WASHINGTON — Returning Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida welcomed two other combat veterans to the US House of Representatives Thursday with a tweet that helped illustrate the sacrifice the three lawmakers had made.
Mast’s tweet showed an image of Mast with two freshmen Republican lawmakers, Reps. Jim Baird of Indiana and Dan Crenshaw of Texas, on the first day of the 116th Congress.
Crenshaw, who rose to national attention during the campaign season when Saturday Night Live mocked his eye patch, lost an eye in 2012 when an IED exploded in Afghanistan where he was deployed. Baird served in the Vietnam War where he lost an arm. Mast also served in Afghanistan where he worked as a bomb disposal expert and lost both of his legs when an IED exploded.
What the tweet didn’t mention is that there are three Purple Hearts and four Bronze Stars earned between them, according to their campaign websites.
