title:  Stolen Valor: GOP Senator Disgracefully Lies, Makes Up Military Service
text: Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) has been caught red-handed lying about the details of his military service, and it isn t the first time he has done it. From The Huffington Post:CNN reported Wednesday that Kirk s campaign website erroneously stated that he is  a veteran of the Iraq War.  In reality, the senator stayed in the United States during the war as he served in the Navy Reserve.His campaign chalked it up to a staff error, saying that particular page on Kirk s website was not meant to be public and that staff members were making edits to it. Staff moved the page behind a password-protected firewall after CNN investigated.Kirk, who is up for re-election this year, has previously been caught in the middle of lies about his military career.He claimed in 2010 that he had been named  Intelligence Officer of the Year,  when the award was for work his entire unit had done. He also promoted a story alleging that his reconnaissance plane had come under fire, but there was no record of that. Kirk claimed that he had served in  combat  in Kosovo, but he didn t. He claimed he had been deployed to Afghanistan, but he had been sent there for training, not for combat service. He also previously falsely claimed to have been deployed to combat in Operation Desert Storm.Kirk s lies about his service would be a major issue at any time, but they are even more notable because he is facing a strong challenge from Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). Duckworth is an actual combat veteran who served in the Iraq War. In that conflict, Duckworth received a Purple Heart after her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She is a double amputee after her severe injuries forced the removal of her right leg near the hip and her left leg below the knee.In polling averages, Duckworth is currently 7% ahead of Kirk.Featured image via Flickr