New records show ex-lawmaker's credited for combat service

ORTING, Wash. (AP) _ A former state lawmaker who resigned in February amid questions he inflated his military record has released records that support some of his claims of serving in combat.

The News Tribune reports (http://goo.gl/B1L8KN ) that the new records show former state Rep. Graham Hunt, of Orting, served in combat zones in the Middle East early in the Iraq War. They also show he received three military awards for service there, although not the medals he initially claimed.

Hunt told the newspaper that he is a combat veteran and now has the records to prove it. He says resigning from the Legislature was a mistake.

Hunt, who served in the Air National Guard, had previously referred to himself as a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan but was unable to provide records.

The updated records still don't prove his claims of being wounded in combat. They also don't say definitively whether Hunt's combat experience was serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, or another location in support of those wars.