David Flippo Misrepresented His Gulf War Military Record

David Flippo, the Republican nominee for Congress in a competitive Nevada district, has repeatedly claimed he served in Operation Desert Storm. Yet, according to a US Air Force spokesperson, Flippo was not on active duty until nine months after that military campaign ended.

In a candidate questionnaire, Flippo said he was at Montana State University in 1990 and 1991. He also appears in Montana State’s 1991 yearbook as a member of the school’s Air Force ROTC program. The Air Force spokesperson told me that Flippo, who served as an enlisted airman before going back to college and becoming an officer, entered active duty as an officer on December 10, 1991.

Combat operations against Iraq by the United States and its allies during Operation Desert Storm began on January 17, 1991, and ended on February 28. They were preceded by the troop buildup during Operation Desert Shield, which began in August 1990 and continued until the start of Desert Storm.

Flippo has claimed he was in the “desert” in 1991. As he put it at a 2024 fundraiser during his first run for Congress: “Think about when I served, ’85 to ’09. What the heck was happening? What happened in ’91? What happened in ’03? I was in all of that. I was in the desert all that time.”  

The February 8, 1991, edition of Montana State’s student newspaper places Flippo at the university during the war. The article reports that Flippo became the student leader of Montana State’s Air Force ROTC program on January 31, two weeks into the war. It goes on to note, “As the new commander, Cadet Col Dave Flippo has many challenges ahead.”

The remarks at the fundraiser were not the only time that Flippo suggested he was in the Gulf War. As first reported by the conservative outlet Nevada News & Views, Flippo, who retired as an Air Force officer in 2009, has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he was in Desert Storm and has often worn a hat that identifies him as a veteran of that war. 

Flippo has already faced accusations of exaggerating his military record. His campaign falsely claimed that he had a Bronze Star with valor that he did not earn. The Reno Gazette-Journal has also reported that Flippo was relieved of his command as an Air Force squadron commander in 2008. He left the Air Force the following year. 

Other aspects of his candidacy have also raised questions. Flippo has reported putting more than $2.5 million into his campaigns, despite having no obvious source of such wealth. The Nevada Republican has failed to file legally required financial disclosures dating back to 2023, when he launched his first bid for Congress. As I’ve reported, Flippo also has ties to a dubious Arizona land venture that says it aims to produce “constant” 20 percent returns for 20 years. The Washington Sun and Wall Street Journal have reported that Flippo’s campaign claimed to have received donations from two dead people. (His campaign blamed a clerical error for one of the donations; the campaign’s treasurer said he is “looking into” the other contribution.)

“If a guy said he was in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, I would have assumed he was in theater during that time. You don’t do things to exaggerate your military service.”

In October, Flippo told a Reno TV station, “I was in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Northern Watch and Iraqi Freedom and Desert Storm and all of that was all throughout my career because I came in ’85.” In a similar vein, Flippo told former Rep. Matt Gaetz earlier this year that with “24 years in the Air Force, I spent my life from Desert Storm all the way through Iraqi Freedom.” In a May 2025 podcast interview, he said, “I did 24 years in the Air Force from 1985 to 2009. So, I was in for Desert Storm, obviously.” 

In all three cases, he neglected to mention that he was not on active duty between about 1989 and December 1991, according to the Air Force and the article from the Montana State student paper. That period covers the entirety of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the key operations related to that war. 

Flippo wrote in an October op-ed that he was “deployed to Saudi Arabia right after the birth of our second son” in 1992. Public records show that his second son was born in April of that year, meaning that Flippo would have arrived in the region more than a year after Operation Desert Storm ended. By that point, the United States was conducting a ceasefire campaign, rather than an active war.

In text messages, Rory McShane, Flippo’s main campaign consultant, called the questions about Flippo’s Desert Storm claims a “total non story,” saying that Congress and the Air Force “say he’s a Desert Storm Veteran.” He did not answer questions about when Flippo returned to active duty or whether Flippo served in Operation Desert Storm in early 1991. He also did not say why Flippo claimed to have been in the desert in 1991. 

McShane pointed to the fact that Flippo was awarded the Southwest Asia Service Medal. An Air Force website states that the award was given to “members of the U.S. armed forces who served in support of Operations Desert Shield or Desert Storm between Aug. 2, 1990 and Nov. 30, 1995.” According to that site, the award was given in relation to three campaign periods: the defense of Saudi Arabia in the lead-up to Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991, the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi forces in 1991, and the “Southwest Asia Cease Fire Campaign” that ended in 1995. (The timing of Flippo’s 1992 deployment to Saudi Arabia suggests that he served only in the Southwest Asia Cease Fire Campaign.) Flippo’s military records do not list the Kuwait Liberation Medal that was given by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to coalition forces who served in Desert Storm.

McShane also highlighted language in a bill and an amendment passed by Congress in 1991 that defined Operation Desert Storm as “operations of United States Armed Forces conducted as a consequence of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq” for the purpose of that law. The definition explicitly included operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Provide Comfort, which protected Kurdish refugees in Iraq and Turkey between 1991 and 1996.

McShane did not respond to a question about when Flippo may have participated in Operation Provide Comfort. Flippo served at a base in Turkey associated with that operation, according to the Air Force spokesperson, and public records list him there starting around 1995.

According to a 2017 press release, the purpose of the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial, which opened on the National Mall in October, is to honor the “650,000 service members who served and 383 military [personnel] who died in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm from August 2, 1990 to April 6, 1991.”

Daniel Casentini, a retired Air Force master sergeant who has been critical of Flippo’s claims about his military record, said via email that he doubted that any “veteran who actually served in Desert Storm would see him as a Desert Storm veteran unless he was in theater during the operation itself.” Casentini added, “[I]t’s just another example of his lack of integrity, which is ironic since ‘Integrity First’ is one of the Air Force’s three core values.”

In September, Flippo was accused of stolen valor after his campaign falsely claimed that he received a Bronze Star with valor for his service in the second Iraq war, when he actually has the far more common standard Bronze Star. After the Washington Post revealed those false claims, Flippo said his staff made an honest mistake. 

The problem with that explanation was that Flippo repeatedly wore a hat featuring V-shaped emblems that suggested he had earned a Bronze Star with valor. After photos of him in the hat emerged, Flippo blamed his grandkids for putting the emblems on it. (Flippo wore the hat, which also identified him as a Desert Storm veteran, for years.)

Scott Maryott, a retired Army lieutenant colonel in Nevada who is supporting Flippo’s Democratic opponent, Teresa Benitez-Thompson, was also critical of Flippo’s Desert Storm claims. “If a guy said he was in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, I would have assumed he was in theater during that time,” Maryott said.

“You don’t do things to exaggerate your military service,” Maryott said. “The people that are most humble about their military service probably did the most. And it’s people that exaggerate their service that really show a character flaw.”