The Extraordinary Military Career of Mark Kelly

Good lord, has this man done a lot.

(Sen. Mark Kelly. Image credit: Kevin Dietsch // Getty Images)

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This morning, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary, announced that he’s initiated administrative punishment against Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) over his public remarks reminding service members of the oaths they took to the Constitution.

Sen. Kelly has been under fire from Trump and Hegseth for joining five other Democrats in Congress in a video released on social media six weeks ago that calls on service members to be loyal to their oaths and reject unlawful orders.

In his announcement, Hegseth erroneously claimed the video is “reckless and seditious” and “was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline.”

This is completely absurd, and every military legal expert agrees on that.

Sen. Kelly and his colleagues, of course, did no such thing, and Hegseth, of course, failed to specifically identify actions taken by Sen. Kelly that would violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

He is now seeking to demote Sen. Kelly in his retirement rank—earned during his distinguished career in the U.S. Navy—which would automatically result in a reduction in his retirement pay.

He also announced he’s issuing a “formal Letter of Censure” that would be placed in Sen. Kelly’s military personnel file.

For his part, Sen. Kelly issued this statement in response today:

Over twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy, thirty-nine combat missions, and four missions to space, I risked my life for this country and to defend our Constitution – including the First Amendment rights of every American to speak out. I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me for doing exactly that.

My rank and retirement are things that I earned through my service and sacrifice for this country. I got shot at. I missed holidays and birthdays. I commanded a space shuttle mission while my wife Gabby recovered from a gunshot wound to the head– all while proudly wearing the American flag on my shoulder. Generations of servicemembers have made these same patriotic sacrifices for this country, earning the respect, appreciation, and rank they deserve.

Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.

If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it. I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government.

With all due respect to Sen. Kelly, I think he’s being too humble here, which isn’t surprising because he’s always been a professional who cares more about selfless service than recognition of self, a concept entirely lost on Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump.

Because I know Sen. Kelly would rather jump off a tall cliff than brag about his own military career, that task falls to the rest of us.

So, I want to outline just how extraordinary U.S. Navy Captain Mark Kelly was during his decades in uniform.

He graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in 1986 with highest honors in marine engineering and nautical science. He is, to date, the only USMMA alum to serve in Congress — not just the Senate but Congress as a whole.

You may or may not know this, but Sen. Kelly has a twin brother who also served in the Navy and became an aviator and then an astronaut: retired U.S. Navy Captain Scott Kelly, who famously lived on the International Space Station for a year.

This gives the false impression that the brothers were always alike, and nothing could be further from the truth.

In his fantastic 2017 memoir “Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery,” Captain Scott Kelly talks about how his brother Mark was studious and determined while he, Scott, took a longer path to the same destination, primarily because he’d been pretty far short of studious in high school.

There’s an amusing and poignant anecdote in the book that crystallizes the difference between the two. Mark had been directly admitted to USMMA, but Scott had to earn his way into a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at the State University of New York Maritime College.

It wasn’t easy, and his brother Mark held his ass to the fire on the importance of working hard to get where he wanted to go:

I was nearly starting over as a freshman because the curriculum for the program here was so different from the random handful of arts and sciences classes I’d taken in Maryland. I was taking calculus, physics, electrical engineering, seamanship, and military history. The curriculum was challenging even for my classmates who had excelled in high school, and I felt good about the fact that I was keeping my head above water.

When Labor Day weekend approached, I got a call from one of my high school buddies inviting me to a party at their frat house at Rutgers. I said I’d be there.

I called my brother. “Let’s go down to Rutgers and hang out with Pete Mathern at Sigma Pi,” I said.

“I can’t,” Mark said right away. “I have a test coming up.”

I spent a few minutes trying to talk him into it before he interrupted.

“Don’t you have some sort of test coming up, too? You’ve been in classes for a few weeks now.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “My first calculus exam is at the end of next week. But I’ll study for it after I get back. I’ll have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…” In my mind, I was already on the Cross Bronx Expressway with my duffel slung over my shoulder, thumb stuck out.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Mark asked. “You’re in school. You need to absolutely ace this exam, and everything else, if you want to get caught up. You need to spend this entire weekend at your desk, doing every problem in every chapter this exam is going to cover.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “The entire long weekend?” This sounded insane to me.

