Regarding the July 14 letters, “I’m a Marine Corps veteran. Democrats don’t get voters like me.,” and the July 17 letters, “Why the Jeffrey Epstein case is a MAGA breaking point”:
A recent letter questioned what I “was actually doing” during my 16 years of active-duty military service.
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I believe this is the wrong question. I’ve had military friends lose their lives in combat overseas and in training exercises here at home. The sacrifice is the same.
But to answer it anyway: After 9/11, like so many others, I felt a deep call to serve. I was accepted to West Point, finished in the top 2 percent of my class and became the first in my family to graduate from college. I spent 16 years in the U.S. Army, deploying six times overseas and serving in active combat zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. Some of the missions I took on are still classified, so I’m not going to speak about them: I took operational security seriously then, and I do now.
Here’s what I can talk about. My first deployment was to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a military police officer leading the Army’s first military police platoon in an Infantry Stryker brigade combat team. During this 13-month tour, I led a group of 60 incredibly courageous young men and women on more than 300 combat patrols in western Baghdad. Then I joined the Special Operations community, where I held operational roles from team leader to global joint task force operations officer (or J3). I deployed to Yemen as part of counterterrorism operations targeting al-Qaeda. I deployed to North Africa and Afghanistan as part of regional counterterrorism operations targeting al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. I worked to stop Islamic State terrorist attacks in Iraq and Syria and the group’s attempts to mobilize “lone wolf” terrorist actors in Europe and the United States.
These were no-fail operations with zero room for mistakes or excuses.
Among my military service awards are three Bronze Stars for, among other things, displaying “the highest degree of professionalism, sound judgment, and technical and tactical competence while conducting combat operations.” I have the privilege of wearing the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest unit-level award in the military. My military service has also led to four surgeries repairing collapsed spinal discs, broken bones and a shattered joint. I missed countless holidays, and often even my own family didn’t know where I was in the world.
Despite those costs, it has been the honor of my lifetime to lead America’s sons and daughters in the defense of our nation.
Though I’m proud of my past, the future is where I am focused. And it is those same values that led me to serve in uniform that are leading me to run for Congress now. I’m looking forward to serving in other ways. I’m doing this out of love for this country and my enduring belief that America’s best days are still ahead of us.
Cait Conley, Ossining, New York
The writer is a Democratic candidate for Congress from New York’s 17th Congressional District.