Here's a thought for any member of Congress or candidate to be one: If you've ever exaggerated your military service exploits in public, now would be a really good time to set the record straight.
Case in point, Ken Silverstein's report on GOP Rep. Gary Miller.
According to his bio page at Congress.org, which is published by the CQ-Roll Call Group, Miller served in the military between 1967 and 1968. The same information about Miller appears on a variety of other websites, including at the American Legion and Project Vote Smart, where it specifies that he served in the U.S. Army.
The Vietnam War was at its peak during the 1967-1968 period; to claim that you served during that period offers the suggestion that you saw combat or were at least deployed overseas, in the same way that saying you served in the Army in 1943 to 1944 would suggest World War II experience.
Miller never got anywhere near Vietnam. According to his military record, he spent about seven weeks in boot camp at Fort Ord, California between early-September and late-October 1967, at which point he was discharged.
After that story ran yesterday, Miller began correcting the record, but didn't take responsibility for the errors.
Miller told a local paper that "he didn’t know how the incorrect information got out," even though a number of the publications I cited — Congress.org and Project Vote Smart — use biographical information provided by the offices of elected officials.
A lot of politicians lie about a lot of things. But in the case of military service, it's kind of crazy, given that the military tends to keep extensive records.
Update: To clarify, Miller got a medical discharge after seven weeks in bootcamp.