“All weekend,” he said. “And the whole coming week, too.”

There was a weird silence while I took this in. I didn’t appreciate being yelled at by my twin brother. It was tempting to tell myself he was just being a jerk and that I should ignore him. I came so close to deciding not to listen; the memory still unsettles me, like a memory of teetering on the edge of a cliff. As much as I wanted to go to the party, I knew somewhere in my mind that he was right and that he was offering me something important by being as blunt as he was. Mark had also started out as a distracted, indifferent high school student. But he had decided “pull himself together long before I did and had succeeded. I’d never asked him how he’d done it, but now he was trying to offer me the lesson of his experience. I reluctantly decided to listen.

Let’s reflect on this.

Scott Kelly, now a famous astronaut known the world over for his year-long residency in space, got chewed out by Mark Kelly for not showing enough commitment to the standard of excellence.

Think about that. If only we all had someone so capable and determined in our lives pushing us to be our best selves.

But that’s Mark Kelly. That’s who he’s always been.

He served 25 years in the U.S. Navy. When you look at the (very few) available images of him in uniform, you notice a lot.

When he was initially attacked by Hegseth in November after the release of that video, Sen. Kelly took what I’m sure he felt was the painful step of posting an image of his uniform to show that he wasn’t backing down in his commitment to the Constitution:

Again, this is not a guy who brags about his service. It’s not his style. He probably cringed when he approved the post.

I can almost hear him telling his staff that he’d rather not post any images of his military decorations because it’s not what leaders do. Leaders don’t brag about themselves; they brag about those they’re leading. They lift up their subordinates for recognition.

So, I’m gonna brag about Senator Kelly because Lord knows he won’t.

See that shoulder board (the black thing with gold stripes)?

That means he retired as a Captain, or an O-6. That's one grade below the admiral ranks. Fewer than 6% of U.S. Navy officers reach this grade. There are highly capable and committed military officers who will never attain this rank; it’s that competitive.

The winged badge above his medals is the Navy Pilot Astronaut Badge.

The Astronaut Badge is the rarest skills badge in all of the U.S. military. Fewer than 200 service members have earned it.

Then we get to the medals. They're arranged in order of precedence, from the highest to the lowest. I'll only point out a handful that I find neat.

To that end, I was able to finagle the official awards citations for Sen. Kelly’s decorations, and goodness gracious, do they paint quite the picture of an honorable and exceptional officer.

That first one is the Defense Superior Service Medal, the second-highest non-combat-related decoration awarded by the DoD. That oak leaf in the center of the medal is for a second award, meaning Sen. Kelly has earned it twice.

His first DSSM was earned in 2003 when he was at the LBJ Space Center in Houston. The citation was written by none other than Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under President Bush:

His second DSSM was awarded in 2006 for his exceptional leadership in the aftermath of the Columbia tragedy, when all seven crew members of NASA mission STS-107 were killed upon reentry. It was also written by Sec. Rumsfeld:

After the DSSM is the Legion of Merit. This is awarded to senior military leaders who have served exceptionally in positions of extraordinary responsibility. It’s considered a prestigious capstone honor, given to senior officers whose careers have been marked by consistence excellence.

Next is the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the military's highest awards for aerial service (the highest, of course, is the Medal of Honor), given to those who “have distinguished themselves by single acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.”

This is only awarded to combat pilots, air crew personnel, and astronauts.

After Vietnam, the qualification threshold for the DFC was raised considerably, and in the decades since, only a few thousand of these have been earned across all branches of the military.

Most military pilots will never receive one. Senator Kelly earned two DFCs.

His first DFC was earned in 2008 for his service as Commander of Space Shuttle Discovery during NASA mission STS-124. It was written by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus:

His second DFC was earned in 2011 for his service as Commander of Space Shuttle Endeavour during NASA Mission STS-134. It was also written by Secretary Mabus:

Next is the Air Medal, awarded for single acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement in flight that don't quite rise to the level of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Senator Kelly earned four of them: two for individual actions, two as part of a strike/flight. That’s what the “V” device on his medal means: valor in combat.

