WaPo “Liberal activist opinion columnists” masquerading as reporters would write a piece like this full of opinions and only a partisan Rag like the WaPo would publish it and try to pass it off as “news.”

Although LTC Vindman through his lawyer made some unfounded allegations about being forced out of the Army when he announced his retirement, the truth is he was not forced to retire and the Colonel’s promotion list had not even been released so he didn’t even know if he had been selected. If he was on the list he definitely had NOT been removed from it.

(Update:  Since this Blog entry was published, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper acknowledged LTC Vindman was on the COL/06 promotion list and had NOT been removed from it.)

The fact is, LTC Vindman saw an opportunity to cash in on his notoriety that probably would not be there if he attended the War College or accepted an 0-6 promotion because he would have been locked into the Army for several years. If he attended the War College he was locked in for two years from graduation or another three years.  If he accepted promotion to Colonel he would have had to serve three years from his date of promotion in order to retire in that grade. Depending on his promotion number, it would probably be a year before he pinned on Eagles so he would not have been able to retire as a Colonel for another four (4) years. The War College lock in was mandatory but he could have retired before the promotion lock in but he would have reverted to Lieutenant Colonel on the retired list and his retired pay would be as an 0-5/LTC.

Army promotion list are not releasable by the Army until after they have been confirmed by the Senate so anyone discussing who is or is not on the Colonel's list would be in violation of a punitive Army Regulation.  Hence, neither I nor Vindman know for sure if he is on the list and selectees are not even informed until after the Senate acts.  If he was not selected he would still be eligible again for selection next year although after one pass over to Colonel his chances would be greatly diminished.

Having sat on two Army promotion boards I would have been surprised if he were selected looking at his record but if he had, he never would have made general.  He had only one 12 month combat tour and that was as an Infantry Captain and he received no combat awards for that tour.  His contemporaries will all have at least three combat tours and I would be surprised if any did not have at least a Bronze Star. His failure to get a combat award is probably a reflection of his performance in Iraq.  Hence, he is probably wise to retire at this point and move on anyway.

LTC Vindman is retiring for personal reasons and neither the Military or anyone else is forcing him to retire. Of course the Washington Post would never mention any of this, either because they are ignorant about all things Military and DOPMA, which is unlikely, or it doesn’t conform to their desired narrative. Just more confirmation of their new tag line: Democracy Dies in Darkness and the WaPo is Turning Out the Lights.