Is Ernst, who has more than 20 years of military experience, really a "combat veteran?" As a service member, can she make political comments? Is it a conflict to continue her military commitments while serving in the Senate?
Research by The Des Moines Register shows she meets the military's definition of a combat veteran and that her service in the Guard does not limit her political speech, but the constitutionality of her concurrent service in Congress and the National Guard is less clear-cut.
The Republican's military experience defined her candidacy in 2014, helping set her apart in a crowded primary and then secure a general-election victory to become Iowa's first female member of Congress.
She's also made military affairs a top priority since taking office, serving on the Armed Forces Committee and using her maiden speech on the Senate floor to introduce a bill on mental health services for veterans.
Let's walk through the facts, military regulations and law that lead to these conclusions.
What is Joni Ernst's history as a member of the U.S. military?
She entered the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Iowa State University at age 20, on Aug. 27, 1990, and served in the ROTC until her graduation in May 1992.
She was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1992, and subsequently was promoted to first lieutenant in 1995 and captain in 1999. She joined the Iowa Army National Guard in 2001, and was promoted to major in 2005 and lieutenant colonel in 2011, according to military records.
As of this May, she will have 25 years of service in the Reserve Component (which includes both the Army Reserves and the Army National Guard), of which 21 will count toward her military retirement, records show.
While serving as commander of the Iowa National Guard's 1168th Transportation Company, Ernst was called to active duty on Feb. 10, 2003, and ultimately was deployed to Kuwait during the Iraq War. Ernst and her unit arrived in Kuwait on April 19, 2003, and remained until April 5, 2004, according to the company's official mobilization and deployment history, which Ernst wrote.
From May through August 2003, Ernst and her unit drove supply convoys into Iraq, ultimately conducting 402 missions comprising 2,091 loads, 10.5 million tons of equipment and 230,728 miles driven. They transported everything from food and clothing to weapons and ammunition to embalming powder and "over $2 billion in paper currency," according to the company history.
The history describes only one threatening incident while the company ran convoys. As the trucks passed through the southeast Iraqi city of Safwan during the return trip of a convoy to Baghdad, several "young Iraqi males" grabbed onto the vehicles and lay down in their path.
After the company's convoy duties were finished, it performed guard and patrol assignments at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.
"(Force protection) wasn't always a serious matter," Ernst wrote in the company history. "Often the local Bedouins would find that their sheep or camels had crossed over the berm into Arifjan. Then the Roving Patrol or (Quick Reaction Force) would be called to chase them back over to the waiting herder. Some of the soldiers were even able to test their camel riding skills."
During her years of service, Ernst has been assigned to units in locations across the country — including St. Louis, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas and several locations in Iowa — and has held many duty assignments. She has served, among other roles, as a platoon leader, a real estate officer, a supply officer and battalion commander responsible for overseeing hundreds of soldiers.
Last September, amid her Senate campaign, she was reassigned from a battalion commander position to a logistical officer position at the Iowa National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters in Johnston. On March 1, she was reassigned again and is now serving as a deputy chief of staff at the headquarters.
What is Joni Ernst's history as a member of the U.S. military?
She entered the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Iowa State University at age 20, on Aug. 27, 1990, and served in the ROTC until her graduation in May 1992.
She was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1992, and subsequently was promoted to first lieutenant in 1995 and captain in 1999. She joined the Iowa Army National Guard in 2001, and was promoted to major in 2005 and lieutenant colonel in 2011, according to military records.
As of this May, she will have 25 years of service in the Reserve Component (which includes both the Army Reserves and the Army National Guard), of which 21 will count toward her military retirement, records show.
While serving as commander of the Iowa National Guard's 1168th Transportation Company, Ernst was called to active duty on Feb. 10, 2003, and ultimately was deployed to Kuwait during the Iraq War. Ernst and her unit arrived in Kuwait on April 19, 2003, and remained until April 5, 2004, according to the company's official mobilization and deployment history, which Ernst wrote.
From May through August 2003, Ernst and her unit drove supply convoys into Iraq, ultimately conducting 402 missions comprising 2,091 loads, 10.5 million tons of equipment and 230,728 miles driven. They transported everything from food and clothing to weapons and ammunition to embalming powder and "over $2 billion in paper currency," according to the company history.
The history describes only one threatening incident while the company ran convoys. As the trucks passed through the southeast Iraqi city of Safwan during the return trip of a convoy to Baghdad, several "young Iraqi males" grabbed onto the vehicles and lay down in their path.
After the company's convoy duties were finished, it performed guard and patrol assignments at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.
"(Force protection) wasn't always a serious matter," Ernst wrote in the company history. "Often the local Bedouins would find that their sheep or camels had crossed over the berm into Arifjan. Then the Roving Patrol or (Quick Reaction Force) would be called to chase them back over to the waiting herder. Some of the soldiers were even able to test their camel riding skills."