All of them were earned in the Gulf War during Operation Desert Storm. Senator Kelly flew 39 combat missions.

The award citations make for remarkable reading. I’ll post the entire citations below, but here are some interesting excerpts:

“On the second night of Operation Desert Storm, Lieutenant Kelly courageously delivered a devastating blow to the Iraqi defenses at an airfield deep in southern Iraq. Facing overlapping missile defenses and anti-aircraft fire, he attacked aggressively, maneuvering to defeat two incoming Surface-to-Air Missiles guiding on his aircraft during the bomb run. Showing extraordinary valor and tactical prowess, Lieutenant Kelly executed evasive maneuvers against each missile, one of which detonated directly beneath his aircraft. With minimal time remaining, he recovered to put his ordnance squarely on target. Following a heavily opposed egress, Lieutenant Kelly returned his aircraft safely to the ship.”

“While on armed surface reconnaissance patrol in the northern Arabian Gulf, Lieutenant Kelly located an enemy missile patrol boat which posed an immediate threat to allied naval forces. As the lead of a two aircraft section, he maneuvered his flight into attack position while avoiding surface-to-air missile envelopes and intense anti-aircraft artillery fire from surrounding shores. Despite the threats, he pressed the attack and accurately delivered his cluster munitions to destroy the missile boat. His tactical awareness and superior combat airmanship removed a serious threat to coalition naval forces.”

Incredibly, we’re not done. He was also awarded the Navy Commendation Medal (w/ “V” for valor) for another combat mission during Desert Storm. Here’s what his citation reads:

“During a dayflight patrol of the north Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm, Lieutenant Kelly skillfully located two Iraqi Polnochy LSM’s [my note: these are amphibious warfare vessels] which posed a danger to coalition forces. As wingman of a two plane A-6E Intruder section, he tactically maneuvered his aircraft into an attack position while avoiding anti-aircraft artillery fire and exposing himself to multiple surface-to-air missile envelopes. Despite constant fire from the targeted combatants, he executed a flawless attack, destroying one of the Iraqi vessels. His tactical deployment of the A-6E and superior combat airmanship contributed to the ultimate success of the coalition campaign.”

Senator Kelly was such an incredible aviator that he was assigned as an instructor at the United States Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland for two years, where he earned his second Navy Commendation Medal. Here’s the citation:

“As a Test Pilot School instructor, his dedication to achieving the finest flight test training was instrumental in the superb education of nearly I00 test pilots, flight officers and test engineers. While performing the duties of T-2 Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization model manager and Quality Assurance Officer, his astute management of numerous flight test exercises and 7 aircraft was the deciding factor in the successful completion of over 200 training sorties. His diverse flying qualifications in the F/A-18, T-38 and T-2, coupled with a broad experience base and technical excellence, provided maximum operational flexibility as well as several well received technical exchanges with foreign flight test personnel.”

It was right after this assignment that he was accepted into the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1996, where he spent the rest of his career as a shuttle pilot and commander, among the many other responsibilities of astronauts.

Some of his NASA decorations are pretty standard at that level: he earned four NASA Space Flight Medals for his four separate missions into space, and he earned the more prestigious NASA Exceptional Service Medal for the consistency of his excellence while there.

But the most impressive honor he earned is the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award bestowed by NASA and one of the rarest awards in the federal government. Fewer than 400 have been earned since its inception in 1959. It’s quite an exclusive club.

I doubt Senator Kelly will see this blog, and if he does see it, I imagine he will not be pleased with it. He’ll probably find it embarrassing to have his many recognitions put out to the public like this. His humility likely makes him bristle at stuff like this.

Well, that’s just too damn bad, Senator.

The country needs to understand the career that Hegseth is so shamelessly slandering in his quest for political retribution.

None of us should tolerate these shenanigans. Senator Kelly has spent his entire life in service to our country and in defense of our Constitution and in stewardship of the many service members and public servants under his leadership.

I will not be quiet about the dishonorable efforts of Hegseth, nor should any of you.

We are in this fight with you, Senator, and we’re not backing down.

It’s the very least we can do for someone who has so consistently done the same for us.

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