Outraged family members of US troops hurt in the line of duty slammed Kamala Harris’ brazen claim that no Americans are serving in war zones — a statement which flies in the face of her own administration’s official list of active combat zones.
As many as 50,000 US service members currently patrolling countries and oceans across the Middle East and Africa are receiving either “hostile fire” or “imminent danger pay,” monthly payments of up to $225 for troops deployed in areas where they could easily be subjected to — or do come under — enemy attack, retired Army Col. and military analyst Jonathan Sweet told The Post.
Yet during Tuesday’s ABC debate with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the vice president to make it seem as if the Harris-Biden administration has heralded in a period of peace not seen in decades — and that all American military members are safe.
“As of today there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century,” she insisted before a TV audience of 67 million.
Earlier in the debate, Trump warned that the United States is “playing with World War III” by allowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to continue.
He has long argued that during his presidency he kept international rivals at bay, and that Russia would not have dared to invade Ukraine, nor Hamas assault civilians in Israel, on his watch.
Brad Illerbrunner was not buying Harris’ claims of peace.
His son, Chief Warrant Officer Garrett Illerbrunner of the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division, was critically injured in Iraq on Christmas Day.
A drone launched by the terror organization Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups struck the Erbil Air Base in Iraq where Garrett was stationed.
Shrapnel struck Garrett in the head, nearly killing him and leaving him disabled. Two other soldiers were wounded.
The angry dad said Harris’ wild claims “really [hit] below the belt. . . . She doesn’t even recognize that our own troops are getting hurt.”
“We’re still in war zones,” he added bluntly, adding Harris was “trying to snow the public.”
A month after the attack that critically injured Illerbrunn, three National Guard members were killed and 34 other troops injured by a drone strike launched by Iran-backed militants at US base in Jordan known as Tower 22.
And in mid-August, seven US soldiers were hurt during a joint raid with Iraqi forces in Western Iraq that killed 15 ISIS terrorists, who were armed with grenades and explosive “suicide” belts.
The vice president’s claims on the debate stage offended wide swaths of the military community because they fail “a basic kind of smell test,” said Michael DiMino, a fellow at the think tank Defense Priorities.
“If you’re in Jordan in the middle of nowhere to fight ISIS, and you’re getting attacked by Iranian drones and rockets on a daily basis, you’re in a war zone,” he said.
Harris was trying “to finagle a wording . . . to make a point we’re not engaged in all these conflicts — which we are,” he added.
“Those quibbling qualifiers ignore the fact American men and women in uniform are getting shot at on daily basis, and many just in the last eight months have died or been injured.”
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The US currently has roughly 2,500 troops stationed in Iraq and another 1,000 in Syria as part of the US-led international efforts to eliminate the Islamic State, known as Operation Inherent Resolve.
Iraq is among nearly two dozen areas designated as “combat zones” by the Harris-Biden administration’s own IRS, which allows soldiers to receive tax exemptions for serving in “hostile areas … [including] actual combat areas, direct combat support areas and qualified hazardous duty areas.”
A Harris campaign spokeswoman repeated the vice president’s debate point that for the first time in decades, the nation is not at war, but she acknowledged American troops stationed around the world are “taking risks for our country that should be honored no matter where they serve.”
A Defense Department official also echoed the claim that the United States currently is not involved in any wars nor are troops fighting in any active war zones.
“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” the official said. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense. However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war.”
Holly Davis, whose husband is a National Guardsman currently deployed in Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, said the threat of combat and violence is ever-present.
“It’s very hurtful that someone who is currently our vice president is making these claims when my husband is literally sacrificing his life every day over in the Middle East,” Davis said.
On Aug. 9, her husband’s base was hit by a drone strike. During a recent phone call, she heard the blares of an alarm ringing, warning of an incoming attack.
“I had to sit in those literal two minutes of hearing that, wondering if he was going to come back on the phone,” she said. “It’s very real. Very war zone.”
Additional reporting by Georgia Worrell
