Iran war deaths could resurface Trump’s complicated history with military sacrifice

It’s delicate for any president to watch flag-draped transfer cases return home from overseas, a solemn tradition that honors the dead and shines a spotlight on the human costs of conflict.

Donald Trump’s visit Saturday to Dover Air Force Base, honoring the six American service members killed in the war in the Middle East, could be an especially fraught moment for a president whose White House has done little to build public support for the conflict. He also has a record of controversy when it comes to talking about military service and sacrifice

Trump can be reverential, such as when he recently awarded the Medal of Honor to troops for bravery during previous conflicts.

But he can also be terse or even dismissive. After launching attacks on Iran in coordination with Israel a week ago, Trump warned that there could be American casualties. When it comes to war, he said in a video message, “that's the way it is.”

Trump often highlights military bravery

The president frequently emphasizes the strength of U.S. armed services and stories of individual heroism.

“Today you entered the ranks of the bravest warriors ever to stride the face of the earth,” Trump told retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson last week before presenting the Medal of Honor for actions during the Vietnam War that were credited with saving the lives of 85 other service members.

During his State of the Union address last month, Trump presented the same medal to Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot who in Venezuela was shot four times but maintained control of the aircraft, saving the men on board.

“The success of the entire mission and the lives of his fellow warriors hinged on Eric’s ability to take searing pain," Trump said.

But when honoring injured service members, he sometimes interjects partisanship or other asides.

“Their valor gave us the freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth," Trump said during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery last year.

Then he added a dig at his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, describing the country as "a republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.”

He sometimes questions military sacrifice

One of Trump's first controversies after entering politics involved criticism of Sen. John McCain's military service.

“He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” he said in 2015.

McCain was tortured during more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, refusing an offer to be released ahead of other Americans because his father was a high-ranking Navy admiral.

Some former officials who served during Trump's first term have claimed the president disparaged fallen service members as “suckers” and “losers” when, they said, he did not want to travel in 2018 to a cemetery for American war dead in France. Trump denied the allegation, saying, “What animal would say such a thing?”

Former Trump aides also alleged that he did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees, saying, "it doesn’t look good for me."

In 2017, he told the widow of a slain soldier that he “knew what he signed up for,” according to a Florida congresswoman who heard the call. The father of another slain soldier accused the president of going back on a promise to send a check for $25,000. The White House said the money was sent after controversy erupted.

And in 2020, Trump downplayed the severity of traumatic brain injuries service members suffered when Iran fired missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq in retaliation for a U.S. strike that killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani.

“I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say and I can report it is not very serious,” Trump said.

Trump jokes about unearned military honors

Trump, who received deferments to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War, has remarked several times about wanting to receive military medals.

“I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier,” Trump told a veteran who presented his medal to Trump during his 2016 campaign. The Purple Heart is awarded to service members wounded or killed from enemy action.

And at his Medal of Honor ceremony Monday, Trump again joked getting a medal for himself, calling it “a great honor.”

“I’ve tried numerous times to get one by myself,” Trump said. “I keep getting shut down. They say: ‘You can’t do it, sir. Bad protocol.’”

“Very bad, I would say the worst,” he added. “But I’m only kidding.”