Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D.) opened his 2015 book, The Work, with a dramatic telling of the first time he led soldiers in combat in Afghanistan. Moore described the feeling of shells buzzing past his ears, grappling with the thought that he might die that day, and the disciplined calm that came over him as he led his paratroopers into responding with overwhelming force. "The opportunity to lead soldiers in combat and serve my country in a time of war had been, in a strange way, one of the great joys of my life," Moore wrote.
That story and Moore’s other grandiose tales of leading soldiers in combat are not true, according to his commanding officer, retired Lt. Col. James A. Gottschling, who oversaw Moore’s daily activities during his brief deployment to Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. Gottschling told Spotlight on Maryland, a coalition of local news outlets, that Moore was never a paratrooper and was instead assigned to a desk job, working in non-combat information operations, which involved analyzing reports and working with Afghan officials to provide civilian assistance. Gottschling, who signed Moore’s 2006 officer evaluation report, said Moore sometimes left Forward Operating Base Salerno to coordinate with Afghan officials, but those trips "never resulted in any hostile action."
"When you’re talking about direct combat, leading soldiers that are under hostile fire, and leading them and supporting them, that’s not truthful," Gottschling said. "It’s disingenuous to say that you led paratroopers in combat or that you did what would be direct action activities in a combat zone."
Moore received a "Combat Action Badge" for an on-base incident of "indirect fire" in 2005, when three rockets struck the base when he was in the area. No one was injured in that event. There is no verification beyond Moore’s own accounts of him coming under fire, with bullets coming close enough that he could hear them whizzing by his ears, while he was off-base.
Indeed, Gottschling’s account that Moore was never involved in "direct action" contradicts stories Moore has told about experiencing combat firsthand in Afghanistan, further tarnishing his gold-plated résumé, which includes incredible claims about his family history, his place of birth, and his athletic, academic, and military achievements, many of which have crumbled under scrutiny.
These latest allegations from Moore’s direct military supervisor that he lied about his role leading soldiers in combat comes as the governor, who easily won reelection last week, signals he’s preparing to run for president in 2028.
Moore has not responded to Spotlight on Maryland’s reporting, but he has previously denigrated the coalition’s most prominent media partner, the Baltimore Sun, as "the paper of the right wing" and has called its owner, David Smith, a "MAGA billionaire" who publishes "right-wing drivel." Smith is the executive chair of Sinclair Broadcasting, a large local station group controlled by Smith’s family, which is known for its conservative leanings.
Moore has not been dialing down his claims of valor. In May of this year, he gave an address at Valley Forge Military Academy, where a cadet introduced him as having "led troops in combat." Moore did not correct the cadet. The governor has used his stories of seeing combat in Afghanistan to bolster his public image and justify the decisions he’s made as Maryland’s governor since 2023. He told CBS News in 2025 that he "served my country in combat" to justify his opposition to what he called President Donald Trump’s "disrespectful" proposal to deploy troops to help reduce violent crime in Baltimore. In 2022, he posted on X that he "led soldiers into combat in Afghanistan." In 2021, Moore told Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein on a podcast that he "led a group of paratroopers" and participated in a firefight within days of his arrival in Afghanistan.
But no documentary Army evidence exists corroborating any of those incidents or of the dramatic account Moore wrote in The Work, Spotlight on Maryland reported. The only available evidence that Moore was ever in danger during his tour (of about seven months) in Afghanistan was the Combat Action Badge for the rockets landing on his base.
Moore has admitted to sometimes embellishing his experience in Afghanistan, but he told the Baltimore Banner in June that he stands by the crux of his accounts of the combat he says he experienced overseas.
"There’s maybe ways I could have articulated things differently, but it still doesn’t take away from what we experienced and what we did, and what, frankly, I’m still dealing with," Moore said.
Moore faced intense criticism when the New York Times reported in 2024 that he had falsely claimed for nearly two decades that he received a Bronze Star for meritorious service during his service in Afghanistan. He later received that award under unusual circumstances during the final weeks of the Biden administration, when a former officer above Moore in the chain of command, Lt. Col. Michael Fenzel, resubmitted the award on Moore’s behalf. Fenzel, a close personal friend of Moore's who later served as a groomsman at the governor’s wedding, said he was "so happy to be in a position to right a wrong" during Moore’s private Bronze Star award ceremony in December 2024.
Moore’s office did not return a request for comment.
