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Sen. Cotton Inflated His Military Accomplishments During Senate Campaign

Cotton ran an ad during his 2012 campaign saying he “volunteered to be an Army Ranger.” That statement was misleading.

During his 2012 campaign for U.S. Senate, current Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton referred to himself as an “Army Ranger” and said that he had been “a U.S. Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Rangers are a highly skilled unit that performs special joint missions. In fact, Cotton received the Ranger tab — which certifies that he completed an arduous, but open, two-month training — but did not serve in an Army Ranger unit, Salon reported. “Senator Cotton graduated from Ranger school and is more of a Ranger than a Salon reporter like you will ever be,” a member of Sen. Cotton’s office told Salon. Cotton, who deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan, rose to the rank of captain during his eight years in the military.