Republican Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton allegedly inflated his military experience by claiming to have volunteered as an “Army Ranger,” a moniker given to member of the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment, in which Cotton never served, Salon reports.

Cotton only completed a two-month tactical school known as Ranger School open to all members of the military.  The 61-day course teaches small-unit tactics, with graduates authorized to wear a Ranger rocker badge on their uniform sleeve.  They are known as “Ranger-qualified.”

The distinction is not an unimportant one:  the 75th Ranger Regiment is unit within the US Special Forces Command, tasked with highly dangerous, specialized missions, whereas a graduate of the Ranger School receives only a training certificate. 

Cotton repeatedly claimed in campaign literature that he “volunteered to be an Army Ranger” and “volunteered to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan,” with the implication that he was part of the elite Army Ranger Regiment.

The difference between the two was distinguished in a 2020 New Hampshire GOP primary, when one candidate attempted to claim to have been an Army Ranger, though being only Ranger-qualified, and his opponent had actually served in a Ranger Regiment.

Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler contacted the Army for an definitions of the terms, and received the following response from a U.S. Army Special Operations Command spokesperson:

The U.S. Army Ranger Course is the Army’s premier leadership school, and falls under Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Eustis, Virginia, and is open to all members of the military, regardless of whether they have served in the 75th Ranger Regiment or completed the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program. A graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger Course is Ranger qualified.

The 75th Ranger Regiment is a special operations unit with the mission to plan and conduct joint special military operations in support of national policies and objectives. The Regiment’s higher headquarters is the U.S. Army Special Operations Command located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Regiment is the Army’s largest, joint special operations force. All members of the 75th Ranger Regiment have passed the Ranger Assessment Selection Program 1, 2, or both. Anyone who is serving or has served within the 75th Ranger Regiment is a U.S. Army Ranger.

When asked by Salon to explain Cotton’s claim of being an Army Ranger, Cotton’s spokesperson Caroline Tabler told Salon in an email, “Senator Cotton graduated from Ranger school and is more of a Ranger than a Salon reporter like you will ever be.”