LITTLE ROCK — The U.S. Army on Tuesday revoked an order that it says was “erroneously” issued in 2008 that 3rd Congressional District candidate Ken Aden has been using as proof in his claim that he is a Green Beret.
Aden, a Democrat running against Republican incumbent Steve Womack, has remained adamant in recent weeks that he is Special Forces-qualified, despite documents uncovered through the federal Freedom of Information Act showing the contrary.
His claim is based on a June 12, 2008, document in his military file that was issued in error that designated him as having the specialty of “Special Forces Weapons Sergeant,” denoted as 18B on military records.
The John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in Fort Bragg, N.C., which trains all Special Forces troops, confirmed last week that Aden never completed his training after washing out three times from 2006 to 2008.
Tuesday’s revocation order was necessary to correct Aden’s military record and remove any reference to Special Forces, said Maj. Rebecca Lykins, public-affairs chief at the Special Warfare Center.
While Aden has continuously claimed to be a Special Forces weapons sergeant, Janice Burton, deputy chief of public affairs at the Special Warfare Center, wrote in response to a Freedom of Information Act request Tuesday that Aden failed the Light Weapons Exam and the Hands-on Mortar Exam and was relieved from the course April 29, 2008.
Aden said last week that he was never assigned to a Special Forces unit because of an injury he received in June that year, adding that he completed all training.
Tuesday’s revocation order comes on the heels of Jake Burris’ resignation as Aden’s campaign director over the weekend.
Burris did not return calls seeking comment. On Tuesday, his Facebook page contained the post, “Fight a liar, light a fire.”
“Jake did not quit,” said Ian Gill, Aden’s campaign office manager. “He chose to step down from his role as director to stay in a advisory capacity. He felt people were upset with his response to certain aspects of the story, and thought it would be in the best interest of everyone.”
The campaign is currently looking for someone to fill the position, Gill said.
Aden was not available for comment Tuesday because he was spending the afternoon at home, Gill said. “I don’t want to bother him while he is with his daughter.”
Aden also has not returned calls from state Democratic Party leaders, according to party spokesman Candace Martin. Party officials asked Aden to apologize last week for exaggerating his military record.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first reported last week that Aden had falsely claimed to be a Green Beret after several Freedom of Information Act requests resulted in Army officials looking at his military record and confirming that he was not qualified as a Special Forces soldier.
“Once we looked into his file, we found where he had been relieved from the [Special Forces Qualification] course,” Lykins said.
“Unfortunately, the orders were cut anyway giving him the 18B [specialty on his record] even though he had been removed from the course. So what we had to do was go back and have new orders cut revoking the 18B [status], and we did that today.”
The orders issued on June 12, 2008, which Aden has publicly claimed proves that he is qualified as a Special Forces “Green Beret,” should have never been issued to him, Lykins said. Indeed, they were issued two months after he was kicked out of training for failing three times, records show.
“I can’t really explain how the error occurred or why the orders were [issued in 2008],” Lykins said.
As late as Friday, Aden continued his claim that he was a Green Beret.
In a Thursday news release, he wrote:
“The claims perpetuated by the Democrat-Gazette that my maintaining the 18B designation was somehow a mistake or error are ridiculous. ... I was designated as 18B, which is a special forces designation, and I maintained that designation until I was discharged. For the Democrat-Gazette to claim I was not entitled to that designation or that it was somehow a mistake that I held the designation for so long is both ridiculous and insulting, to myself and other combat veterans who may be considering a run for public office.”
In addition to claiming to be a Green Beret, Aden said in several interviews in November and January that he was deployed to Afghanistan for six months.
According to records received last week from the military’s National Personnel Records Center, Aden deployed to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula with the Arkansas National Guard and deployed twice to Iraq with active-duty Army units.
Aden’s campaign on Friday also issued a “Character Letter” written by Sgt. David Pratt, Aden’s platoon sergeant on his last Iraq deployment in 2009.
The letter, written on official Department of the Army letterhead, spoke of Aden’s abilities during that deployment.
Gill said Pratt contacted the campaign and offered to write the letter.
Pratt retracted that letter over the weekend, asking the campaign to take it down from its website. On Saturday, Pratt posted an apology on an online Green Beret community forum and said he had been misled by Aden about his background.
“Thanks for calling,” Pratt said when contacted Tuesday, “but I don’t want to get involved.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/04/2012