Servicemembers deployed overseas were shocked after hearing the Vice President say they were not serving in “combat zones.”
“As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is on active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century,” Harris said during the Presidential Debate on ABC.
A video of deployed soldiers responding to Harris’s statement, from an unknown deployed location, has been circulating on social media.
“What wait…so where the F- are we right now?” a soldier says in response to Harris’ statement.
The Pentagon says the lack of Congressional war powers means servicemembers currently serving in hostile areas are serving in “war.”
“An aspect of military service includes serving in locations where hostile actions may occur,” a Defense Official told Fox Digital. “Those locations are designated by executive order and/or the Secretary of Defense.”
“However, it’s important to note that just because a service member is in one of these locations does not mean they are engaged in war,” the official added. “The U.S. is not currently engaged in a war and does not have troops fighting in active war zones anywhere in the world.”
It seems the determination of what is a combat zone is not determined by whether servicemembers are receiving combat-related hazard duty pay or not.
The Pentagon declined to comment when asked if servicemembers deployed to military bases in the Middle East, such as in Syria, Jordan, and Iraq have received hazardous duty pay over the past 10 months.
Despite no official “war,” the US Department of Defense is still actively participating and leading Operation Inherent Resolve.
The “80+ nation Coalition” is led by two US Army generals, one British general, and a US Army command sergeant major.
The combined joint task force “Advises, Assists and Enables partnered forces until they can independently defeat Daesh (ISIS) in designated areas of Iraq and Syria, in order to set conditions for long-term security cooperation frameworks.”
Next month will mark ten years since the operation began on 17 October 2014.
“The Department of Defense formally established Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve in order to formalize ongoing military actions against the rising threat posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” the operation says on its “.mil” website domain, which is reserved exclusively for the United States Department of Defense.
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