During her years of service, Ernst has been assigned to units in locations across the country — including St. Louis, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas and several locations in Iowa — and has held many duty assignments. She has served, among other roles, as a platoon leader, a real estate officer, a supply officer and battalion commander responsible for overseeing hundreds of soldiers.
Last September, amid her Senate campaign, she was reassigned from a battalion commander position to a logistical officer position at the Iowa National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters in Johnston. On March 1, she was reassigned again and is now serving as a deputy chief of staff at the headquarters.
Is Joni Ernst a combat veteran?
Several countries and areas across the world are currently hostile fire or imminent danger areas. Among them is Kuwait, which has held the designation since 1998.
Regardless of whether she actually encountered hostilities, however, Ernst's service in Kuwait in 2003 and 2004 makes her a combat veteran in the eyes of the U.S. military.
What is the nature of Joni Ernst's National Guard service now that she's a U.S. senator?
Throughout her Guard service, Ernst has fulfilled that responsibility, and has served for substantially longer periods during her deployment and in her role as a unit commander, Iowa National Guard Col. Greg Hapgood said in an interview.
As long as she remains a member of the Guard, Ernst will be required to complete 39 training days a year, although her latest assignment as an assistant chief of staff provides greater flexibility in scheduling than the traditional one-weekend-a-month, two-weeks-a-year schedule.
As a deputy chief of staff, Ernst will be responsible for advising the Iowa National Guard chief of staff, representing the chief in interactions with other agencies, overseeing and performing executive functions, and taking on special projects as assigned.
What is the history and precedent for serving in Congress and in the military concurrently?
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is currently a captain in the Hawaii Army National Guard, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., is a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is an officer in the Air Force Reserves.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., was a member of the Illinois Army National Guard when she began serving in Congress in 2013 but retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2014. Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard throughout his partial term in the Senate.
OK, so several lawmakers have done it, but is it legal to serve in Congress and the National Guard at the same time?
Article I, Sec. 6, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution forbids members of Congress from holding "any office under the United States" concurrent with their congressional service.
The constitutional language itself is plain and contains no exceptions. That's led legal scholars to conclude that individuals holding military commissions — even in the Reserve Component — should be barred from simultaneously serving in Congress
In a 2009 Georgetown Law Review article, attorney David J. Shaw reviewed congressional precedents dating to 1789, as well as case law on the matter, and concluded reservists should be barred from holding office unless they resign their military offices.
So why has it been allowed? No court has definitively addressed the issue, and prominent figures have argued in favor of allowing it.
In the 1970s, a federal circuit court found in Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War that individuals with Reserve commissions could not simultaneously serve in Congress. The Supreme Court threw out the case, however, by ruling the plaintiffs didn't have standing to sue.
On the other side, then-U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater delivered a series of speeches from the Senate floor in 1963 arguing that Reserve Component officers could serve in Congress. A decade later, U.S. Solicitor General Robert Bork made the same argument in a brief on the Schlesinger case.
In his law review article, Shaw finds both the Goldwater and Bork arguments to be flawed even though they have not been formally challenged in Congress or by the courts.
Does Ernst get paid for her congressional and military service?
Ernst is paid for her Guard duties according to a schedule that takes into account her rank and years of service. According to a pay calculator available on the National Guard website, a lieutenant colonel with 21 years of service would receive annual pay totaling approximately $17,500.
As a U.S. senator, Ernst is paid $174,000 a year.
Ernst is also eligible for health insurance benefits both as a member of Congress and a member of the Guard, although the coverage she receives is not connected to either employer. Instead, her office said, she's covered through the federal Tricare program for military members and retirees under a policy held by her husband, an Army retiree.
Can Ernst make political comments?
"So long as she is clearly not using her military rank or position to do something, she's going to have all the rights and privileges that a citizen would, including the right to engage in political speech," said Lt. Col. Michael Kuehn, a staff judge advocate in the Iowa Army National Guard.
Active-duty soldiers face several restrictions, including prohibitions on political fundraising; attending rallies, conventions or debates; and speaking publicly on political matters, according to Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, which outlines the regulations for political activities by members of the armed forces.
What about her comments about President Barack Obama on the campaign trail?
What about when shesigned onto that letter critical of Obama administration negotiations with Iran?
Is there a conflict of interest in serving in the military while overseeing military matters in the U.S. Senate?
Response to questions on DUAL service
When asked about the constitutional basis for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst's concurrent service in the Guard and the Senate, her office cited Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, the regulation outlining political activities by members of the military.Specifically, the regulation says that a "retired regular member or Reserve Component member" may be a nominee and candidate for an elective office in the U.S. government and hold that office "provided there is no interference with the performance of military duty."
"When not on duty, Sen. Ernst is a civilian and has the same permissions as any other U.S. citizen," Ernst's spokeswoman, Brook Hougesen, said in an email to the Register.
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