Retired Lt. Col. James "Jamie" Gottschling, who served 20 years in the Army including 12 years in airborne and special operations assignments, told Spotlight on Maryland that Moore performed well as a brigade staff officer but has since inflated his service in ways that raise serious concerns about his honesty.

Moore's office did not respond to an offer to sit down with the governor to dispute his former supervisor's statements.

At issue is Moore's repeated description of himself as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division who led soldiers in combat. Gottschling said Moore did serve with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan, but not as a paratrooper.

"He wasn't assigned to a parachutist position and didn't earn jump pay, so therefore, he's not a paratrooper," Gottschling said.

Gottschling described the brigade staff's role at Forward Operating Base Salerno as analytical and administrative, focused on information operations and coordinating with provincial reconstruction teams and infantry battalions. He said staff officers like Moore did not engage in direct combat.

"I like to say that we're combat veterans, but we're not veterans of combat," Gottschling said. "That's a different class of individual... people that lead people in direct action who receive fire and actually fire their weapons at a hostile enemy, and that's just not the role that we were in at that time."

Asked whether Moore ever fired his weapon in Afghanistan, Gottschling said, "Not to my knowledge."

Gottschling also disputed Moore's account in his 2015 book "The Work" of leading troops and participating in a firefight. He said staff officers coordinate with one another rather than command troops, and that Moore had no soldiers assigned to him and wrote no evaluation reports on soldiers.

On the Bronze Star, Gottschling said Moore's end-of-tour award was the Army Commendation Medal, not the Bronze Star. He provided photographic evidence and said Moore served only about half the deployment, which he said would not warrant a Bronze Star.

"A junior officer who wasn't part of the original unit that came over and only served half of the deployment, I would say, doesn't warrant a Bronze Star," Gottschling said. He added that he would have refused to participate in the retroactive 2024 award process had he been contacted.

Gottschling said the 2024 Bronze Star citation contained errors, including incorrect service dates and language that appeared to credit Moore with responsibilities that belonged to Gottschling as the senior fire support officer. He also noted the form listed Moore as a "captain retired," though Moore did not retire from the military.

"He has two awards for the same time, and that shouldn't exist in the military," Gottschling said. "If he was going to get a Bronze Star, that should have been an upgraded award, which goes through a different process than to create an award like this Bronze Star presented in 2024 out of thin air."

Gottschling also addressed Moore's claims about First Sgt. Tobias "Toby" Meister, who was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 28, 2005. Moore has said he was close friends with Meister and helped select the route his team took that day, and that he envisioned Meister's body in his grandfather's casket — even though his grandfather's funeral occurred 11 days before Meister's death. Reporting indicates Meister and his commander did not know who Moore was.

Asked whether the story about Meister is a lie, Gottschling said, "Yeah, it's a lie."

"When somebody comes in and just kind of superimposes themselves into that situation, it's just disingenuous and should be called out," he said. "Truth is the truth, and we need to hold on to the truth."

Gottschling said his concerns extend to Moore's character and fitness for higher office. Moore did not commit during the recent campaign to serving a full four-year term if reelected, fueling speculation about a 2028 presidential bid.

"I think it calls his character into question," Gottschling said. "His integrity is an issue. His truth-telling is an issue, and that's my problem."

Asked whether Moore is qualified to serve as commander-in-chief, Gottschling said, "Unqualified. I think his past resume has demonstrated that he's unqualified to serve in those positions."

Gottschling emphasized that Moore's actual service in Afghanistan was valuable. "He was a valued member of the brigade staff," he said. "I'm very appreciative of his effort and his sacrifice to go over to Afghanistan when he didn't need to do that. But it's disingenuous to say that you led paratroopers in combat... So, I just say be truthful."